Why don't we see more SUVs in the GasSavers garage?

[red91sit]

Originally Posted by Ryland

ah yes, getting out of the ditch in the snow... the first time the roads here got a bit of snow I had to go out of town, and I saw 15 or so SUV's in the ditch, and one car... from my experince driving SUV's a small front wheel drive car gets better traction and is more stable, same thing goes for shear safty, from all the articals I've read on numbers of people killed by differnt kinds of vehicles, if I had kids I would be more likely to tell them to take candy from strangers then to ride in an SUV.

They're only 15% more likely to kill their occupants than the average family sedan

[omgwtfbyobbq]

It's something of a cultural confound. If someone has the cash to want and afford an SUV, they're probably willing to spend more on gas too. So, the people who get the small efficient cars, will want to get the most out of them, but unfortunately, save less gas by driving efficiently compared to those with more inefficient cars And they drive those beasts because they don't care about saving gas/money in the first place. Diminishing returns I suppose.

[kps]

Originally Posted by ELF

its pretty discouraging when you try really hard and your mpg goes from 12 to 14.

It shouldn't be. Miles/gallon is a somewhat counterintuitive unit, since it's inverse to what people generally care about, which is how much fuel is used.

Suppose someone drives 10000 miles.
* Going from 12mpg to 14mpg (2mpg improvement) saves 120 gallons.
* Going from 24mpg to 28mpg (4mpg improvement) saves 60 gallons.
* Going from 36mpg to 42mpg (6mpg improvement) saves 40 gallons.
If you start with a compact at 36mpg and want to save the same 120 gallons over 10000 miles, you need to hit 63mpg.

[skewbe]

Originally Posted by kps

...
If you start with a compact at 36mpg and want to save the same 120 gallons over 10000 miles, you need to hit 63mpg.

I came up with 84mpg?

[omgwtfbyobbq]

Lets just say a lot more.

[Peakster]

Originally Posted by kps

Suppose someone drives 10000 miles.
* Going from 12mpg to 14mpg (2mpg improvement) saves 120 gallons.
* Going from 24mpg to 28mpg (4mpg improvement) saves 60 gallons.
* Going from 36mpg to 42mpg (6mpg improvement) saves 40 gallons.

Holy! Now THAT puts it into perspective! (BTW, I've driven 17,400 miles in my Geo since I bought it... and that was only 6 months ago!)

[skewbe]

It actually does look more obvious if you invert the units, for this example lets convert the MPGs to gallons/10000miles (just divide 10000 by the mpg number):


* Going from 833g/10kmi to 714g/10kmi (2mpg improvement) saves ~120 gallons.
* Going from 417g/10kmi to 357g/10kmi (4mpg improvement) saves ~60 gallons.
* Going from 278g/10kmi (36mpg) to 238g/10kmi (6mpg improvement) saves ~40 gallons.

Since we have a common denominator, life is easy. 278g-120g = 158g, 10000/158 = 63mpg. Where did I get 84mpg from?!?

[Silveredwings]

Originally Posted by skewbe

It actually does look more obvious if you invert the units, for this example lets convert the MPGs to gallons/10000miles (just divide 10000 by the mpg number):


* Going from 833g/10kmi to 714g/10kmi (2mpg improvement) saves ~120 gallons.
* Going from 417g/10kmi to 357g/10kmi (4mpg improvement) saves ~60 gallons.
* Going from 278g/10kmi (36mpg) to 238g/10kmi (6mpg improvement) saves ~40 gallons.

Since we have a common denominator, life is easy. 278g-120g = 158g, 10000/158 = 63mpg. Where did I get 84mpg from?!?

It must've been a diesel.

[ELF]

Originally Posted by kps

It shouldn't be. Miles/gallon is a somewhat counterintuitive unit, since it's inverse to what people generally care about, which is how much fuel is used.

Suppose someone drives 10000 miles.
* Going from 12mpg to 14mpg (2mpg improvement) saves 120 gallons.
* Going from 24mpg to 28mpg (4mpg improvement) saves 60 gallons.
* Going from 36mpg to 42mpg (6mpg improvement) saves 40 gallons.
If you start with a compact at 36mpg and want to save the same 120 gallons over 10000 miles, you need to hit 63mpg.

This is great! I was saving more gallons of gas driving my truck
guess I will have to start driving it again

Lets see 10k in my truck = 769 gallons @ 13mpg
10k in my car = 384 gallons @ 26mpg

Total gallons of gas saved by parking my truck and driving the car =385

I am not trying to discourage anyone here, I am happy to hear about any person who tries to save gas, no matter what they drive.

[diamondlarry]

Originally Posted by ELF

I am not trying to discourage anyone here, I am happy to hear about any person who tries to save gas, no matter what they drive.

DITTO with a capital D!