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Generally, higher speeds use more fuel.
Drag from air resistance goes up as the cube of the speed. Drive faster, use more fuel.
F1 cars reach 200 mph with 750 bhp. Drag is a major limitation (which why F1 has DRS). Turn off the 750 bhb and the drag alone would slow them down rather quickly. You then have 750 bhp stopping you. With mechanical braking added to that they can get from 200 mph to 70mph in a bit over one second. It would pop your eyeballs out for us mere mortals.

Most cars these days are designed to be aerodynamically efficient. But a Range Rover or a Jeep is more like a brick than a raindrop.

As do lower speeds, especially combined with any associated stop and go traffic while towing. The jeep gets the best mileage between 60 and 65 mph sustained, 50 and 60 with a load. I've said it before--I can do it with a smaller, more economical engine. Problem is, I wouldn't be able to pass as well on two lane roads and thus, my mileage would suffer. If I put up some blue lights, blared a siren, and everyone got out of the way, that would work just fine. Problem is, it's illegal.



My daily driver has a 0.35 drag coefficient. This is actually on the high side, but it's designed to stay on the ground like the F1's you mentioned. It's frontal area is also less than 2 meters, which more than makes up for the high drag. I'd love a Honda CR-Z, but I don't have 15 grand.

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TANG SOO!

I'd be a bit surprised if that speed gives you optimum fuel consumption unless you maybe have very tall gearing and some aero tweaks.


I mentioned in a previous post that cars there are less expensive to buy and run than they are here. The list price of a middle of the road CRZ here is about £20k.That's over $30k US.

As it happens, I drive a Honda. It's the second I've had.
Fuel consumption on the first was fairly good...



The second, now with a few miles on the clock is beginning to show similar frugality.

According to the in-dash computer and by checking at the pumps, that speed range gives the best mileage. The vehicle is totally stock.

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TANG SOO!

Totally stock might still have tall gearing.
Mine does 70mph at just under 2,000 rpm.
It isn't comfortable in 6th gear at much below about 55mph and that's probably around the speed for best fuel consumption.

I'm sorry, maybe I missed this, but what kind of car is this?

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I can have oodles of charm....... when I want to.

It's a 2.2 litre, four pot Diesel.

Yeah, well, we can't get those in the states. There aren't too many diesel models available at all except in trucks. I have a Jetta TDI that has a 1.9 liter turbo and the best it gets is 50mpg.

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I can have oodles of charm....... when I want to.

That's US gallons and equivalent to 60mpg for Imperial gallons as used in the UK.

Yeah, it might. I've never really paid attention due to the fact that it's a truck. You see, getting the job done is as much a concern as fuel economy. If I can't do what I have to do in the time allotted, 50, 100, or even 1000 miles per gallon doesn't help me.

I know the car has short gearing. It's hitting at least 3,000 rpm at 60mph. Not uncommon for me to see the tach between 4 and 5k on the highway. My old car would almost get up to 90mph at 3,000rpm, which I thought was pretty tall. I calculated once that it would roll the speedometer before it redlined the tach.

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TANG SOO!

True. Some of the higher end manufacturers-BMW and I think Lexus--offer diesel options. Though you won't catch me shelling out for those either. A far more common option here in the US is hybrid. You can just about get them in any form now if you fork up enough. Their fuel economy isn't that impressive over traditional models, however.

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TANG SOO!

Oh, so you're not really getting much better than my Jetta.

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I can have oodles of charm....... when I want to.

Yeah, I wouldn't buy those high end vehicles either. I got the Jetta used, a 2006 with 60,000 miles on it, and figure it'll be good for many years to come. Even with the cost of diesel being higher than regular unleaded the mileage makes up for it, as did the price, when compared to a newer hybrid

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I can have oodles of charm....... when I want to.

Not a lot better than the best you get.
I just get it routinely without trying too hard.
I generally drive within the speed limits - more or less. Here it's 70mph on the motorway which is like your freeway, 60 mph on two-lane roads and 30mph in built up areas.
Those are national limits but there are some other reduced limits - 20mph near schools, for example, is not uncommon.

Automatic speed cameras abound here so the probability of being caught if you speed is quite high. Get caught a few times and expect a driving ban. For me, I think the risk simply isn't worth it.

That is why I am still driving my old truck instead of the Mustang I really would like to have. I cannot justify the purchase of another vehicle just when we got down to 2 automobiles for the first time in decades and the new house simply does not have parking space for another automobile unless I get rid of the motorcycles too. I also haul too many things to try to switch hauling to my wife's SUV. I also cannot justify the expense. The car is not that expensive, but the driver I would have to get when I lost my license would be more than I could justify. I had a close enough call with a state trooper coming back from the beach yesterday. Fortunately, I was able to slow down enough to not trigger his attention eventhough I had not gotten down to the speed limit by the time he was beside me. In a car with sufficient oooomph I would have still been going too fast to avoid a ticket even with my charm and wit.

I was able to get out of a ticket in Atlanta for lighting my cigar on the freeway as a deputy pulled up beside me. He did not like the idea of me using two hands to light the cigar and driving at ~75 mph in traffic using my knees to steer. He was an all right guy once we started talking aobut how I learned to drive like that.

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