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Cebron Hendrix from Complete Car Care;"Today's cars were designed to travel between 60 and 70 miles an hour. Driving below 60 will start to eat more gas." (http://www.kbmt12.com/news/local/20626394.html)


http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/hypermiling2.jpgBrian Burns - KBMT - June 21, 2008

Somehow, I suspect he did not do that well in English 101 and Thesis Writing -- Ed.

Heard of "hypermiling?"

Ways to save gas and there are some interesting web sites out there that offer tips and tricks on saving money.

Some work, and some are downright dangerous.

Our Brian Burns checked on the gas saving facts.

Here's something i always wondered about, saving gas by turning off the air conditioner… http://www.kbmt12.com/news/local/20626394.html

I left a comment about the "Driving slower than 60 will start to eat more gas". They haven't posted it yet.

"Clean air filters don't save gas, but dirty filters will rob your car of power."

Humm, so if your car is robbed of power, you will still have the same MPG?
I don't get it..


And this one is great:

Most cars and trucks were designed to travel at a certain speed.

Cebron Hendrix from Complete Car Care;"Today's cars were designed to travel between 60 and 70 miles an hour. Driving below 60 will start to eat more gas."

======

What kind of car are we talking about here? The cars I've driven lately seem to do well at 50-55 and start to guzzle at 60 and really suck it down at 70..

Somebody please explain this to me.. :)

And the world is flat.

And the world is flat.

Priceless.

I left a rather heated post advocating the safety of hypermiling as well as informing Brian, the individual who wrote the article, that he needs to work on his research abilities. The posted article is yet another reassurance that plenty of Americans are truly miss guided.

First off articles like this are just disturbing. It is obvious that this person is a very bad reporter. Which unfortunately is the norm in these times.


"Clean air filters don't save gas, but dirty filters will rob your car of power."

Humm, so if your car is robbed of power, you will still have the same MPG?
I don't get it..

Well they actually are correct, even though they say it in a odd way.

Your cars engine adjusts the amount of fuel it uses to the amount of air coming in.

So when you have a dirty air filter you get less air in which means less fuel is used and that results in a power loss but does not result in a loss in fuel economy.

I dont have the link handy but i will look for it, there was a study done on this exact thing to see whether or not the myths were true/false.

It used Air filters like K&N and a few other high end ones and then used paper ones clean and dirty.

The fuel economy difference across each was below 1mpg. Now the power difference was more significant, i think it was up to 15hp different.


Now there are other disadvantages to having a dirty air filter. If the engine is working harder it wears down faster, the extra amount of particles/dirt getting in the engine could damage many parts in your engine.

So you should for sure keep you air filter changed when needed.

While looking for that study i came across this. http://www.metrompg.com/posts/air-filter-part-1.htm

It basically shows what i was saying earlier, more air does not equal better fuel economy.



A dirty air filter. Our tests show that driving with a dirty air filter no longer has any impact on fuel economy, as it did with older engines. That's because modern engines use computers to precisely control the air/fuel ratio, depending on the amount of air coming in through the filter. Reducing airflow causes the engine to automatically reduce the amount of fuel being used. Fuel economy didn't change, but the Camry accelerated much more slowly with a dirty filter.

That is from this page, bottom of it. http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/tires-auto-parts/car-maintenance/get-the-most-mileage-for-your-fuel-dollars-406/

It sounds like he got most of this right, but still not perfect. There are cases where dirty filters can damage economy...super/turbo chargers...since engine power is being borrowed to force more air through the filter...dirty filters should damage economy, but when your turbo/super charger kick in, how much are you really worring about your economy?

And the A/C vs windows is still a thorn in my side. It depends on make of car and condition of A/C. And, as almost always, they left out using just the fan/vent which shouldn't represent any drag, and uses considerablly less power than A/C. (Frankly I don't consider the fan to use any significant power as it seems to have no noticable effect on EV cruising time whereas headlights can cut that range by 20 to 40%.

I wouldn't be surprised if many cars do achive best mileage around, or slightly above, 60mph. Anyone who has seen me comment on this before knows that I get my best constant-speed ICE mileage between 45/50mph. In that area I can get 40+mph on gas. Frankly I wish I could always cruise at that speed. But its too fast (illeagal) in most residential areas, and too slow to be safe on the interstate and some highways.

I wish i could drive 45 everywhere. In 4th gear going 45 i avg 60+mpg.

Yeah, NPR had someone from Consumer Reports debunking myths and the air filter was among them. And I agree -- the comment about "driving below 60mph = eating gas" really doesn't make sense to me. Staying in my highest gear at the lowest speed (40-45mph) I get pretty good mileage or at least that's what my gas tank is telling me. :)

(Maybe he meant driving from a dead stop in a low gear --> more work on the engine?)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90788073

Bad reporters should have their biographies written by other bad reporters. Then that way they'll have to deal with setting the record straight and see how everybody else likes it.

Bad reporters should have their biographies written by other bad reporters. Then that way they'll have to deal with setting the record straight and see how everybody else likes it.

Ha thats a great idea :)

Check out the video - I wonder if he is aware that he was drafting that semi?

We asked Hendrix, who runs a car repair shop what people are doing to save gas.

I'm suprised he did not recommend the transmission fluid power flush, the oil power flush, and the windshield wiper fluid power flush as obvious measures to increase MPG...

How do these stations get away with spewing out wrong, stupid information?

We asked Hendrix, who runs a car repair shop what people are doing to save gas.

I'm suprised he did not recommend the transmission fluid power flush, the oil power flush, and the windshield wiper fluid power flush as obvious measures to increase MPG...

I want to check with Hendrix to see if I can also lose weight by eating entire pizza pies for supper, instead of eating only a slice at a time, since my body was designed to digest an entire pizza. :confused:

Wow :eek:

well-researched article!!! NOT

Under 60 mph wastes gas? I guess driving a Yaris under 60 is the new Hummer.

Under 60 mph wastes gas? I guess driving a Yaris under 60 is the new Hummer.

Ha! I already confirmed this. I disassembled my dash cluster and scratched off the "h" in "mph" on the speedometer and painted over it with a "g" with some old White-Out typewriter correction fluid, which I huffed while adding the "g". Now I have a fuel economy gage that reads up to 140. Woo hoo! Now I can't wait to get out on the interstate and crank that puppy all the way up to 140mpg. :D

Under 60 mph wastes gas? I guess driving a Yaris under 60 is the new Hummer.


Maybe this is the type of car he was talking about?
http://inventorspot.com/files/images/Flying%20car--taylor%20aerocar%20restored.img_assist_custom.jpg
Maybe it's got a stall speed of 60?? ;)