Anybody thinking about selling because of gas prices??

I get better gas mileage than my friend's STi and I don't have to run premium.

Gas prices will come and go and if you want to save on gas get a motorcycle or ride your bicycle. Truck people are truck people. I've only driven one over the weekend and know that I will always own one from now on and it will most likely be a Toyota. When you can justify the purchase of another vehicle then by all means consider something with a trunk and good fuel efficiency. And you should always crunch the numbers but so many people are incapable of even the most basic of mathematical economics. I figure I put 5k my a year on my bike that averages 60mpg and will do another 5-7k mi on my truck that should average 20-22mpg. That's 434 gallons a year over the course of 12k miles, worst case scenario, yielding an annual average of 27.6 mpg. With conservative riding and driving I could probably see 30mpg over a year after I get the truck broken in. I could not justify buying an economy car.

 

I don't think anyone here has a problem with people who are using smart driving methods to reduce fuel consumption. I try to drive a little smarter with these gas prices, and I'm sure many others here do as well. You got it bang on when you said "Safety is the primary concern when driving". The problem I personally have is people who are a danger to others. For example, if you want to go the speed limit, that's great (not to mention smart). But when people go the speed limit (or under) in the left hand lane, sitting right beside someone else who is going the exact same speed, that's a danger to themselves and to others. What would happen if an animal, or worse, a person ran out onto the road? They'd have no free lane to swerve into.

I personally get frusterated with people using "Pulse and glide" on the highway. There's nothing more frustrating than passing a slow moving vehicle on the highway, only for them to come flying past you a minute later and then slow down to 10 under the limit again (usually just before the passing lane ends). It ends up being a continual game of Leap Frog.

With idling, the danger isn't with people who shut off the engine while waiting to pick someone up, or even in a traffic jam. The danger lies in people who shut off the engine at red lights, where you can't avoid being rear-ended if needed. Worse are the ones who shut off the engine while going down a hill. With no power breaks or steering, there's no way to avoid a collision if a kid or a car shoots out infront of you. With a hybrid, this obviously does not apply as they are designed to do that. You don't lose power steering/breaks when the engine shuts off on a hill, and you still have battery power for rear end collision avoidance at red lights. But with a conventional gas/diesel engine it's a big no-no.

Can't really speak on tire pressure. I just keep mine to whatever it says on the door.

 

Nope. I just bought my first Tacoma because of gas prices. Traded in an 06 Dodge.

 

I traded 05 Dodge dakota for mine. Went from 12mpg to 22mpg

 

Nope, I won't trade it. I have motorcycles if things get desperate. They'll blow the doors off your smart car and still get 45mpg. The downside is the roof leaks and the heater sucks.

 

Is that what they call it?? Never knew it had a name.

I agree. GRRR makes me want to drive a BIG truck with those BIG bumpers and just push them out of the way

But since I like my tacoma, guess it's just a dream...

 

^No, get ARB bumpers and your dreams may come true.

That sounds like a freaking Disney commercial...

 

hell no im going to have her for a long time

 

Yea, I didn't even know it was a hypemiling technique until recently. I thought it was just idiots who don't know how to keep a steady speed, which it may often be. They say that speeding up, then "gliding" uses less fuel than keeping a steady speed. I don't know if it's true, and it's supposed to work better in hybrids where the engine shuts down during the "glide", but non hybrid drivers do it to. Either way, it's dangerous when other cars are around and it causes everyone behind you to use more gas.

 

I'm glad we don't have those hypermiler fucksticks in my area.

That's all I need to say on the subject.

 

LoL

Yep, but until cars start driving themselves, that will never happen.

 

Ok, This made me laugh!!

 

What's even more frustrating is I don't think it actually would save gas unless you were doing it on a decline. It takes more gas to accelerate past a speed and coast down below that speed than it would if you just held a steady speed to begin with. The way hypermiling is supposed to work is you use gravity to your advantage by coasting in neutral downhill when you normally would have kept the gas flowing and only using gas and gears when your car starts to slow. In addition, if they're just letting off the gas, there is engine braking involved in slowing them down making the results even worse.

 

Those mods are probably worth an extra 10mpg!

 

I don't care what anyone thinks, that thing is awesome!

 

I'd drive it, and crush all the puny Smrt Cars beneath my mighty wheels.

 

Well I am glad this thread is still going strong. Now that gas prices have drop by 50% I am now trying to sell my smart car.

I have listed it 3x on EBAY and no takers. Funny how things change. If I had sold my car when I got it in June, I could have made a $3K profit, now I would have to take a $3K loss.

 

^Does that surprise you? Many of us have said all along that the high gas prices wouldn't last. Matter of fact, they've followed almost the exact timeline as the oil embargo years so it was fairly easy to predict. Will they go up again? Sure, but so will milk, eggs, and bread.

Best of luck on your sale. I really do hope you can make it work without too much of a loss.