Change in Mindset
Change in mindset
I have been lurking on this forum for a short time now. As I have read I have found that most of the people fall into one of a few groups:
Pioneers: Want to push this thing to the limit because they can.
Treehuggers: Everyone who isn’t doing this is condemned.
Fiscal Conservatives: If they can save a buck, they’ll try it..
My first car was a Honda 600 sedan, a 2 cylinder air cooled engine that got 44 MPG. That really didn’t mean a lot to me at the time, my long drive was to high school, maybe a mile and a half away. Then I stepped up to a Civic that got probably about 32 MPG. Now I am much older and I long for those early cars. Because of a family and living on a farm we have probably one of the worst vehicles for fuel efficiency (I cannot even speak its name, I am ashamed!). My daily driver is also not very efficient, but I didn’t buy it for that reason, I wanted a really fast luxury sports car and that is exactly what it is.
So, some may ask, why is a guy like me lurking on this forum? A couple of reasons. First, I am planning to buy a new vehicle in the next year and the Insight intrigued me. I am spending around $700 a month in fuel right now and am looking at ways to reduce that cost. Since 99% of my driving is solo it doesn’t make sense to take the SUV (I can feel about a third of you cringing with this admission). My sports car is a blast to drive, but I hate racking up the miles. So, the Insight is currently the tops on my list.
But a couple of things have kept me coming back again and again. First is the innovative attitude that seems to be so pervasive here. Any little tweak that can squeeze just a little more out of the tank is debated heavily. There are some who scoff and say that it is unrealistic to drive this way, but I am applauding anyone who tries cool things. Then the other day I was reading the list of modifications that Rick made to his Insight and I realized that there was a LOT that could be done to these that can make them really fun (also have never heard of anyone using both XM and Sirius, my kind of techno-junkie).
But, I don’t have an Insight yet. So I decided that I would put into practice some of the ideas that I have been reading regarding my driving habits. For Thanksgiving we did a 500 mile round trip and I decided that I would drive slower than the posted speed limit (a new thing for me, felt weird) and would not jack rabbit from the light those few times that I had to stop. The results were that we got a whopping 16.9 MPG! I am sure that if my fortress on wheels had a lifetime MPG calculator it would now be smiling at something like 15.
So, don’t scowl at me in my gas sucking tank, or flip me off when I sail by in the sports car – I’m working on it. Not because I want to save the world, though I don’t mind doing my part. Not because I am trying to save a few thousand dollars a year, although that will be nice. But this coming year I will hopefully be in a new Insight because I want to squeeze every drop of gas out of the tank and I know where to go to find other people who want to do the same.
~Rick
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~Rick
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:P
