Originally Posted By: subiedriver
I also don't charge up to stoplights, I usually start backing off 1/4 mile in advance, normally it'll turn green by the time I get there. Other people look at me like I'm nuts, but in reality, they're the idiots, lol.
I was willing to let everything you posted go up until this point.
Being a fellow motorist on these roads in Colorado with you, I can attest that Subaru drivers out here tend to make themselves into rolling roadblocks. Intentionally, at that.
They have superiority complexes about being (supposedly) better safer drivers, and sometimes go out of their way to get that extra mile per gallon out of their Outback because it makes them feel good about themselves. One of my best friends does exactly the same thing in his '06 Legacy Outback hatchback.
Its great that you want to do that.
But, can you, and the rest of the Subaru drivers who want to drive like that, PLEASE do several other activities, also.
First one, please drive in the right lane on a road that has multiple lanes going in the same direction. There is a law about slower vehicles are required to stay right, you know. Granted, the Police don't enforce it, but I wish they would.
Second, try doing the speed limit instead of 15 mph slower than the speed limit, especially up a hill. We have LOTS of hills to climb here in Colorado, if you haven't noticed. Actually, I know you noticed, because you bought a Subaru to get you better traction in the winter to go up those hills.
Third, when you merge onto a highway, can you please speed up to the flow of traffic in the merge lane before you pull into the right lane of the highway? It would be greatly appreciated to not have to slow from 65 mph to 30 just because you don't want to have to wait for me to go by your slow moving vehicle.
Fourth, if you have an automatic, have you considered pulling the AWD fuse to see if you would get better fuel economy from that alone? You know, that fuse you have to pull if you need to use the space saving spare tire on your car. Have you considered that at all? Probably not. You really don't need your AWD during the summer, on your asphalt commute, you know.
And I have to point out the most important thing that you have obviously missed in all your feelings of superiority:
Your driving behavior makes you stick out like a sore thumb, yet you think everyone else is nuts for driving like normal people.
You are the one going out of your way to drive abnormally.
You are the one holding up the flow of traffic.
You are the one disturbing traffic flow, and holding up other people who simply want to get where they are going.
You are the one struggling to get 30 mpg in your car, in the spring. Just about every car in your vehicle's segment with the same size engine gets 30 mpg WITHOUT driving the way you do. My '07 2.5 Nissan Altima would regularly get 35 mpg on the highway.
You are the one that is out of the ordinary, and you need to realize that.
By the way...
I get 55 mpg driving my touring bike like a normal person in traffic, getting around people like you (probably you, even) with barely a thought. I can get down to 49 mpg driving a bit aggressively, or up to 60 if I have the patience to drive like you, which I don't.
When I need better mpg, I switch to the appropriate vehicle to get that mileage. I don't keep trying to push a square peg through a round hole.
I have a car for bad weather, and I have winter tires for that car for snow driving. I have 3 motorcycles for the nicer summer weather, where I can choose what type of mpg I want, depending on what type of smile I want on my face while getting those mpg.
And that's the difference between people driving Subaru's who try to get somewhat decent mpg numbers:
You have to WORK at it.
I like to enjoy my drive on the road.
Being behind people like you means that I don't get to enjoy my drive nearly as much.
But yet I'm still getting better mpg than you.
And I'm not having to work at it, at all.
Which one of us is nuts again?
BC.
