I've been reading the Eco-Fit section of this forum for a month now and have observed that not all folks seek out good mileage for what I consider to be the obvious reason: it costs less. Indeed, a lot of time, effort and, sometimes, money seems to be invested in the pursuit of a high MPG number, which would seem to belie the popular notion that it's all about saving money.

So, I informally ask the folks in this forum:

What are your reasons for pursuing higher gas mileage?

1) To Save Money

2) Environmental reasons

3) As an end to itself- that is, an engineering/driving challenge

4) To learn how it is done and, hopefully, serve as a model for other drivers

5) Something else?

6) More than one of the above?

I'll post my reasons after people chime in with their own.

 

For me it started out as simple economics. I have a diesel dodge truck and when diesel hit $5/gal I had to make a change. $135/week fill ups were killing me emotionally.

I crunched the numbers and essentially the cheaper and more fuel efficient the better. I couldn't get my hands on a Yaris, and lucked out at my local Honda dealer as they had a Sport AT on the lot. I ended up paying 2K more, but I'm glad I did as I really dig this little car. '

So based on a $16.5K vehicle I had a 5.8 year pay-back on a car that got 40mpg hwy. Also I was going to save $240/month on the difference (both fuel type and economy). That $240 savings is my payment. Even though it's a wash (truck v.s. Fit) in overall cost, the emotional satisfaction knowing I only pay $37/fill up a week is priceless! Then after 5 years that's $240/month in my pocket from now until the wheels fall off.

Insurance increase is off-set by maintenance.

Once I started driving the Fit, it became a challenge to see what how far I could squeeze out of a gallon. The doubters also fueled my desire to prove the AT can get 40+ mileage. Thanks Wuze! Now I really want to crack 45mpg...It's addicting and most importantly FUN. Also it's made my commute relaxing (I even look forward to it!). I used to be a hammer down 10 over guy all-the-time. Eco is a nice change.

Environment, while I believe in keeping my house clean, wasn't a driver at all. My paradigm says global warming is a hoax and FUD. Having a clean car is a nice secondary effect though.

--D

 

1) Money's always nice to have and I like saving

2) lol...it's just a benefit I guess...even though I'm not saving much considering I'm still using gas

3) not a clue what you mean...I like driving umm spirited and I also like driving conservatively to save gas

4) I love learning stuff...specially what interests me and cars are an interest and it's fun to experiment to see/challenge myself for better mpg than before.

5) I wish you could get amazing mpg with amazing performance.

6) More than one of the above?

 

#1 for me; I couldn't give two sh!ts about that idiot David Suzuki and the rest of the enviro-hippies out there. This car uses 1/2 the fuel of my last one, gas prices going up also contribute to the choice.

 

Started out seeing if I could get better, but has not let up. I consider myself to be competitive at everything I have done (even if I'm the competition), so I keep setting stretch goals, just to see if I can make them. For me that's fun.

That side said, I feel good about the fact that I'm saving money, I'm polluting less and I'm saving a resource that should be.

 

wanted to see for myself if it was possible to get high 30's and even
40mpg while not driving slow holding up traffic cause those folks are
irritating.

now that i proved myself im spreading the word around to rid
annoying slow drivers.

 

What I have to say about the Fit is part of an article written about Global Warming for a local newspaper. The Fit is a large part of my ideas on conservation, of which very little of it is to save money. The page might be over large for this format, so it's uploaded to this site:
http://home.earthlink.net/~rlipori/Ramblings.doc

Bob L

 

[QUOTE=FitsThe18;382150]
What are your reasons for pursuing higher gas mileage?
1) To Save Money

2) Environmental reasons

3) As an end to itself- that is, an engineering/driving challenge

4) To learn how it is done and, hopefully, serve as a model for other drivers

5) Something else? Yes... to reduce our dependancy on oil. Why should my money go to Venezuela / Saudi Arabia / et-cetera? It's patriotic to use less fuel. A rebel-flag waving Ford Dualie with dual whip antennae that's lifted 6" and has an American flag sticker on the tailgate is not patriotic - it's the antithesis of patriotic.

6) More than one of the above?

 

To stick it to the MAN!


Nah, but I had to do it.

My original plans were to do a k24/k20a Frankenstein swap and make a beast out of this thing, strip it down and make it my track ho. I was just going to wait until the wire madness settled for the ecu's because I don't like wiring.
Then, I got a speeding ticket(68 in a 45). So, I decided I would not speed anymore(grow up maybe?). Once, I noticed that this thing can easily get 40mpg, I started checking out this place and cleanmpg.com. Then, like everything else I enjoy, I started going overboard. So, here I am wondering if 65-70mpg is possible. It is definitely a challenge and it happens to save money while making my 58mile trip to work more interesting because the ipod gets old and I get tired of npr.
Not to mention I get to piss people off and laugh at people for speeding up to a stop light like a moron!

 

Hear Hear!!

 

Choice 1, 2, and 5 (dependance on oil, regardless if its foreign or domestic)

 

My top reason is Environmental.

I feel guilty driving a car, putting pollutants and carbon into the air. I feel less guilty when I try and get better MPG.

Serving as a model for others is really important. My gasoline consumption is a drop in the bucket. But if I can influence and help other people save gas, then we may make an impact.

Saving money is nice too, and I have recently discovered the driving challenge of it.

 

1, 3, and 2, in that order.

--Barry

 

i really dont care about teh environment.

but we drive an economy car. lets use it for what it is.

my drive to work is 7 minutes @ 50mpg. 6 minutes @ 30mpg. hmm.. tough decision.

better the fuel economy, the less it costs to get somewhere. thats my reasoning. im cheap as falk lol

 

1 and 3. Like Rockover my Fit covers its own monthly car payment in fuel savings. Plus the Fit lets me save my STi for what it was really made to do instead of forcing it to be a commuter. For my family it also means we can sell the Jeep Cherokee we've been keeping around to toss big stuff into the back, because the Fit does that too. The only fly in all that ointment is that the Fit is so much fun to drive I tend to leave the STi sit more than I thought I would!

I too have many many doubts about the environmental and energy disaster doomsayers. I'm old enough to have been sitting in those gas lines back in 1970 during the first so-called gas crisis. Back then the greatest minds of the time told us that petroleum, being a finite resource, was going to run out someday. Wanna know when they calculated we'd be out? 2000. Their calculations assumed a certain increase in the rate of consumption; actual consumption was greater. Here's the kicker: not only did we not run out of oil, we actually have greater reserves now than we did in 1970.

As for Al Gore's 'hockey stick' graph: there is a significant backlash in the statistical community at what they see as voodoo math. Basically Gore used the numbers he liked, and left out the ones he didn't like, so that the result would support his viewpoint. Bad Gore.

All that having been said, I believe we have a duty to take care of the environment and whatnot. I just don't like being pushed into it by power hungry fear mongers.

 

VERY well said wdb! I too remember the odd-even plate numbers and whether or not you could get gas on a Monday or Tuesday. I wasn't driving then, but remember none the less! Flippin' Carter years....:barf: I also remember all my "science" teaches stating for CERTAIN we were headed into the next ice-age.

That said, I believe it's our duty as citizens of this planet to keep our house clean, where possible, and economically feasible. Let's not toss the baby out with the bathwater over hype (conserv. and lib).

Hence why the Fit works so well with FE and is a LEV...Fun and cheap too! That's why it's the perfect car.

--D

 

To Save - money not spent for gas is money available elsewhere.

To Challenge myself - I get the results at every fill-up.

To try not to enrich the oil companies anymore than I must.

 

#1, #2, #3 & #6

The fit is a cheap car. I wanted to get a used IS 300 at first. But then looked at mantenance and said "no thanks". And I'm still surprised my oil hasn't turned black after 2,000 miles on this car. It seemed freaky at first because my old corolla would have black oil by 1500 miles, but I guess LEV2 technology along with SOHC does wonders for this little engine. Also, as mentioned above, there's no denying that the fossil oil on this earth is finite. This is just a wake up call for the world that if the population increases exponentially, resources will have to keep up on the same pace. But if we reduce our usage while expanding our resources, we're likely better off than if we just completly deplete all resources.

Also, why should I give the oil companies more money per week than I feel like they deserve? Just because they're too lazy in putting money out to research more effecient ways of refining oil doesn't mean that drivers and the government should pay them for it. With historical record profit....wouldn't you think they should do something responsible with that money?

 

Come on, foreign dependency is a good thing! My job depends on it... how ironic is that

 

I'm not really all that mad at the oil companies themselves. In a whole lot of ways they're nothing more than middlemen. The cleanmpg folks say that a dollar saved at the pump is a dollar less that could eventually get into the hands of some middle eastern terrorist. I like that better.