Absolutely! Less $4 spent on gas is more $$ in my pocket!
Does fuel economy matter to you at all?
- Thread starter ZZman
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Not hugely. Used to get about 17km/L and now (after carb clean) am only getting about 16km/L, but I don't drive much and petrol is much cheaper here than in the UK, so I'd consider somerthing bigger like a Jeep, for example.
The snag is the capacity-based annual "fuel tax" levied by the Taiwan Govt, which hits bigger engines hard even if they don't use much fuel and/or aren't driven.
The snag is the capacity-based annual "fuel tax" levied by the Taiwan Govt, which hits bigger engines hard even if they don't use much fuel and/or aren't driven.
If you can believe what people say,those Panther based 4.6 V8 cars are supposed to get upward of 26 mpg on the open highway.I have to laugh,because if they did,the EPA would have rated them as such and Ford wouldn't have dropped them in favor of FWD V6 cars...
In my mind the order goes
1. Reliability
2. Comfort
3. Long term cost for me to operate
4. MPG
If I can get the first 3 to my liking I will then go with the best MPG, sure.
To those with MPG as first and foremost...
Do you ever floor it from a light? Or merging?
Or drive even 1 mph over 55mph?
What kind a furniture do you sit on in your house?
Metal folding chairs? Plastic stackables?
Most people I know who care tons about MPG are leasing brand new cars....?
Doesn't quite make sense to me. $$$
1. Reliability
2. Comfort
3. Long term cost for me to operate
4. MPG
If I can get the first 3 to my liking I will then go with the best MPG, sure.
To those with MPG as first and foremost...
Do you ever floor it from a light? Or merging?
Or drive even 1 mph over 55mph?
What kind a furniture do you sit on in your house?
Metal folding chairs? Plastic stackables?
Most people I know who care tons about MPG are leasing brand new cars....?
Doesn't quite make sense to me. $$$
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It used to matter a lot when I was logging 75 miles per day, but now since I have retired a tank lasts me 4-5 weeks on the Sonata. We rarely drive the Tuscan and plan to get rid of it before winter. and our daughter drives the Forester as a school car and will take it to college in the fall. She has a job and pays her own fuel and it does pretty well on fuel Our 4 cyl Sonanta does pretty well mileage wise also. Basically being retired I often go a week without driving at all which is nice ...real nice. I always keep our Sonata and Tuscon above the halfway mark, but probably fuel them up maybe every 3 weeks at best. Nice to be out of the rat race and not buying fuel all the time.
While its important its not the most important factor in car buying decision.
Of course if it was critical to someone they would drive at or below the speed limit to get the best mileage.
Of course if it was critical to someone they would drive at or below the speed limit to get the best mileage.
Fuel economy is important, but the rest of the vehicle has to meet needs & wants as well.
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In my signature you can see a wide spread of MPG vehicles ... the cars get driven the most but the other two do more work
Not at all...425+ hp is fun!!!
Lets see: 88 E-150, 08 Jeep Liberty, 2016 Rubicon. Gas mileage sucks across the board. But then again I didn't buy then for gas mileage.
You don't have to squeeze into a little economy car to get good gas mileage.
My Ford fusion has PLENTY of room, and I'm getting an average of 32mpg. 16 miles city, 44 miles highway a day. After a full week of driving to work and back, my car has a half of a tank left. My Jeep, right now gets 15mpg, I have to refill by Friday morning before work (4 days). Granted it's lifted and bigger tires, but before that I was getting 16-17 mpg.
My 6'4 240lb father can easily fit into the fusion and has plenty of leg room.
My Ford fusion has PLENTY of room, and I'm getting an average of 32mpg. 16 miles city, 44 miles highway a day. After a full week of driving to work and back, my car has a half of a tank left. My Jeep, right now gets 15mpg, I have to refill by Friday morning before work (4 days). Granted it's lifted and bigger tires, but before that I was getting 16-17 mpg.
My 6'4 240lb father can easily fit into the fusion and has plenty of leg room.
It matters to me. As a hobby, I've done significant modifications to achieve greater MPG.
However, I am unwilling to drive 20MPH slower to increase MPG by 20%. The additional time spend driving equates to $4/hour. Sorry, but my time is very valuable and I'd pay a little more in fuel costs to save time.
Before you chop my head off, remember that 20 mph more saves me 7.7 hours per month. Or nearly a full work day.
Saving fuel should be done via technology, not speed reduction. My favorite example: The Tesla Model S is amazingly fast, big, capable, and can be charged via a solar array. And if grid charged, still achieves nearly 90 mpg equiv.
However, I am unwilling to drive 20MPH slower to increase MPG by 20%. The additional time spend driving equates to $4/hour. Sorry, but my time is very valuable and I'd pay a little more in fuel costs to save time.
Before you chop my head off, remember that 20 mph more saves me 7.7 hours per month. Or nearly a full work day.
Saving fuel should be done via technology, not speed reduction. My favorite example: The Tesla Model S is amazingly fast, big, capable, and can be charged via a solar array. And if grid charged, still achieves nearly 90 mpg equiv.
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Originally Posted By: HoosierJeeper
No. It's one of the last things I care about.
Same here. In the case of my 2er I wouldn't trade 100 hp for 5 more mpg- or 10 more, for that matter. And as for the 15 mpg my Wrangler averages, big deal- it does exactly what I need it to do.
No. It's one of the last things I care about.
Same here. In the case of my 2er I wouldn't trade 100 hp for 5 more mpg- or 10 more, for that matter. And as for the 15 mpg my Wrangler averages, big deal- it does exactly what I need it to do.
If my Suburban didn't have a broken transmission right now I'd be daily-driving that instead of my Escape that gets double the MPG. And technically I could still be driving it if I wanted to put up with a harsh 1-2 shift and the service engine light being on.
You can see right there, I don't care about MPG. Sure, do I wish the pathetically underpowered Escape did better than 22MPG? Sure, but hey, it's still better than 11.
But you will NEVER hear me complaining about fuel economy, because I am fully aware the vehicles I purchase get poor gas mileage. I am, however, free to complain about gas prices because in this area (California, especially SF Bay Area) gas prices are higher than most places in the US.
If I wanted good fuel economy I would buy a Hybrid. But, I care more about having a larger, boxy-looking vehicle with a comfortable, spacious interior and having a big engine under the hood, than better MPG. And the two vehicles I have, I plan to keep for a LOOOOONG time, so cheap maintenance, easy parts availability, and good reliability is also very important to me.
That said, everybody has different priorities, and if yours is fuel economy, good for you.
You can see right there, I don't care about MPG. Sure, do I wish the pathetically underpowered Escape did better than 22MPG? Sure, but hey, it's still better than 11.
But you will NEVER hear me complaining about fuel economy, because I am fully aware the vehicles I purchase get poor gas mileage. I am, however, free to complain about gas prices because in this area (California, especially SF Bay Area) gas prices are higher than most places in the US.
If I wanted good fuel economy I would buy a Hybrid. But, I care more about having a larger, boxy-looking vehicle with a comfortable, spacious interior and having a big engine under the hood, than better MPG. And the two vehicles I have, I plan to keep for a LOOOOONG time, so cheap maintenance, easy parts availability, and good reliability is also very important to me.
That said, everybody has different priorities, and if yours is fuel economy, good for you.
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I consider the cost of ownership over the expected life of the car.
Ideally (unless the car is high maintenance) fuel consumption will be a big factor.
Now having said that, there is a point of deminishing returns, how much $ would you save driving a Honda Fit over a Toyota Corolla if the Corolla better suits your needs.
On the other hand, are you prepared to pay $xxxx over the life of a car just to have extra performance, comfort, space, on those occasions when you would like that.
I have rented a car on a couple of occasions when such things have been important.
IMO people can drive what they want, it's their money they spend it as they wish.
I see taxation on fuel as fair game (in as far as tax is going to be levied anyway) at least I have a choice.
My Verhicles :09 Toyota Matrix
84 Toyota pick up 4cyl
74 Triumph Spitfire
Ideally (unless the car is high maintenance) fuel consumption will be a big factor.
Now having said that, there is a point of deminishing returns, how much $ would you save driving a Honda Fit over a Toyota Corolla if the Corolla better suits your needs.
On the other hand, are you prepared to pay $xxxx over the life of a car just to have extra performance, comfort, space, on those occasions when you would like that.
I have rented a car on a couple of occasions when such things have been important.
IMO people can drive what they want, it's their money they spend it as they wish.
I see taxation on fuel as fair game (in as far as tax is going to be levied anyway) at least I have a choice.
My Verhicles :09 Toyota Matrix
84 Toyota pick up 4cyl
74 Triumph Spitfire
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I do take fuel economy into account, yes.
One thing that really drove me nuts about my old Outback was its poor gas mileage despite being underpowered.
I like it when I don't feel like I am in a huge hurry and I can dial it back and see how good my calculated gas mileage is (which I think is a little optimistic).
However, I am usually in a rush and end up trying to save time rather than gas.
I will probably continue to try to find vehicles that have good performance and decent gas mileage rather than going totally for high mileage, though. I do try to by vehicles that meet what I feel my size needs to be and no bigger...main test is accommodating a fully loaded double ski bag with our longest skis in the cargo area with only half the rear seat folded down.
One thing that really drove me nuts about my old Outback was its poor gas mileage despite being underpowered.
I like it when I don't feel like I am in a huge hurry and I can dial it back and see how good my calculated gas mileage is (which I think is a little optimistic).
However, I am usually in a rush and end up trying to save time rather than gas.
I will probably continue to try to find vehicles that have good performance and decent gas mileage rather than going totally for high mileage, though. I do try to by vehicles that meet what I feel my size needs to be and no bigger...main test is accommodating a fully loaded double ski bag with our longest skis in the cargo area with only half the rear seat folded down.
I drive over 55 miles per day, each way, on my daily commute to work. Even with a once-weekly work-from-home day, I still put on over 500 miles all-up (440 for work, and ~60 for personal stuff).. so yeah, fuel economy definitely is important. If I can drive 5mph slower, I can save myself potentially a gallon of gas per week, maybe more.
Originally Posted By: NHGUY
If you can believe what people say,those Panther based 4.6 V8 cars are supposed to get upward of 26 mpg on the open highway.I have to laugh,because if they did,the EPA would have rated them as such and Ford wouldn't have dropped them in favor of FWD V6 cars...
Well you can laugh at me if you want because I have consistently got "upward of 26 MPG" on multiple long trips of 300 miles or more. I have seen a lot of people get higher than EPA estimates not just on these cars. Many variables, biggest one being the nut behind the wheel.
Also something to take into account, these cars can and do have different rear axle ratios which has to make a difference in MPG, yet the EPA only tests one.
On topic, to answer the original question, yes but it's at the low end of my list. Comfort and functionally is much higher than MPG.
If you can believe what people say,those Panther based 4.6 V8 cars are supposed to get upward of 26 mpg on the open highway.I have to laugh,because if they did,the EPA would have rated them as such and Ford wouldn't have dropped them in favor of FWD V6 cars...
Well you can laugh at me if you want because I have consistently got "upward of 26 MPG" on multiple long trips of 300 miles or more. I have seen a lot of people get higher than EPA estimates not just on these cars. Many variables, biggest one being the nut behind the wheel.
Also something to take into account, these cars can and do have different rear axle ratios which has to make a difference in MPG, yet the EPA only tests one.
On topic, to answer the original question, yes but it's at the low end of my list. Comfort and functionally is much higher than MPG.
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