Vancouver Gas Prices Shooting Through the Roof! Is Driving Slower Necessarily Better for Fuel Economy?

Here’s a quick follow-up on my Defensive Eco-Driving series.

The gas price in Vancouver is ridiculous these days (well… I don’t have the right to complain, really — there’s people out there who are paying even more). As of June 2007, heading into the summer, we’re getting record-high gas prices that are simply shooting through the roof. Yesterday, I saw one station posting a price of $1.48/litre (just wait and see… in August I’ll probably rant about the rant being $1.80/L… haha… then I’ll look back and laugh at myself for thinking that the gas price is so high now).

For your own safety, and to save a few cents, it’s true that thou shalt not jackrabbit.

In the past 6 months or so, I’ve been doing some FE tests that are, by all means, non-scientific. Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seat belts and prepare to be blown away by the results (you may be surprised!)

February

So since I made my first FE post back in the end of January, I started to watch my driving habits and attempted to see if there are any changes on my mileage.

For the month of February, I drove like an 80-year-old granny (no offence to the grannies out there!): I went no faster than 60 km/h, never went above 1,500 RPM, and always had tailgaters on my back. I alway took it easy on the gas, so much so, now I suspect, that I was going so slowly that my good ol’ ‘93 Corolla didn’t get a chance to gear up!

For the entire month, I’d never get enough power on hills, always lugging along (keeping in mind the RPM rule). I found this kind of driving… annoying — to say the least. The result? I achieved 374.7 KM for that fueling period ( this is by no means scientific as I’d drive till the fuel light goes on).

March

For this month, I drove slightly more “regularly” — though still not regular enough: I kept about an average of 1,800 RPM. The result? My automatic transmission intelligently up-shifted more often and I achieved just a little bit over the previous month’s mileage.

I was a bit surprised. I was surprised by the fact that though I had a higher average RPM, my overall FE improved.

April

Well… for April, I decided to “normalize” things a bit. I drove like a normal person, and had an average RPM of about 2,200. I could actually “feel” my car up-shift automatically as more power was needed. This was great for my FE: I achieve just over 400 km during this period.

May

Are you seeing a trend yet?

From the previous months’ experiences, I’ve come to this conclusion: don’t stare at your RPM gauge! Drive comfortably. Don’t get too low a RPM; your car wouldn’t gear up. Don’t get too high a RPM; you’re just burning the gas away. Drive comfortably. Really feel your car and its engine. Hear it. Taste it

For the month of May, my RPM on average was about a bar above the 2k mark, which comes to about 2,200. I also maximized gliding whenever possible. Mileage: 424,4 km

From this experiment, I’ve discovered that the best way to achieve a reasonable fuel economy is to simply drive comfortably while feeling your car’s response. Do let go of the accelerator and glide as often — traffic-permitting — as possible.

I guess now I can comfortably say that a low RPM doesn’t necessarily mean high FE (I gotta get a Prius one day!)

One Response to “Vancouver Gas Prices Shooting Through the Roof! Is Driving Slower Necessarily Better for Fuel Economy?”

Click here to cancel reply.

Jun200818

Eastwood

1