Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

[rickhamilton620]

^sigh, you really are beyond hope.... save some money, sell your car, take the bus/bum rides off friends and/or coworkers and buy a REAL car plz....

Which is what people have been advising him for months now, but he refuses to listen.

I'll have to quit my job in order to do that. With the way things are going I'm probably going to do that, so yay new car time in a few months. Not having a paycheck by now is bullshit, and it's creating strain within my family (not financial, more of a "why the fuck are you working for no money, you deserve better?" and "you haven't seen your mom yet?!" strain), which of course i get to deal with first hand in a few hours. -_-

 

[Matt2000]

This afternoon I wen't as slow as 55 mph and forced myself to drive with the windows up and only the fan on, no AC, trying to squeeze out as much MPG as possible.

I see no reason for doing this, it's not going to save you a significant amount of money. You shouldn't make the drive unpleasant just to penny-pinch.

 

[narf]

I see no reason for doing this, it's not going to save you a significant amount of money. You shouldn't make the drive unpleasant just to penny-pinch.

Indeed. The key is to avoid waste while still maintaing comfort. No loss, but some financial and environmental gain.

 

[TC]

They put up a sign down the way from me that prohibits engine braking with a maximum fine of $500.00.

Can someone please explain this to me. :lol:

 

[narf]

Can someone please explain this to me. :lol:

Only explanation I can think of is pretty outlandish: Require illuminated brake lights when slowing down to wake up idiots behind.

 

[Evel]

They put up a sign down the way from me that prohibits engine braking with a maximum fine of $500.00.

Can someone please explain this to me. :lol:

The sign could be directed towards trucks, which I believe have very loud engine brakes.

(Big rigs by the way, not pick-ups)

 

[Hbriz]

I've seen them round here, it's for trucks in residential areas due to noise. But they say "limit engine braking", not "no engine braking".

 

[captain_70s]

I see no reason for doing this, it's not going to save you a significant amount of money. You shouldn't make the drive unpleasant just to penny-pinch.

That depends on your engine size and gearing, driving at 55mph rather than 70mph can mean the difference of 50mpg and 30mpg. That's a big difference to somebody working on limited funds, its the same as saying "why do you buy supermarket brand food when this is nicer?", generally because own brand crap is cheaper.

 

[rickhamilton620]

I see no reason for doing this, it's not going to save you a significant amount of money. You shouldn't make the drive unpleasant just to penny-pinch.

Indeed. The key is to avoid waste while still maintaing comfort. No loss, but some financial and environmental gain.

Actually, driving on the highway with the windows closed is significantly better MPG wise than driving with them open: http://blogs.insideline.com/roadtests/2011/06/2011-chevrolet-cruze-informal-fuel-economy-test.html The amount of gas one uses with the windows open on the freeway more than cancels out the small draw the AC would have. I just didn't want even the small draw of the AC to affect things.

http://img824.imageshack.**/img824/5215/img20101001110415.jpg

When every one way trip to and from work causes the needle to drop by one hash mark (when tank is full) something is wrong

That depends on your engine size and gearing, driving at 55mph rather than 70mph can mean the difference of 50mpg and 30mpg. That's a big difference to somebody working on limited funds, its the same as saying "why do you buy supermarket brand food when this is nicer?", generally because own brand crap is cheaper.

This, and also, store brand food isn't half bad.

 

[Spectre]

How far is your commute?

 

[rickhamilton620]

How far is your commute?

I'd estimate its a 45 min commute. I'll need to measure to be sure.

After I filled up and drove 45 minutes (according to google) to my mom's house (where i'm at at the moment) the needle was pretty much much still at F.

 

[CAPT_Howdy]

They put up a sign down the way from me that prohibits engine braking with a maximum fine of $500.00.

Can someone please explain this to me. :lol:

It's directed towards heavy trucks, which have something called a "Jake Brake" which use engine compression to help slow down the rig. It can be quite loud. Observe:

 

[TC]

So the consensus is that it's just for big rigs and because they're loud under engine braking?

Well that's good. I figured it was just another way for the police around here to steal more hard earned money from people without getting thrown in prison with the rest of the scam artists and thieves.

 

[captain_70s]

It's directed towards heavy trucks, which have something called a "Jake Brake" which use engine compression to help slow down the rig. It can be quite loud. Observe:

That's an awesome sound, although I can see why it might be tiring after a while. :lol:

 

[Hbriz]

I'd estimate its a 45 min commute. I'll need to measure to be sure.

After I filled up and drove 45 minutes (according to google) to my mom's house (where i'm at at the moment) the needle was pretty much much still at F.

But how many miles do you cover in this 45 minutes?

It's directed towards heavy trucks, which have something called a "Jake Brake" which use engine compression to help slow down the rig. It can be quite loud.

Ah, so that's what that's called. Yeah, it's shit loud. Not something you want to hear regularly, especially at night.

 

[rickhamilton620]

But how many miles do you cover in this 45 minutes?

Google says about 40 miles..could be less given my exact route. I'd measure but my odometer's broken. I might see if any android apps are available that can use the GPS to do mileage.

 

[Hbriz]

Wikipedia tells me your car has a 45L fuel tank. So if a 40 mile (65km) commute uses 11.25L of fuel, that equates to 17.3L/100km (13.6mpg). For a 1.9L car driven as sedately as it sounds, there must be something really quite wrong there. Another reason to get rid of it, then.

 

[GRtak]

When was the last time a tune up was done?

 

[rickhamilton620]

When was the last time a tune up was done?

This is going to sound horrible but maybe erm 2 years ago. It was in the shop for a massive stalling problem (left me stuck at a shopping mall for a while...) and had a load of other stuff done to it (new tires, something with the brakes, etc) when it was there, so perhaps it was done then.

If not, then the car hasn't had one in 4 years. I'm horrible I know.

 

[Cowboy]

The sign could be directed towards trucks, which I believe have very loud engine brakes.

(Big rigs by the way, not pick-ups)

Not realy, I mean they are somewhat loud but hardly louder then the engine revving under acceleration, sound is just 'different' is all......if you live on a steep hill what would you rather have? Some noise from trucks enginebraking or ALOT of noise from them crashing at the bottom of the hill when then burn out their brakes