Thursday, May 3, 2007

The Fast & The Frugal - Memphis Drift

So, I'm trying an experiment, and I figured I'd share with the rest of OD, and see if anyone else is doing the same thing.

I drive a stick (o, how I love the stick) and one of the cooler things that I've always 'heard' but never done was drift/coast in the car - to save on gas.

So. What I started doing last week was drifting. As much as I could - slipping the car into neutral, and letting the inertia carry me down the hill/to the stoplight/off the exit ramp/etc..... just doing it off an on, for a week, upped my MPG from 32 to 34. I know, I know, a measley two miles per gallon, but still - considering gas (when I filled my tank last night) has crept up to the lovely price of 2.79 (member year before last when gas didn't get this expenisve until AFTER Katrina took out the oil refineries in LA? WTF, ya'll? ) I figure that anything I can do to save fuel is - wise, on so MANY different levels.

So far - I've gotten 37 miles, and the needle hasn't even shifted from 'over-full'. I usually only got 25 miles before it started drifting into the actual gauge range.

I keep safety in mind - I simply CANNOT do this on the highway - drifting doesn't give me enough power to go safely fast enough to stay in the flow - and we don't have many hills on the route I drive home/to work. On the city streets - every hill is an opportunity, every stoplight/stopsign is DEFINITELY an opportunity - if I HAVE to brake, I'm in neutral - period. I can switch lanes easily, and I can pop right back into 3rd/4th if need be.

*evilgrin* It's like having a hybrid, without the plug. *LOL*

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