Archive for the Category Cars

 
 

Gas Prices Recently

November 7th has come and gone. For a number of weeks leading up to that date, gas prices were steadily decreasing to around their recent low of $2.06 a gallon (in Tucson, AZ) and held there for the better part of the last month. Interestingly, after the election, the gas prices at many places around town have now been increasing and are about $.10 more expensive than they were a week ago.

As the trend started going downward from the cost of $2.50 a gallon a couple of months ago, I suspected that the oil companies were trying to throw a little help to the Republican party in the form of taking people’s minds off of the high cost of gas. I don’t have any proof to back this up, but it’s just a hunch. It wouldn’t surprise me, however, if the prices return to the mid two dollars per gallon before long. Now, lets wait and see if I’m a touch crazy in thinking this or if it actually happens.

Stanley… the future of automobiles, today

I was browsing Wired’s site, as I do every so often and came across an interesting article about how robotics and programs like the DARPA Grand Challenge are starting to have an effect on the automotive industry and the way people drive.

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Increasing Fuel Efficiency On Your Current Car

I read digg.com (a news/bs/interesting article linking site) occasionally and recently came across one of most interesting articles I’ve seen there in a while. The link went to edmunds.com where it featured an article about getting better fuel efficiency out of the car you already drive.

Edmunds.com featured six changes to your driving habits that may increase efficiency. The quick list of those changes are as follows:

  • Don’t drive aggressively (drive slower and more cautiously)
  • Lower speeds on highways tends to be more efficient (drive 65 not 75)
  • Cruise control is your friend (use it if you’ve got it)
  • AC isn’t bad (When compared to the increased drag from windows open the whole journey)
  • Keep tires inflated (Mostly for safety reasons)
  • Turn your car off at lights (idling will kill your efficiency)

To back their findings, each point is tested in some controlled manor and the results are explained (though, without an exaustive set of real data).

As for my thoughts, I’m going to try this and see how much farther I can go on a tank. For my experiment, I’m going to record one tank of gas used normally (almost done with that data and should be able to have the answer in a day or two) and then another tank used with as many of the tips from above as I can remember while driving. I typically get about 280 miles from roughly 11.5 gallons of gas for an average of approximately 24 miles per gallon; I’m quite interested to see how much this increases after I take these changes into mind when driving on my next tank. Another modification that I’ve heard also helps is to replace your spark plugs with the 4-tipped spark plugs to get a hotter, more efficient spark. I may try this one next time I have to go to change my plugs and see how much this helps as well.

UPDATE: I filled today after going 292 miles with 11.65 gallons… estimated average 25 miles per gallon. I’ll post again when I have more information off of this current tank given my shift in driving habbits.
UPDATE #2: I filled again after 274 miles with 11.11 gallons… again an estimated 25 miles per gallon. Still not sure the changes help much, but I’ll do this for a few more tanks to see if it really helps and to hopefully reinforce the tips into my driving habits.

Sickening gas prices

The gas prices are going up again. Even Costco is selling it for above $2.60 when just a month ago it was $2.12 a gallon. To top it off, apparently, Exxon’s CEO made $144,573 average per day over the last 13 years… yes, PER DAY!!! In his last year of service, which ended in December, he made over $400 million; makes me think he’s taking our money for himself rather than trying to help the American public.

When will the gas/oil tycoons learn? There’s change on it’s way (in the form of hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles and nuclear power plants) and they won’t be the Kings of the Hill for much longer.

Smart companies like Toyota, Honda, and VW are paving the way with their vehicle offerings and will leave the SUV and wasteful-car producing companies in the dust. I predict that, within 5 years, there will be so many people moving away from sub-30-mpg cars in favor of over-50-mpg vehicles that the only way to keep customers will be to produce cars that are greener and more efficient and possibly reach for the 100-mpg mark OR to pass legislation limiting the strangle-hold that the gas companies have on the public (I’m hoping for the first case).

I’m looking forward to trading in my current Toyota Rav4 for the hybrid version when it comes out in a few years! Until then, I’m going to look into carpooling or biking to work again.

RAV4… coming soon!

I went home yesterday to study for exams and to just get away from school and found out my Dad bought a new car. He bought a Nissan Murano because he wanted a larger SUV than he had previously. I then found out that, for graduation, my mother and he decided to give me his old RAV4!!! THANK YOU MOM AND DAD!!!