((x-60)/5)*.20

I watched an episode of Systm the other day where the topic was hypermiling. Patric Norton, the host, said a line that really piqued my interest:

“Every 5 miles per hour you go over 60 is like paying an extra 20 cents per gallon.”

I’ve heard that driving faster reduces your miles per gallon but that sounded a bit extreme. So, being the nerd that I am, I decided to set up an experiment.

I have already tracked fuel efficiency over a year with MyMileMarker.com. My 2002 Civic has been averaging a solid 33.4 mpg over that entire time, fluctuating anywhere between 30 and 36 as the seasons change. Since last week was a pretty normal spring week, and prospects of this week being the same, I decided that now was as good a time as any to try my experiment.

The Control:

• Fuel Efficiency for the week of 5/12: 36.07 mpg

The Rules:

• At no time will I ever accelerate with the gas past 65mph, coasting over 65 is allowed.
• Keep the engine under 2000 rpms on the streets as much as possible.
• Use A/C as little as possible ( which I do normally )

It’s hard to tell looking at the gas guage but the needle does seem to be higher than normal. I will report back next week with the hard numbers.