Now Lava over at Save Money might not like this much, but hey. I’ve been checking my gas mileage on and off lately, since some environmental issues have changed. I used to average about 24 MPG in the city and 29 MPG on the highway. That’s not that bad for a 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer. So I guess I shouldn’t complain much. Since I’ve moved down to Plano TX, I’ve decided to start tracking it again since so much has changed. First of all, my route now involves traffic, which I didn’t have to deal with before. Also, for my musical entertainment, I’ve added two 12″ speakers enclosed in a speaker box, which of course is dead weight. These two things should have crippled my mileage, but in reality the average is about the same. When you think about it, that makes a lot of sense, since the reduction due to the speakers and the traffic would be offset by the fact that I’m driving solo these days. Yep, since Lava’s not here with me, I’m 100+ lbs lighter (I think I can safely say that she’s over 100 lbs without getting into too much trouble). So all in all, things have averaged about the same.

That is until Lava drove about 70 miles on a trip we were taking. At times I wanted to tell her “the speed limit is 70 mph, no one’s gonna pull you over for doing 75 mph”. But I kept my mouth shut and eventually, we arrived at our destination. Now you need to consider that the entire trip is about 150 miles and she drove just about half of that at whopping 65 mph. When I took over, I was a consistent 10 mph above that. When we finally arrived, after what seemed like days, I filled up, wrote down the mileage and when I got home I pulled out the old trusted calculator (actually, it’s on my cell phone, but you know…for dramatic effect). To my surprise, I got about 31 MPG. I was shocked, but pleasantly so.

Thus was born the new gas saving technique: Drive Like An Old Lady. Now I do a lot of reading and researching on the internet. And from all accounts I’ve learned that gas mileage dramatically reduces about 60 mph. It’s one thing to read it on a web page and a totally different thing to see the results for yourself. So there will be no more trailing Corvettes at 85 mph on the highway for me. After all, on a 2 hour and 30 minute trip, what’s an extra 10 anyway? I might even be able to offset that by leaving after peak traffic and cruising for the entire trip. I applied this technique on my solo trip back home and got about 34 mpg. Seeing as gas prices are nearing $2.50, oh happy day. Now that’s all well and good for the highway, but what about the city? Putting the technique to the test, I pulled off 28 mpg in the city. That’s after two weeks of driving to and from work and one short highway trip. My next highway trip, I think I’m going to go all the way down to 60 and see what happens. One other trick that is worth mentioning is avoiding drive-throughs. I’ve read that if you plan to idle for more than 1 minute you should turn off your engine. This works on the same premise. I simply park, if it’s not too much of a pain, and I walk in and order and get out. Funny thing is, some times that’s even quicker if inside is pretty empty.

So next time you’re on the highway and yelling at that Lancer to get out of your way, that could be me; next time you swerve to switch lanes around a gray car on your rush to the red light ahead, that could me; and next time you’re at the pump looking at the receipt and contemplating trading in for a Prius, that guy in Lancer nonchalantly filling up, that could be me. So I beg you, please save the harsh words; keep your middle fingers inside your cars when you pass by; because I’m not an old lady, but I’m sure as hell gonna drive like one from now on.

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