Awl --
There was a brief ad campaign in NYC, to the effect that letting your car idle more than **10 secs** wastes gas.
Iow, the "cost" of restarting your car is equivalent to only about 10 secs worth of gas.
NYC has pretty strict idling laws, which, iirc, limit the legal idling to 3 minutes. I guess that could be whittled down to 30 sec!
fwiw.
From a practical pov, proly the biggest gas-waster is under-inflated tires, for a given car. And speeding.
It isn't idling, it is operating in "stationary power takeoff" mode powering my air conditioning and radio.
Thanks, Barack!
I get better mielage with 3 of my cars at 70 than I do at 65. Almost 15% better.
You're welcome, Mr. McCain. Pedestrian as the advice might be, it's likely still near the top of the list. It's tough for me to stay on top of, esp. as tires wear, and I have my own shop/compressor, which the avg driver doesn't have.
How bout 50 mph? 90 mph? And how did you measure it?
So do I. and I keep the tires inflated to the sidewall pressure. Always have.
I have measured every car from day one (usually new) to the last day I owned it. Every time I fill the tank I do the numbers.
On 4 Corollas, I have fared better at 70MPH than at 55-65. Around 50 I get about the same as 70.
Um, we won't talk about my Supra, OK?
Switching off the engine (at stop lights/whatever) instead of letting it idle means extra wear and tear on the starter motors and batteries, I think so. cuhulin
Never do that. When the light turns green you have to GAS it!!!
Many years ago, I had a bread route, Sunbeam Bakery.Sometimes I would see an elderly couple going along the highway in their old Chevrolet pickup truck.They had two home made signs on their truck.On the front bumper the sign said, GIDDY UP GO. on the rear bumper the sign said, WE JUST WENT. cuhulin
I doubt they factored in the cost of a new starter every couple years if you turned the car off after 10 seconds every time.
How much money would a new, or rebuilt starter motor cost for your vehicle? The last rebuilt starter motor I bought about ten years ago was for my 1978 Dodge van.I think it cost me about $45.00 with the old trade in starter motor. cuhulin
Actually, i discovered I lied.
My Scion tC has the tires pumped up to 44 PSI.
The sidewall rating is 51...
If you have a good shop mount your tires, you shouldn't have an issue. I haven't driven my pickup in close to two months, I needed it yesterday, checked the tires, all four right at 35 PSI.
I'd be more worried about the spare. Now, I do go to the expensive garage for new tires because they have the fancy balancer and they do take care in mounting.
Now the Impala, I run those about 35-37 PSI, the recommended 30 is way too low. You can feel the difference, and it's not good (to go with the recommended pressure) car is much less stable, more wallowy, etc. and the tires even look low. Even at the higher pressure they are still wearing on the edges, makes me wonder if I need to go higher. They're the original tires and I had the alignment corrected when I got the car (about 4K miles ago)
nate
The car factories reccomend the lower tire pressure for that nice soft ride. cuhulin
That's almost like a bicycle tire. I'll have to check the tire rating on my Honda S*it -- they are about the size of bicycle tires.
You have to figure what it cost to pay a shop. Figure $200+
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