disjoint thoughts » cars

how to get someone to stop parking in your parking spot

Ben — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:00:35 +0000

Let’s say you have an awesome parking spot. Maybe not as cool as the parking spots we have at OpenRain, but a good one nonetheless.

What do you do if someone else jacks your spot? Leave them a nice, passive aggressive, note for them:

Worked for me!

volvo teaches gas saving techniques

Ben — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:22:41 +0000

AutoblogGreen has a post about Volvo teaching driving techniques to increase MPG. They claim “The results is that simple skills allow an average reduction of 8-10 percent in gas usage, although 15 percent can be achieved easily.” which is right along the lines of what my gas mileage vs driving behavior experiment reveled where I saw a reduction of almost 12 percent in gas useage.

gas mileage vs driving behavior experiment part 2

Ben — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 04:43:19 +0000

So it’s been several weeks since I originally started my gas mileage experiment. I’ve been having troubling finding the time/motivation to blog lately, but better late than never eh?

Under VERY conservative driving, I was able to squeeze out 26.2 miles per gallon. After filling my tank again I spent the next tank driving a more aggressively. Not like an insane person, but I definitely let my foot hit the floor more than I normally do.

After a total of 218.9 high-g-force miles I refilled my tank and recalculated my gas mileage. I ended up doing 23.42 miles per gallon. Much better than I had expected! Only 2.78 fewer miles per gallon of gas used, or 11.78% worse mileage. I had expected to get my gas mileage down around 20 miles per gallon!

I suppose I should be happy that my driving style doesn’t have a HUGE effect on my gas consumption, but at the same time I was hoping for some shocking results. Maybe next time I want to see how low I can get my mileage, I’ll bring it down to the track and do some drag racing. That should do the trick.

gas mileage vs driving behavior experiment part 1

Ben — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 21:54:12 +0000

After a couple years of owning my car I finally decided to see what kind of gas mileage I am getting. I always assumed it was somewhere in the mid to low 20 miles per gallon. Not only did I want to see what mileage I normally get, but I wanted to see how much driving style really effects fuel consumption. How much am I really wasting when my lead foot comes into play?

First off I drive a 2005 Subaru Impreza WRX. The only modifications I’ve made to it that could effect the gas mileage are a Cobb AccessPORT Stage 1 California ECU reflash, and a SPT Axle-back exhaust. The reflash may or may not make my gas mileage better, it should cause the car to use more fuel but at the same time make more horse power. The exhaust could add a slight benefit to the mileage, but nothing substantial as it is only axle-back.

So last week I filled up my tank and off I went, slowly, very slowly. All of last week I tried my best to keep my foot from stomping on the pedal. Matter of fact, most of the time I would only depress the gas pedal down 10-20% of the way. It took some serious concentration to keep this driving up.

After driving like this for the better part of a week, I gave in a filled my tank again. After 193.8 miles (probably 60-70% city driving) my gas mileage was 26.2 miles per gallon. Not too shabby. I was hoping for a little better, but at least that gives me a baseline from which I can do more experimenting.

This week I’m driving without worrying about letting my foot hit the floor. I’ll post the results of my aggressive driving in the next couple of days.