With 3-buck-a-gallon gas here to stay, I decided to see what I could do to lengthen the trips between my 35-plus-dollar fill-ups. My first thought was to reduce my highway speed. Well... traveling down the highway at 65 mph lasted about ten miles. Cars were whipping past me and I quickly felt I was going to become a rolling speed bump. That old blue-haired lady didn't just flip me off, did she? Why is that old geezer giving me the evil eye as he passes by? So next I try to never fully depress the gas pedal. Boy, does that ever get boring fast! And talk about needing willpower. Not throttling your Mustang is like being placed in front of a plate of chocolate chip cookies and trying to never give in. That is not going work! What to do? Perplexed, and needing to run some errands, I hop in my daughter's little ZX3 Focus. While driving around I notice (much more noticable than my Mustang) that unless you get off the gas way before you stop you have to scrub off a bunch of speed. So playing around I decide to slip it in neutral and coast up to my next stop. Wow, it's amazing how far a modern car can roll and not lose much speed. On the rest of my stops, and on any downgrades, I slip the car into neutral. Without all the engine braking, this has to help save some gas, right?
So I give the clutch pedal thing a try on my Mustang for the next couple fill-ups. My first fill-up I find I gained an extra mpg. The second fill-up I gain 2 mpg. Ahhh... this is easily explainable you say -- a mile or two per gallon change is insignificant and could be attributed to many factors. Okay, but keep in mind I've checked my gas mileage at nearly every fill-up for the last 3 =BD years and I have never gotten 21 and 22 mpg with the driving I do. Never. My old 5-oh consistently gets 19-20, and I mean consistently.
Seems this simply change nets me a couple few bucks at every fill-up. And the best thing is I can still drive 75-85 mph on the highway AND be able floor it anytime I get the urge.
Give it a shot and see if it works for you... just be sure to get your coasting speed/distance right so you're not backing up or slowing down traffic.
Patrick