What saves more gas?

So I just got through a full tank without using cruise control and being hyper-vigilant with the gas pedal. To the point where I was focusing on the gas pedal all the time.

I got 23.1 mpg - which is the best I've ever tracked.

With cruise control being used as much as possible, I was getting 22.5 - 22.8 mpg.

So I have to weigh whether or not using CC is worth the 0.3 - 0.6 mpg (yes I know one tank is a hilariously small sample size).

I really like the "set it and forget" use of cruise control.

 

Just got back from a run to CT. Went with an empty 12 foot V nose enclosed and came back with a Minifish sailboat at maybe 150 lbs.

Are you ready for this???

NYS thruway and Mass Pike average of 71 mph


Here it comes....


10.125 mpg


OUCH! 390 miles. Filled before I left. Filled there and filled on the way home!!

 

For math's sake, we can just say it is 0.5 MPG, and then say you usually fill up when the gas light comes on. That gives you about 9 miles more out of an entire tank when you don't use cruise control... Just my opinion, but I would much rather use cruise (hell, I usually "feather" my cruise almost the entire way to work...) and lose out on that 9 miles, and I average about 20 MPG in my truck as it is.

 

I average about 14.5 gallons per fill up.

So an added 7.25 miles if I don't use cruise control.

For math's sake let's say I average 21 mpg and that's an extra 7 miles. That's 1/3rd of a gallon of gasoline I'd be saving with each fill up. Roughly a $1.25 per fill up.

Not that bad of a "convenience" charge

 

Windows down for local driving, windows up for highway driving a/c on. (less drag at a higher speed) letting off the gas and coasting ot a stop at a light or stop sign will save gas.

 

Use www.fuelly.com (Click on the image in my sig)... it's a great gas mileage tracker...

 

Corrected and updated with new info.

I pissed off some people on the freeway today and did 55 MPH on my 16-mile city/highway commute to work. I also updated all the data with tenths to get rid of some rounding and replaced 80 <wrong> with 75.

55 MPH: 24.5 MPG
60 MPH: 23.5 MPG
65 MPH: 20.8 MPG
75 MPH: 18.0 MPG

 

These are about what I get. Once I got 23mpg going 70 with a nice tailwind.

 

I know some people doubt that our trucks can get gas mileage this good, but I found this Gen 1 Tacoma tidbit on Wikipedia that supports what we have found:

The 2.4 L gave a highly useful 29 miles per US gallon (8.1 L/100 km; 35 mpg-imp) (hwy), the 2.7 L gave 26 miles per US gallon (9.0 L/100 km; 31 mpg-imp) (hwy), and the 3.4 L delivered 22 miles per US gallon (11 L/100 km; 26 mpg-imp) (hwy)