Everyone knows that Hummers get really crappy gas mileage. But can a brand new, gas sipping economy car in perfect running condition get worse gas mileage? You bet!
What’s the worst gas mileage you can get in a car? 0 mpg! (thats a zero mpg) People always complain about the price of gas. But then I see people wasting it, getting 0 mpg!
Last week, I was in the parking lot at my work. I saw a guy sitting in his big parked SUV talking on his cell phone. Just sitting yacking away, while the engine was running. It was warm out. Maybe he had the AC running too. So he was moving a 0 MPH and burning gas. So he was getting 0 MPG!
Yesterday I was at a gas station. I went to pull into a pump. There was a truck parked in such a way as not to be at the pump, but to block anyone else to getting to it. I ended up having to go around and come in from the other side to a different gas pump. As I was filling up, I saw the truck was running. They left the truck running while one guy went into the store, and the other guy was cleaning the windshield. So for the time that took, they were getting 0 mpg!
There are lots of places where I see people getting 0 mpg! In line at the gas station waiting for an open pump. Sitting in line at restaurant drive through. Long stop lights. Waiting a train crossings. In all these places, the drivers could save gas, by simply shutting off their engine. I have read that if the engine is off for more than 10 seconds, then you have offset the cost of restarting the engine again.
But then there are the little things too. How about when you start the car, then put on your seat belt, adjust the radio etc. How about putting on your seat belt, adjusting the radio, then starting the car when you are actually ready to go. Just one time doesn’t use a lot of gas. But when you are in the habit of doing it day after day, probably multiple times, it adds up.
Even a gas sipping economy car can get 0 mpg! So next time you are sitting in your car, not moving, but with the engine running, think about how you are getting 0 mpg. Consider shutting off the engine until you are ready to go.
I really liked this car. I bought this car after moving back to New York State. It was bright red, two door, and sporty as heck. And I paid like $5000 for it. It was the first car I ever financed. But I was working for a good company now, and I had good credit. It was also the car that I owned for the least amount of time.
I don’t remember why, but my wife was driving it, and I was in the passenger seat. Someone up ahead had stopped, and the car in front of us hadn’t noticed, and ran into back of then without any brakes. My wife realized just a little too late that the car in front of us had come to a very sudden stop, and slammed on the brakes. We skidded into the back of that car. If we had had maybe 10 more feet, we probably would have been okay. But the front of the car was damaged. But insurance covered it. The work was done at a local collision center, and you couldn’t even tell that the car had been in an accident.
A few months later, we drove the car across country back to Seattle. Driving through eastern Montana, I had the car up over a 100 mph for long stretches. It drove so smoothly. We spent a couple weeks there visiting family, then drove it back. We had spent the day in Rapid City doing tourist traps, and then started driving east. We planned to drive a few hours, then find a motel to stay in. I woke up in the hospital. My wife again had been driving my bright red 1989 Acura Integra sporty car that I really liked, while I had been sleeping in the passenger seat. She dozed off, and ended up rolling the car. The car was totaled. The body was twisted beyond reasonable repair. Fortunately, we only received minor injuries. I guess that is a testament to how solid the car was.
After my 1967 Mustang flipped on the floating bridge, and would cost more than I wanted to pay to fix it, I was without a car for a bit. Fortunately, I was living in an apartment not too far from where I worked. I so I was able to walk to and from work until I got another car. And also I was making better money at this point, so I was able to afford another car without any big savings efforts. I figured I could find a decent used car for $500. I started going through the classified ads for cars. I found a 1979 Honda Accord for $500. My buddy John had Honda Civic, which I think was a 1977 or 1978 model. He abused that car. He didn’t do the oil changes. He used take it fast over bumps to see how much air he could catch. He would take it at fairly good speeds around corners at the local race track where we had worked for a summer. And the thing kept going. Honda’s are solid reliable cars.
John took me up to check out the Honda Accord. It was in very good shape. There were some spots where the paint was oxidized. But there wasn’t any major damage, and the car ran great. I paid them the $500, and didn’t even attempt to talk them down at all. My buddy John was shocked that I managed to get such a great car for $500.
I drove this car regularly. I don’t know what kind of gas mileage it got, but it did pretty well I think.
When my wife and I moved to New York in 1994, we brought this car with us. We had sold her Toyota MR2 figuring it would not do well in the snow. Also, we could only tow a single car behind the rental truck.
The 79 Honda Accord handled fantastic in the snow. We shared this car for a few months after relocating. But when my wife was going to get a job, we needed to get another car. I wanted another Honda. We visited a Honda dealership near where I worked. We parked the Accord and waited for someone to come show us some cars. After about 15 minutes of being ignored by the Honda dealership people, someone finally came out. He didn’t offer to help us, but asked us to move the Accord as they didn’t want people to think they were selling that. He totally insulted my car!
We left there, drove to an Acura dealership that was up the road and owned my different people. And I bought a 1989 Acura Integra. The 1979 Honda Accord would belong to my wife, and the 1989 Acura Integra would be mine. We were both happy with our cars. The Accord started to have a few electrical issues. The heater blower motor stopped working. It wasn’t the motor. There was no power getting to it. Then the dashboard lights stopped working, and the speedometer worked intermittently.
Then one day my wife called me from work to ask me to bring some oil. She said the oil light came on, and that it was making a grinding noise. She called back about 15 minutes later to tell me I didn’t need to bring the oil, that the car had burned. Apparently there had been an electrical short, and the car caught fire, and the engine compartment was destroyed. She said the lights had be flashing, and the wipes going, and everything had been going nuts while car burned. The car was toasted.
My second car was a 1967 Ford Mustang Sports Sprint. I had no idea at the time what a Sports Sprint was. Still not quite sure. I saw an ad in the classifieds for a 1967 Mustang for I think $1200. I went and looked at it. It had a big hole in the windshield like a base or rock had landed on it. The car could stand to be cleaned up a bit. I offered the guy $900, and amazingly, he accepted. After signing the papers, and exchanging the money, I asked if there was anything about the car I should know. Did the gauges all work, etc. I said everything worked great.
The car had 2/3rds of a tank of gas, so I drove it home. I was almost home when the car stalled out on a steep hill. I couldn’t get it started again. I had flashbacks of my previous car dying just after I bought it. I called my Mom, and she towed my car home. I seemed to be getting spark, and checked various things. After a while I got down under the car and knocked on the gas tank. It sounded empty. I added some gas, and tried to start the car. It started right up. I learned the fuel sender unit was bad. I bought a new one, and installed it. Many of the parts were interchangeable with a Ford Cougar which made things easier sometimes.
The car came from the factory with a 289 engine and a 2 barrel carburetor. But somewhere in it’s life, someone replace the 289 engine with a 302 cubic engine. I was told it came out of a 1969 Mustang. The transmission was a 3 speed stick. That was totally weird. It was geared high. If I stopped on a hill, I had to gun the engine, and pop the clutch or I would stall out. Second gear was only for getting from first to third. I could take the car up to 50 mph in first gear. The car ate clutches and flywheels. Something about the weird combination of engine mated with the transmission. It seemed like they would only last a year or so.
I had the car up to 90 mph a couple times, and it shook badly, like it was going to fall apart.
It was the most unreliable car I have ever owned. It the mornings after a rainy night, the car wouldn’t want to start. I think moisture would collect on the top of the coil and would short it out. I would dry it off, and sometimes get it to start. Usually after trying to start it a handful of times, the battery would be drained. Occasionally I would get a jump start. But more often, I would be push starting the car in the parking lot after an all night shift.
I had good times in that car though. I remember driving it around Mt Rainier blasting The Doors and The Beach Boys (this was in the 1980’s btw). Or driving it around Tacoma, scouting pawn shops for a Fender Stratocaster. It was a fun car to drive.
The car was destined to kill itself. The first time, a rusty control arm collapsed send the car into a 360 degree spin on the freeway. I hit the barrier on both side of the car, munching the front end. I totally redid the front end replacing fenders, control arms, sway bar, and even corroded sheet metal in the engine compartment.
The next time was when it shot a tooth like a bullet out of the differential. The rear-end locked.
But the last time was when it somehow got into second and third gear at the same time while I was driving on the floating bridge. The rear end locked, and I skidded into a barrier, and the car flipped up onto it’s side. The tranny was toast, as was the side of the car. I sold the car to a salvage yard that specialized in Mustangs.
I miss having it sometimes. It would probably get really crappy gas mileage, and cost a fortune to keep running though. Hondas are much more reliable.
My first car was a 1974 Mustang II. I actually WANTED a Mustang II. I had initially saved up about $500. I started car shopping specifically for a Mustang II, but then due to an accident (not in a car), I ended up in the hospital, and the money was gone.
Later, I saved up money again. A buddy of mine and I went to a can auction. I found a 1974 Mustang II and bought it for $425. It was green, had a V6 engine, and a vinyl top. It was actually a sporty looking little car.
I was driving my new (used) car home on the freeway with my buddy following me. About 5 miles from the auction lot, my car suddenly lost power, and I pulled over to the side of the road. No matter what we tried, we could not get it to start again. We towed it home.
I had it taken to a mechanic, and the mechanic said the timing gears slipped. The engine was toast. He dropped in a used 6 cylinder engine, and got it running. My $425 car got more expensive, and I only had driven it 5 miles.
This became my daily driver. Over time, I found that oil was not getting to the top end to lubricating the rocker arms and push rods. So the push rods would wear down. I would periodically pour oil over the rocker arms, and re-adjust the tappets. I got pretty good at this. And it got about 19mpg I think, which wasn’t bad, since gas wasn’t that expensive then. The 1974 engines had had a bunch of anti-pollution stuff added on. But a previous own had apparently removed a bunch of it.
One day on a trip to the ocean, I got stuck behind a lady doing 10 mph below the speed limit. I was stuck behind this lady for close to 20 miles. It was a windy twisty road where it was not safe to pass. Cars stacked up behind this lady She would slow down for every curve. If the warning sign suggested 40mph, she would slow down to 30 mph. Signs said it was illegal to delay more than 5 vehicles, but she ignored these signs, and never pulled off in the spots for this. Finally we hit a straight away where I could pass. I went to pass her, and she sped up. I found myself doing close to 80 mph trying to get around her. I had a truck coming at me, when I finally managed to get over in front of her. It was then when I heard a loud rattling coming from my engine. I knew what it was. I pulled over to the side of the road and popped the hood. I had tools with me. I always had tools with me with this car. A push rod had popped out of place. It took me about 10-15 minutes to put the push rod back, and readjust the tappets. If there was ever someone deserving a little road rage…
I eventually replaced this car with my 1967 Mustang. The 1974 Mustang II lay dormant in my Mom’s driveway. When my 1967 Mustang was wrecked beyond repair, I tried to get the Mustang II running again. The engine had frozen. I didn’t know how to fix it then. I ended up having it towed away to a wrecking yard. Too bad we didn’t have the internet back then. I could have easily looked up the solution unfreezing it.