Green Driving

I recently took a long trip from MD to Alabama and then back with a stop in the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina. (The ride on I-40 across the NC border to Asheville is gorgeous. I also will be trying the I-26 route from TN to Asheville in the next year as I hear that it is a great ride also.)

I pulled and changed the plugs on my 2002 ODY at 89,209 and I also made sure the tires were over inflated to 39 PSI. The plug removal went pretty well, the plugs came out with just a tiny bit of nudging and I used anti-seize and di-electric on installation of the new ones. Driving around 80 on the way down, I got about 22 MPG, but I then tried a slower speed on the way back.

From Knoxville to Asheville, I got 28.0 mpg as I set the cruise around 70. RPM was between 1900 and 2000. I believe that this RPM is the "sweet spot" for this engine. I suppose if I had it hooked up to a fancy diagnostic computer that I could fine an exact spot, but this worked well. Wondering if this was a fluke, I tried it again. From the spot where I-77 comes into I-81 to Winchester, VA, again driving around 70, I calculated 27.77 mpg. At this point I was around 91,000 miles on the engine. These 2 stretches are the highest MPG I have ever observed and pretty damn good if you ask me!

I also have slowed my 2005 Civic LX down below 60 (it's my commuter car) even though everyone passes me, and a combination of highway and local driving, 2/3 highway, and I got 36+ mpg.

Beside from making sure that your car is in good mechanical condition, slowing down and not accelerating like a rabbit from a dead stop, seems to be the single biggest thing you can do to save fuel.