Mirage close to 60 MPG again

[R.I.D.E.]

Short trip yesterday with occasional speeds above 140 KPH (reckless driving charge here for anything over 80 MPH, $500 fine and 4 points). Before the wife's parents died in 2000 we drove up to her daughters house and coming back on I95 I was averaging 80 mph, which on that road is just staying up with the flow of traffic. Yesterday I saw numerous examples of a single car length separation at speeds over 70 MPH. 3 stripe drafting behind a big rig means you don"t have other drivers less than a car length behind you no matter what speed you go, (happened this morning again, in the slow lane, idiot tailgated everybody). I can play that fool's game, if I have to get away form an idiot. The wife commented on how fast I was driving (yesterday) and that I never drove that way in the Mirage. I figured the Echo needed to have the carbon blown out at 195k miles on the odometer.

Wheels need balancing, will do that tomorrow, free at COSTCo (rotate and balance every 7k miles).

That wreck looks nasty DF glad you survived, hope you have no long term injuries like I do.

[R.I.D.E.]

https://www.google.com/search?q=coas...hrome&ie=UTF-8

Engine running or not coasting is the same.

[JockoT]

Over the years there have been a number of cars that came with free wheel mechanisms, to allow coasting. Rover, Lea Francis and SAAB, to name but 3.

[Draigflag]

Originally Posted by R.I.D.E.

I fail to understand the association between saving fuel and your accident.

The association is limiting saftey features in your car that you might need to save your life or that of another. Power steering, assisted brakes, anti lock braking system, electronic stability programs, features designed for both comfort and safety.

I can think of hundreds of examples of situations where these features can make the difference between life and death. Let's say you hit an invisible oil slick when EOCing, impossible to see and avoid, and your car drifts into a telegraph pole. Would you rather hit that pole drivers door first? Or have the ESP not only slow you down, but make sure your car stays straight, and probably on the road? I've had ESP save me once when I hit ice, car would have ended up roof side down without it. Also had ABS save me in dense snow. You don't know when or how you might need these features, accidents occur in a millionth of a second sometimes.

[JockoT]

Originally Posted by Draigflag

I've had ESP save me once when I hit ice, car would have ended up roof side down without it. Also had ABS save me in dense snow.

You seem to have had your fair share of incidents when driving. I have never had the ABS kick in unless I have provoked it to test it was working. Of course I started driving when cars had drum brakes without servos (I've even driven cars with rod and cable brakes), no ABS, no power steering, no seat belts, no laminated windscreen, no airbags or crash protection and certainly no ESP (still never had one of them). When I learned to drive what kept you safe was the skill of the driver.

[R.I.D.E.]

I hit a diesel fuel spill once coming to a red light, barely managed to stop, then I pulled into a parking lot and tried to warn other drivers of the danger. They ignored me and just kept crashing into each other. Finally I stepped out into the road before the spill and waved my arms, then they stopped before crashing into the pile up past the fuel oil spill.