Since I never made an intro in the early days of CleanMPG, I'll do one now.
I remember year-round Daylight Savings time and the first lines at the pump in the 1970's, so I tried to do some eco-driving, but was frustrated because my hypermiling literacy was probably about 10%. Little did I realize most of my trips were under three miles and was clueless as to the engine not warming up at trip's end. 20mpg city/30mpg highway in a 1974 Opel Manta seemed good in 1980...I was in college so I did not need to drive it much. While I wonder what my present knowledge would do back then, I could have spent a small fortune in modding it - things are so much better 30 years later.
My college car - 1974 Opel Manta with 1.8 liter engine
After college, I sold the Opel and got a 1974 Civic. Why I bought three Honda's after that one would be puzzeling given the grief I had over it's last six weeks. Of course, I made the incredibly boneheaded mistake of running out of coolant, then baptizing the engine with a hose.
It cracked the engine block and a few months later the engine redlined until the pistons stuck like they intentionally did in C4C. It may have been my first time driving at 50mpg. Even though the engine was only 1.2 liter - going from a slushbox to a 4-speed gave the Civic better acceleration.
This 1974 Datsun 1200 held up very well - even after a high school kid rearended it attempting to impress two girls playing "chicken". Still got 50mpg and might be running today were it not for the kid.
I finally got my first new car - a 1986 CRX HF. Got 50mpg easily, probably 60mpg on occasion - amazed by the glide of this Cd 0.32 car. Again, got rear-ended. A drunk I never saw did a hit-and-run as I ran a yellow light @40...if I'd stoped I'd been in the ICU or morgue.
Traded it in for a 1988 CRX HF. Lasted 12 years and 250,000 miles until it was rear-ended by a cell phone driver...is this a pattern or what?
Think I got 76mpg on one trip, but must have been at least mid 60s. Did not know it was a FAS, but first time I tried it was in the mid 90's between Denver and the Eisenhower Tunnel on I70....coast a mile and drop maybe 500 feet.
This is the current 2000 Honda Insight I drive.
At the forums I frequent, my screen name is the same as my real name - Chuck since most address me by that anyway.
I am aware of my reputation as the enforcer here, but
it's to insure that 99.9% of the members here will have a pleasant experience discussing hypermiling - we're not a general auto forum. This was reinforced by a greenwasher forum that let everything go - kind of like living in a crack neighborhood. I've noticed over the years, guzzlers often get
very defensive about speeding or doing work commutes in a huge family vehicle....a few despise me pointing out it's not green driving and invariably they are gearheads.
Aside from guilty, vitrolic speeders, I deal with spammers, who take insanity to a totally different level....some come back weeks after being banned to accomplish what????
Linear Mode
