What (if anything) have you done to try to save gas?

Hypermileing in the strictest sense is a type of racing, albeit very s l o w racing. It is a competition to see who can get the furthest on a gallon of gas. In case of a tie, lowest time to the mark wins. When I was in high school, and dinosaurs roamed the earth, we used to have gallon rallies. Just like any other road rally, no one knew the course ahead of time, there was a driver and a navigator and it was a race... but they unhooked your gas line and gave you a tank with one gallon of gas. This was pre-oil embargo, $.50 /gallon gas. It wasn't to be frugal back then, it was to WIN. Now I don't give a rip about winning. I'm not frugal. I'm cheap. And $3.12/gallon is killing me. Enough of history, here are the primary techniques. 1) Go Slow. Have you ever ridden a 10 speed (or 27 now) on a windy day? Going out you felt like Hercules when you had a tailwind, but coming back with the wind in your face you felt like the Hydra, AFTER it was slain. Wind has the same effect on your car. With most cars 40-55mph is where just pushing air out of the way starts to kill your mileage. On my commute 65mph=32mpg, 45mph=41mpg. It made a 2 minute and 50 second difference in time. 2) Make it easier. Make it easier for your car to roll. Ever notice your mileage drops soon as you put snow tires on? So take them off as soon as you can. (That'd be August here in Vermont) ;) Fill your tires up with air. How much? Your sidewalls list a Max PSI, start there. It's usually around 50psi. That's probably good for 3-5mpg right there. 3) Don't let the car sit there and idle. If your going to be there 30-25 seconds it's cheaper to shut it off. No you don't need to let it warm up for 10 minutes before you go buy milk. Those are the biggies, there are other competitive techniques that can be used. There are Geo Metros getting 100mpg, Hondas getting 95mpg and Escorts too. BTW, since getting a newer Subu (with an auto) my mileage has plummeted. Maybe #1 should have been "get a car with a stick", autos are tough. But that's where you start. A site with great info (and good people)cut and paste into your browser: http://www.gassavers.org/

Thanks! I'll go to that site. Sorry for the double response, I thought I'd lost the first one. It'll be nice to have a good reason for being a slow old lady. :-)

One of the threads from that site was centered around how to deal with going slow... without people killing you. Even though it saves some gas *I* don't have the guts to go 45mph on the freeway during rush hour! Folks came up with all kinds of ideas, bumper stickers, flashing signs, my favorite was those flame-thrower exhaust pipes so you can look like your in "The Fast and the Furious". That'd get 'em off your tail. I think you should get yourself one of those blue wigs and hunch down in the seat, just make sure you have speed metal blaring out the windows as they pass. ;)