Being a gassaver is like being a vegetarian. Warning long
 

You get the same basic response. Basically my father was diabetic, high blood pressure, leg and chest pain, and numerous other conditions. He was taking the maximum dosage of pill for his diabetes. Then he and my mother went vegan. No animal based products. The diabetes is gone, the blood pressure is normal, moms acne is gone, they both lost weight. etc.

When people talk to them about this they want to know, but when you tell them, they are almost dissappointed.

On my trip home I talked to my friends and they generally think I'm a quack for fiddling with my car. Some even thought I was stretching the truth. When you explain even the basics, to slow down and maintain there car ,they look at you like your hiding something or fibbing.

So recently in conversation Dad tells me he's no longer telling people he's a vegan. And I'll just stop explaining why I can get 550 miles per tank if I try.

Well said. Most people that I know think that I am a weirdo for shutting my car off and coasting on hills. One girl I work with when discussing how I got 50+MPG dismissed it because I was "cheating" because I was coasting on hills.
I dont even want to get into the rest of the argument but I guess it is sometimes best just to keep it to yourself.

people dont understand
 

Other people just dont get why you would like to coast down hills. They think that it is the end of the world that is car is off. I think its just a great way to get the most out of each tank.

Word is around my town is that I am wasting gas by turning the car off and then back on. (They assume that I am using the starter to turn the car back on, but they have no clue.) For is diesel this would be fact, but I am using a conventional gasoline engine. As long as the car's fluids are warmed up, I dont see a problem in it...You just might have exert more effort to brake.

It's America -- The land of Automatics
 

We've gotten so lazy in our driving habits, that the automatic transmisssion far outweighs the number of manuals. With this convention, we take the driver out of the equation more and more: stability control, cruise, automatic power windows for example. Many see coasting or codfishing as a "mad scientist" trying to change the world one MPG at a time. All I tell people is that I've done some stuff under the hood and improved FE. If they wan't more info, they're welcome to it; otherwise, you can tell who cares and who doesn't, and you can leave it there.

RH77

Sounds like someone was jealous. Haha I think its hilarious when I tell people I can drive 500 miles on a tank and still fill up for under $30.