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55 mph speed limit

Would you drive 55 to burn less fossil fuel

  • I believe in AGW and would drive 55 to reduce my carbon foot print

    Votes: 5 62.5%
  • I believe in AGW but would not drive 55 to reduce my carbon foot print

    Votes: 3 37.5%

  • Total voters
    8

sawyerloggingon

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I recently bought a new car that tells you how many mpg you are getting in real time and it was interesting to play around with different speeds to see what my mileage was. I always knew the faster you go the worse the mpg but seeing it as it happened was informative. My Subaru got 38 mpg at 55mph and dropped to around 31 mpg at 65 mph. When Carter made the speed limit 55 everyone had a fit until it was changed but in this age where so many are so convinced we are warming the planet with fossil fuel it makes me wonder how many of them would be willing to slow down in order to put less carbon into the air. It's put up or shut up time.:lol:
 
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What is it around 35?
 
38mpg.....I wish!

My RX gets maybe 20mpg highway and the Explorer isn't any better. At that rate it doesn't matter whether I'm doing 55 or 85.
 
I recently bought a new car that tells you how many mpg you are getting in real time and it was interesting to play around with different speeds to see what my mileage was. I always knew the faster you go the worse the mpg but seeing it as it happened was informative. My Subaru got 38 mpg at 65mph and dropped to around 31 mpg at 55 mph. When Carter made the speed limit 55 everyone had a fit until it was changed but in this age where so many are so convinced we are warming the planet with fossil fuel it makes me wonder how many of them would be willing to slow down in order to put less carbon into the air. It's put up or shut up time.:lol:
Sawyer: I have one too and it has taught me to let go of the gas when you see a stop sign up ahead, so I just coast; I enjoy seeing my mpg go up to 99mpg before it reaches the sign. ;)
 
You know, had such an indicator existed when the speed limit was first switched over there'd have been a whole lot less pushback on it.
 
You know, had such an indicator existed when the speed limit was first switched over there'd have been a whole lot less pushback on it.

Personally I think 60 mph would be a good compromise speed. It is better mpg and a safer speed than the 70 mph that many interstates are now. A mile a minute should be fast enough. What I really like is going down hill and getting 99.9 mpg!:)
 
Sawyer: I have one too and it has taught me to let go of the gas when you see a stop sign up ahead, so I just coast; I enjoy seeing my mpg go up to 99mpg before it reaches the sign. ;)

lol i do that on a hill in my hood but i can only get up to 76mpg.
 
Incorrect.

Cars are GEARED to get their best fuel economy at 55mph, because 55 is the average speed limit in this country, and in Europe.

You can gear that car, using cam specs, over drive gear sizes, and final drive ratios, to get maximum fuel economy for any speed up to about 85-90 mph, depending on aerodynamics. A car shaped like a brick is not gonna gain fuel economy at higher speeds no matter the gearing, due to the power output needed to push it through the atmosphere. Past 90 mph, even "slippery" cars need to be making decent power to maintain velocity.

Buy a BMW. It's peak fuel economy will be reached closer to that 80mph mark, because those crazy Germans like to drive fast.
 
I recently bought a new car that tells you how many mpg you are getting in real time and it was interesting to play around with different speeds to see what my mileage was. I always knew the faster you go the worse the mpg but seeing it as it happened was informative. My Subaru got 38 mpg at 55mph and dropped to around 31 mpg at 65 mph. When Carter made the speed limit 55 everyone had a fit until it was changed but in this age where so many are so convinced we are warming the planet with fossil fuel it makes me wonder how many of them would be willing to slow down in order to put less carbon into the air. It's put up or shut up time.:lol:
Bad poll choices for this Conservative. I'm one of those "unenlightened knuckle draggers" who's still waiting for the Day After Tomorrow to get here.
 
Of cars and trucks, the best any we have gets 20 mpg - an older small standard cab little Ranger pickup truck. The lowest is about 10, but its an old gasoline dually.

I read sometime back that actually the optimum fuel economy ON AVERAGE is 45 mph. Going faster won't get good gas miles and new cars have transmissions and computer fuel controls that are no longer very sensitive to gearing of the car.
 
BTW, badly worded poll and no response I could select from.
 
I drive the Interstate's a lot, And I'd like to get where I'm going in a timely matter. The Interstate is built to handle high speed, heavy traffic.

I recently bought a new car that tells you how many mpg you are getting in real time and it was interesting to play around with different speeds to see what my mileage was. I always knew the faster you go the worse the mpg but seeing it as it happened was informative. My Subaru got 38 mpg at 55mph and dropped to around 31 mpg at 65 mph. When Carter made the speed limit 55 everyone had a fit until it was changed but in this age where so many are so convinced we are warming the planet with fossil fuel it makes me wonder how many of them would be willing to slow down in order to put less carbon into the air. It's put up or shut up time.:lol:
 
I recently bought a new car that tells you how many mpg you are getting in real time and it was interesting to play around with different speeds to see what my mileage was. I always knew the faster you go the worse the mpg but seeing it as it happened was informative. My Subaru got 38 mpg at 55mph and dropped to around 31 mpg at 65 mph. When Carter made the speed limit 55 everyone had a fit until it was changed but in this age where so many are so convinced we are warming the planet with fossil fuel it makes me wonder how many of them would be willing to slow down in order to put less carbon into the air. It's put up or shut up time.:lol:

I am in Colorado this week and love the 65 and 75 mph speed limits, I intend to break both headed home tomorrow
 
I recently bought a new car that tells you how many mpg you are getting in real time and it was interesting to play around with different speeds to see what my mileage was. I always knew the faster you go the worse the mpg but seeing it as it happened was informative. My Subaru got 38 mpg at 55mph and dropped to around 31 mpg at 65 mph. When Carter made the speed limit 55 everyone had a fit until it was changed but in this age where so many are so convinced we are warming the planet with fossil fuel it makes me wonder how many of them would be willing to slow down in order to put less carbon into the air. It's put up or shut up time.:lol:

Just to get your facts and politics correct, it was Nixon, not Carter that brought us the 55 mile per hour speed limit (in fact, originally it was a 50 MPH speedlimit)

National Maximum Speed Law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
I am in Colorado this week and love the 65 and 75 mph speed limits, I intend to break both headed home tomorrow

I am in Colorado this lifetime and love a lot more about the state than the speed limits.... (and its even nicer when I fly my plane at 155kts, or about 173 MPH, and never get stuck in traffic)
 
I am in Colorado this lifetime and love a lot more about the state than the speed limits.... (and its even nicer when I fly my plane at 155kts, or about 173 MPH, and never get stuck in traffic)

I rode the bike 1400 miles the last 5 days taking several of your passes and canyon roads, they were all beautiful!
 
I hated when the maximum speed limit was 55. I was so happy when that changed in the 1990's. On my last road trip I would often drive around 80 when the speed limit was 70 MPH. Driving 55 is just too slow on the open road. I don't care if I save a few miles a gallon or not.
 
So what I'm seeing here is the AGW crowd is all talk as I suspected. You guys are not even willing to slow down in your cars a little to reduce your carbon foot print. Once again hypocrisy on display from the warmers.
 
I recently bought a new car that tells you how many mpg you are getting in real time and it was interesting to play around with different speeds to see what my mileage was. I always knew the faster you go the worse the mpg but seeing it as it happened was informative. My Subaru got 38 mpg at 55mph and dropped to around 31 mpg at 65 mph. When Carter made the speed limit 55 everyone had a fit until it was changed but in this age where so many are so convinced we are warming the planet with fossil fuel it makes me wonder how many of them would be willing to slow down in order to put less carbon into the air. It's put up or shut up time.:lol:


Speed limit should be based on safety, not dubious concerns over carbon emissions. Also, it should primarily be a State matter.

And no. 55mph is too darn slow.
 
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