Gas Saving Techniques?

[ScionDriver]

How much gas do you use being idle being stopped by a train compared to turning your car off for that amount of time?
....or in other words....
Whats the equivilent of turning your car off then on rather than staying idle

[TheOne]

i may be wrong but when the car is idling it doesn't use a lot of gasoline because at that time it is running lean(less fuel more air), you wont notice your fuel gauge go down, until really later.

i don't know how much does it use though.

[Niko_Fx]

I don't think turning your car off on traffic lights will save you a lot of gas... You're burning almost nothing at idle... (specially in your 4 cylinder). If you have those friggin 130+ wagon trains that take like 5-10 minutes to go through I guess you can shut down the engine... I never do it as the Florida heat is too f*%$ing annoying.

[Matra et Alpine]

I don't think turning your car off on traffic lights will save you a lot of gas... You're burning almost nothing at idle... (specially in your 4 cylinder). If you have those friggin 130+ wagon trains that take like 5-10 minutes to go through I guess you can shut down the engine... I never do it as the Florida heat is too f*%$ing annoying.

Mitsubishi introduced a GDI engine with automatic stop and go years ago.

IIRC it was only a matter of a few seconds before it was better for economy to switch the engine off.

[Mustang]

[Jack_Bauer]

[Image]

WOW!!!

Such a beautiful creation!

[h00t_h00t]

A great gas saving technique is to tailgate a large truck or coach, you'll massive mpg but risk dying when he brakes.

[henk4]

the best technique of course would be to switch to a diesel engine. I can't wait to get a test drive in the european Chrysler 300C which will be fitted with a 250 BHP 3.5 litre Mercedes diesel engine. Currently we are having a brand new Charger with a 3.5 V6 gas engine which supposedly also pours out 250 horses, but it really feels like a lame duck and it will take at least 30% more fuel.

[h00t_h00t]

But (in britain anyway...) diesel costs more than petrol, so to make a real saving you'd have put in hundreds of of thousands of miles.

[henk4]

But (in britain anyway...) diesel costs more than petrol, so to make a real saving you'd have put in hundreds of of thousands of miles.

you are not telling me that petrol is 30% cheaper than diesel, that was at least not the case when I was in the UK 3 weeks ago. Anyway at that occasion I made sure my car was filled up enough to allow me to drive to Silverstone and back to Harwich to catch a ferry In Holland diesel is still about 25-30 cheaper than regular. (Taxes, you know)

[BlueSubaruSTi]

i heard from an unreliable source that ignition uses as much gas as 5 minutes of idling

[henk4]

i heard from an unreliable source that ignition uses as much gas as 5 minutes of idling

probably that source was related to the oil industry. 10 seconds would be a closer guess, engine technology has improved......

[SIMPLETON]

Well the best thing for fuel economy is to not drive at all. Of course, that simply isnt an option for us.

[lightweight]

When accelerating you should have top gear and press the gas pedal all the way. This way you don't have the pumping losses. BMW owners don't have to do thet, as they have Valvetronic.

The above works with cars that have injection. Carburated car owners should press the pedal gently (like they have an egg between their foot and gas pedal) and keep the RPM a bit below top torque rpm

[pimento]

I have a mini.... I just floor it places.