Forest always drives our Ford Mondeo in sport - when we first tried the switch on my dad's model it was stunning, like unhitching a racehorse from the milkcart and giving it its head.. takes a bit of adjustment between modes we found, but as we don't get to drive out much the sport mode with its lighter, more responsive feel and a tendency to go vroooom even at a low speed is much more *fun*, and we're not using much gas either way.
There is that -- if you hardly drive, you use hardly any gas regardless of fuel economy. I can't use that reasoning though, as I go through about a tank a week, more or less. (Less if I'm not feeling well, miss one or both of my rehearsals, and don't do much of anything else either.)
I've seen that as a justification for a really large vehicle as well: "It's only used for the times we need to haul big things, or when the smaller vehicle is already in use and someone else needs to make a short trip. Most days it burns no gas at all."
Me, I drive what I can get. My first car was a hand-me-down from my parents. Most of the rest have been "what I could afford". My current car, my mother bought for me from my uncle's estate, and the two before that were hand-me-down gifts from friends. So my last few cars have been smallish, ecologically-responsible-appearing cars, but I can't help feeling that 24-26 mpg feels a little inefficient when I got 18 mpg in an unstreamlined 1978 car with more than twice the mass, and 30 mpg two cars ago. (Then again, two-cars-ago was a manual transmission. Just how much difference does a standard transmission make to fuel economy?)
(no subject)
(no subject)
I've seen that as a justification for a really large vehicle as well: "It's only used for the times we need to haul big things, or when the smaller vehicle is already in use and someone else needs to make a short trip. Most days it burns no gas at all."
Me, I drive what I can get. My first car was a hand-me-down from my parents. Most of the rest have been "what I could afford". My current car, my mother bought for me from my uncle's estate, and the two before that were hand-me-down gifts from friends. So my last few cars have been smallish, ecologically-responsible-appearing cars, but I can't help feeling that 24-26 mpg feels a little inefficient when I got 18 mpg in an unstreamlined 1978 car with more than twice the mass, and 30 mpg two cars ago. (Then again, two-cars-ago was a manual transmission. Just how much difference does a standard transmission make to fuel economy?)