i'm new member
 

Hello,

I just want to introduce myself to the community. I found out about this website after read on moneycentral.msn.com about get 50 mpg in your own car article. Hope this website will get my 99 Suburban for 25 mpg (Yeah right). I put 125 miles a day on that 1999 suburban.

Hope someone will help me out here.

Thanks,

Veasna

Welcome to the site! Consider trading it in?

Where are you at currently with it?

Someone asked me the other day what my opinion was on all the options for making greed and wast more enviromentaly friendly...
Unless you use your suburban to haul orphens to their new homes then get rid of it and get a more reasonable vehicle! I've done construction out of a honda civic hatchback, have a friend who used to repair, and install water pumping windmills out of a station wagon hauling towers and all, you can rent trucks, SUV's and almost any large vehicle you might want for a weekend trip and save a ton of money, most cars can be fitted with trailer hitches for light weight trailers for hauling dirty stuff, or bulky items.
2nd figure out how much you pay per mile to drive that beast, this meens insurance, car payments or the cash you paid, tires, gas, oil, all those repairs, and find out exactly how much that 125 miles per day is costing you, chances are you are spending $40-50 per day to drive your suburban and gas is only a small part of it, so how can you reduce how much you drive? do you need to get a different job? do you need to move?

Unfortunately just selling the vehicle isnt' a viable solution for everyone. It makes sense for me, but it might not make sense for veasna.

first things first, start being aware of your route to work. Do you have excessive stops? Do you idle often? If so, you might want to consider changing your route. If you're idling for more than 30 seconds (stoplight, train, etc.) just kill the engine.

Secondly, how fast are you driving? Try to avoid going above 65 on the interstate/freeway unless you're about to give birth and need to get to the hospital. Speeding not only wastes gas, but it endangers other people and really doesn't save you too much time.

third, are your tires inflated properly?

fourth, can you carpool with someone else? It's an easy way to double your fuel economy.

Matt has the right idea. Start with basics. Tire pres. very important on a large vehicle. Not only for MPG but saftey. Leave room between you and the next guy, helps with driving smoother and that = more mpg. Use cruise when ever you can. Are you hauling extra weight you don't need? The article had lots of common sense, tips read it a couple of times. We have no idea as to your need for a large vehicle. If you are in it by yourself an economical 2nd car might be a good idea. To replace your burb would be very expensive and if you can keep miles off it, it will give you much more life for when you do need it. Knowing what it cost to feed one, you could pay off the 2nd quite easily.

Veasna: Welcome to GasSavers.

I don't know if you can get 25mpg from that vehicle, either. I do know that you are not likely to get better mileage unless your aware of it and working to do what you can, in your circumstance, whatever that might be.

If your not hauling orphans, but it's your own kids, that probably would be Ok, as well.

welcome to the site

Welcome to the site. Unless there's a reason you need such a big vehicle for the 125 miles a day you are driving, I would calculate the total costs in driving the big Burb around. By the time you add up tires, brakes, gas, and depreciation, I think you'll see that you could be saving easily over $1000 a year by getting a second car to commute in. A late 90's Geo Metro can be found for less then $3000, and get well over 40 mpg's. Plus when it is time to replace tires, since they are little 13" guys that are about $30 a piece.

I came to a similar conclusion commuting an Acura Integra which gets about 29mpg. Between the wear and tear on the Integra, tires, gas, etc, I can probably pay for the Honda CRX HF I am commuting to work now. I drive the Acura on weekends now.

cummins 4 bt swap. 6 speed swap. Suburbans are almost necessary with a half dozen kids.

Welcome to the site! :)