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Okay, so most of my road trips are with other people in their early 20's (not necessarily a genre of drivers known for their FE....) and whenever we go on road trips we decide to split the cost of fuel (and rightfully so). Anyway, this dilemma always arises where I want to drive whatever vehicle we take because I can get much better mpg then any of my friends. However, they want to hurry up and get there quickly and not fork over the keys. I always argue that if I'm going to be splitting the fuel costs, I want to stretch my dollar as far as it will go, but it usually falls on deaf ears.

I'm sure others have similar experiences (friends, spouses, relatives, etc.) and I want to know how others have handled these situations.

Have a happy, simple, and sustainable day everyone :)

Bring a scangauge and charge everyone in proportion to the mpg they achieve. ;) Probably not a good idea, but...

I don't worry too much about it if there are a number of people along. The P(erson)MPG is good by default.

My friends just don't drive with me anymore. I dropped the hammer, either shutup about my driving or we'll take your car. I guess to the younger age group speed and driving pleasure trump spending at the pump.

Can't say I'm complaining. Less wear on my car and I get to enjoy twin scoll turbo's roaring down the road at 85-100 mph. Just as enjoyable an experiene from the passenger seat! Saving gas has become a sport but in all seriousness if I had the cash I'd dump some of it into a fun car, especially the sexy new X6 :D

Of course I'd have to have the extra cash to pay the required luxury and consumption tax I think should be required for all guzzlers and luxury cars/trucks. I think it should scale with consumption. Base it off the city EPA estimates to be safe.

Well, on any long 15hr+ road trip, everyone in the car is going to want to kill everyone else in the car by the end of it, so whatever. If they weren't mad about you making the trip last an hour longer, they'd be mad about something else.

I think if everyone is splitting the gas, you might be able to make some compromises. After all, it is a vacation. Maybe not making everybody in the back seat sweat because you've rolled up the windows and shut off the AC. Maybe agreeing to a moderate speed of 65-70 MPH. Tell them, we'll get there in an average time, and it will cut down on the gas that everyone has to split. Honestly, for me, its not worth pissing off my friends to save a buck or two. Just be the better man by picking up the tab for your share. All thats assuming that they let you drive. Just don't be an ass about it if they insist on driving. Lets say theres 4 people in the car. With one of them driving, they might use up $100 worth of gas. Thats $25 each for all 4 of you. Lets say with moderate hypermiling techniques, if you're driving you only spend $80 on gas. Thats $20 each for all four of you. Is the extra $5 really worth the argument on vacation? Hypermilers should be smart, not stingy.

Yeah all good points, usually I try to take it easy when road tripping with friends and if they ask me about it, then I'll try to share what I know. If we're in my car, and I'm driving, I'm going to be HMing, they've come to accept that I think :)

It often requires me to keep my mouth shut when riding around with other people though, I just think of all the gas they could be saving! Maybe they're not ready yet or something....

It's pretty much agreed that whoever's driving is in control of the car and everyone else chips in.

Most of my friends don't really mind my driving that much. Those that do, haven't ridden in my car in a while.

Hi All:

___This is one area where a portable DVD player or other such entertainment device can really take those the like to guzzle out of their element or even for those that would like a little distraction vs. the mundane. Time just fly’s when you are having fun is always the best policy in my book. I popped in the DVD called ARMEGEDDON on the way to Indiana last week with 6 in the MDX and I did not hear a word from the time the title was launched until we pulled into Larry’s drive with about 3 minutes left in the movie ;) 180 + mpg per person was not bad either.

___Anyway, place a ScanGauge in the car and make a game out of it. The person with the lowest score buys lunch for the rest or something. Things will get seriously FE intensive with that kind of scratch on the table :D

___Good Luck

___Wayne