[crossed-up]

All the cars I have list changing brake fluid every 2-3 years in the required maintenance intervals. Most people don't do that, but the fluid is hydroscopic (absorbs moisture) so it can eventually rust out brake lines, causing all of your brake fluid to end up in the driveway (or worse, the road). I had this happen with my old beater truck. So changing it once in a while is a good idea.

The cabin filter you can do yourself in 10 minutes for $20.

Yes, brake fluid change is scheduled on alternate annual services on my 2016 Renegade and 2017 Abarth, both of them are due this month. It's not just the corrosion issue but the boiling point of the fluid is reduced by the water absorption too. You might not notice it in 'normal' use or even with a single emergency stop, but tackle a twisty road with repeated brake application and you can end up with a very 'long' pedal or hardly any brakes at all! It's actually not a particularly time consuming or expensive job for the dealer to do - what they charge you is another matter though

---------- Post added 09-22-21 at 11:32 AM ----------

On the subject of driving on hills with a stick shift.

I use my right foot to hold the brake, and roll my right heel onto the accelerator, give it a little throttle, ease the clutch out, and when I feel it tugging at the drivetrain, lift from the brake and ease down on the go pedal.

Minimum slippage, zero rollback.

Yes, I do the same, although i tend to use the ball of my right foot on the brake, and the right side of the same foot on the throttle rather then my heel. It does depend on the car's pedal heights though. Same for 'heel and toe' changes too.

[slartibartfast01]

A little off subject but one time my grandpa had a VW bug and took it in for something (don't remember what.) They actually tried to convince him it needed the coolant changed.

Did they even find the engine?

[Racer X 69]

Yes, I do the same, although i tend to use the ball of my right foot on the brake, and the right side of the same foot on the throttle rather then my heel. It does depend on the car's pedal heights though. Same for 'heel and toe' changes too.

Yes, pedal position is a consideration. On my Dodge Ram I brake with my heel, and blip the throttle with my toe.

On my Legacy I brake with my toe and blip with my heel.

The brake and clutch pedals on my racecar are aftermarket, made by Tilton. The gap from the brake pedal to the accelerator is wide enough to put my foot through. So I attached a bit of sheet steel to the accelerator pedal to bridge the gap. When racing, one applies considerably more force on the brake pedal than in an ordinary car under the relatively sedate conditions found in everyday driving. So I use the ball of my right foot to brake, and roll the outside of that foot to blip the throttle on downshifting.

[lesmore49]

Yes, pedal position is a consideration. On my Dodge Ram I brake with my heel, and blip the throttle with my toe.

On my Legacy I brake with my toe and blip with my heel.

The brake and clutch pedals on my racecar are aftermarket, made by Tilton. The gap from the brake pedal to the accelerator is wide enough to put my foot through. So I attached a bit of sheet steel to the accelerator pedal to bridge the gap. When racing, one applies considerably more force on the brake pedal than in an ordinary car under the relatively sedate conditions found in everyday driving. So I use the ball of my right foot to brake, and roll the outside of that foot to blip the throttle on downshifting.

I used to blip our '48 Fargo (Canadian market -Dodge truck) grain truck's engine ( a flathead, inline six) when I changed gears on the 4 speed box, in the upper three gears. To avoid the dreaded 'graunch'.

I don't know if that gearbox ever came with synchromesh , but if it had, by the time I was using it, late '60's, '70's....those synchro's had worn off, but good.

[scratchpaddy]

I finally went through my backlog of gas receipts from the past two years. There weren't many. As you can see, I made exactly one trip to a gas station last year.



I have kept this spreadsheet going since 2013. These are all my gas receipts from my latest car, a base-model 2019 Mitsubishi Mirage with a 1.2L 3-cylinder and 5-speed manual. I use it to get groceries, and to visit my parents in Oregon. I use my feet and my bicycle(s) for everything else.

Cumulative average after almost 10,000 miles is 46 miles per gallon, or 5.1 liters per 100km. It's slightly better than the other 3-cylinder I used to have, a '96 Geo Metro (44.2 mpg), even though that car was somewhat lighter and smaller.

I bet there's a lot I could learn from this data if I dug into it more. One thing I do see is that it appears thinner oil really does make a difference. The car came with 0W-20, but I had 5W-30 left over from the last car and used that instead on the first oil change. It's not a very scientific test - lots of uncontrolled variables - but my average is 2.2 mpg lower for the period with the 5W-30 oil.



I love the color (especially the yellow hubcaps I made myself ), but it's otherwise not a great-looking car. It's not that fun to drive despite the small size, thanks to mushy suspension and vague steering. But it's dead simple, reliable, and efficient: the things I value most in a car.

Tasi likes it, too.

[bogwalker]

I finally went through my backlog of gas receipts from the past two years. There weren't many. As you can see, I made exactly one trip to a gas station last year.


I have kept this spreadsheet going since 2013. These are all my gas receipts from my latest car, a base-model 2019 Mitsubishi Mirage with a 1.2L 3-cylinder and 5-speed manual. I use it to get groceries, and to visit my parents in Oregon. I use my feet and my bicycle(s) for everything else.

Cumulative average after almost 10,000 miles is 46 miles per gallon, or 5.1 liters per 100km. It's slightly better than the other 3-cylinder I used to have, a '96 Geo Metro (44.2 mpg), even though that car was somewhat lighter and smaller.

I bet there's a lot I could learn from this data if I dug into it more. One thing I do see is that it appears thinner oil really does make a difference. The car came with 0W-20, but I had 5W-30 left over from the last car and used that instead on the first oil change. It's not a very scientific test - lots of uncontrolled variables - but my average is 2.2 mpg lower for the period with the 5W-30 oil.

Nice. I'm a nerdy engineer, so I also have a spreadsheet of all my fill-ups (computerized since 2006, on paper before that).
I didn't even know you could still buy a 1.2 liter engine car in the U.S!
I ran some experiments on my commute to see how temperature affected mpg. I had a Scangauge that plugged into the OBD-II port, so I could get the mpg for the trip (my new car displays that on the screen, but it wasn't a thing in 2006). Nothing like driving in 0'F weather without using the heater, just to get a new datapoint in my graph

One of the things I found is that the story that A/C saves gas over having the windows down is a complete lie. A/C definitely brings down the mpg a lot more than windows. At least in my test case, which was mostly commuting at about 40 mph for 7.5 miles, and when I had the windows down, it was the driver's window down about half-way, and the back passenger side window down about 1/4. That gave good circulation all around. It might be a different story if you had all the windows down all the way and then drove 65 mph. (I can convert to metric if anybody's interested, but you get the gist).

I'm still working from home, so I go about 2 months between fill-ups.

[ThorSanchez]

One of the things I found is that the story that A/C saves gas over having the windows down is a complete lie. A/C definitely brings down the mpg a lot more than windows. At least in my test case, which was mostly commuting at about 40 mph for 7.5 miles, and when I had the windows down, it was the driver's window down about half-way, and the back passenger side window down about 1/4. That gave good circulation all around. It might be a different story if you had all the windows down all the way and then drove 65 mph. (I can convert to metric if anybody's interested, but you get the gist).

I'm guessing that is very dependent on type of car and the kind of driving you're doing. My S4 has a display mode called Economy, where it normally shows me time driven/miles driven/mileage, but also periodically pops up annoying tips about increasing my efficiency. Like "close windows to improve gas mileage" or "pay attention to shift indicator". I'm guessing that in a car with a listed 333 hp it's more efficient to drive with the A/C on and windows closed, especially at highway speeds. The parasitic losses from the A/C compressor just aren't much compared to the engine's capacity, but aerodynamics are increasingly important as speed increases.

Years ago when I drove a Mini Cooper S (168 hp, 2500 lbs) I did some informal tests where I drove with windows open and shut while monitoring the car's internal instantaneous fuel economy display, and windows up with A/C on was more efficient than A/C off and windows open. At least at reasonable speed.

But if you had a car with 75 hp and you're in stop-and-go traffic the A/C might be a very significant impact.

Also, living in Southern Maryland where a typical summer day is 93 degrees with 80% humidity I wouldn't drive with the windows open if it meant a 50% increase in gas mileage.

---

Last edited by ThorSanchez; 11-16-2021 at 06:40 AM.

[3by2]

I've got a fairly utilitarian Peugeot 5008, which is great for lobbing stuff in like bikes and moving children to various houses etc... However I hardly see that since my son started using it for work, I just pay for it now and clean it occasionally.


Instead I drive my wife's Peugeot e208 electric, which I have to admit is pretty good. I think it's done 8000 miles this year for about £200 in electricity compared to the 5008 cost of about 850 for the same mileage. It does about 3.8 miles per KWH, so in theory is good for 180ish, though I've never gone past about 160 before heading for a charger. Drives really well, pickup is instant on an electric car, 0-60 in 8 seconds. It's a different driving feeling though, engine braking or lack of and the regenerative brakes just change the way you have to drive it and though it's well balanced, you can feel the weight of the batteries.

[bogwalker]

I'm guessing that is very dependent on type of car and the kind of driving you're doing.

Right. That's why I mentioned my parameters in passing. In detail: a 2006 Prius, on my commute home in the evening, 7.5 miles (20 minutes) average speed while moving is 30-45 mph. When A/C was on, it was set at 76'F, maybe 75'F occasionally. Windows were open 1/4 on the back passenger side, and 1/2 open on the driver's window, fully open on the hotter days.
I think I also tested it on my subsequent Mazda 3, but I can't find that chart at the moment.

One big factor is the relatively short drive time. If you're driving more than 20 minutes, the A/C will cool the cabin down to the desired value and it won't have to work as hard after that. On a short drive it's probably working near full capacity most of the time. Also, my car was parked in the sun, with a sunscreen on the windshield. If you can park in a covered area, that will help the A/C at the start considerably.

Also, living in Southern Maryland where a typical summer day is 93 degrees with 80% humidity I wouldn't drive with the windows open if it meant a 50% increase in gas mileage.

Yeah, I hear you on that. It wasn't comfortable getting some of those numbers, but I had to do it for science
I used to live in Leesburg, VA. The summer mantra was hazy, hot & humid.

Here's the main chart:

[MarkJerling]

I finally went through my backlog of gas receipts from the past two years. There weren't many. As you can see, I made exactly one trip to a gas station last year.



I have kept this spreadsheet going since 2013. These are all my gas receipts from my latest car, a base-model 2019 Mitsubishi Mirage with a 1.2L 3-cylinder and 5-speed manual. I use it to get groceries, and to visit my parents in Oregon. I use my feet and my bicycle(s) for everything else.

Cumulative average after almost 10,000 miles is 46 miles per gallon, or 5.1 liters per 100km. It's slightly better than the other 3-cylinder I used to have, a '96 Geo Metro (44.2 mpg), even though that car was somewhat lighter and smaller.

I bet there's a lot I could learn from this data if I dug into it more. One thing I do see is that it appears thinner oil really does make a difference. The car came with 0W-20, but I had 5W-30 left over from the last car and used that instead on the first oil change. It's not a very scientific test - lots of uncontrolled variables - but my average is 2.2 mpg lower for the period with the 5W-30 oil.



I love the color (especially the yellow hubcaps I made myself ), but it's otherwise not a great-looking car. It's not that fun to drive despite the small size, thanks to mushy suspension and vague steering. But it's dead simple, reliable, and efficient: the things I value most in a car.

Tasi likes it, too.

That's pretty impressive specs. I bet I cost more than that per mile on my bicycle!

[ThorSanchez]

I finally went through my backlog of gas receipts from the past two years. There weren't many. As you can see, I made exactly one trip to a gas station last year.

I have kept this spreadsheet going since 2013. These are all my gas receipts from my latest car, a base-model 2019 Mitsubishi Mirage with a 1.2L 3-cylinder and 5-speed manual. I use it to get groceries, and to visit my parents in Oregon. I use my feet and my bicycle(s) for everything else.

Cumulative average after almost 10,000 miles is 46 miles per gallon, or 5.1 liters per 100km. It's slightly better than the other 3-cylinder I used to have, a '96 Geo Metro (44.2 mpg), even though that car was somewhat lighter and smaller.

I bet there's a lot I could learn from this data if I dug into it more. One thing I do see is that it appears thinner oil really does make a difference. The car came with 0W-20, but I had 5W-30 left over from the last car and used that instead on the first oil change. It's not a very scientific test - lots of uncontrolled variables - but my average is 2.2 mpg lower for the period with the 5W-30 oil.

I love the color (especially the yellow hubcaps I made myself ), but it's otherwise not a great-looking car. It's not that fun to drive despite the small size, thanks to mushy suspension and vague steering. But it's dead simple, reliable, and efficient: the things I value most in a car.

Tasi likes it, too.

My Dad used to keep a notebook in the glove box and for many, many years he'd write down the mileage and details of every single gas purchase. If I borrowed his vehicle the first thing he'd ask when I brought it back was if I'd written down the gas. But as far as I know he never did anything with any of the data.

[lesmore49]

My Dad used to keep a notebook in the glove box and for many, many years he'd write down the mileage and details of every single gas purchase. If

My dad did the same thing. He did it to track his car expenses and also if there was a significant difference in gas mileage (lower) it would alert him to a possible car problem. During WW2, he had been a Sergeant Major and was very organized.

[ThorSanchez]

My dad did the same thing. He did it to track his car expenses and also if there was a significant difference in gas mileage (lower) it would alert him to a possible car problem. During WW2, he had been a Sergeant Major and was very organized.

Now that you mention it, he probably did a quick mental calculation to see if the mileage was changing. Let's see... '76 Chevy pickup... 30 gallons in the main tank, 277 miles, a little over nine miles per gallon. Yep, she's running fine!

[Racer X 69]

Keep in mind that even if you don’t use the air conditioner in your car, the belt is still turning the compressor, and it still cycles on and off, circulating the refrigerant.

[Mooncatt]

Keep in mind that even if you don’t use the air conditioner in your car, the belt is still turning the compressor, and it still cycles on and off, circulating the refrigerant.

That's a negative. The compressor has a clutch that fully disengages the compressor when you turn the a.c. off.