I recently found an interesting article in the newspaper and thought it
was really crazy that people actually are doing this! There's these
groups of very crazy green energy saver types of people who call
themselves hypermilers. They use up as little of their gas in their cars
as long as possible and go as far as they can with the same tank of gas
over a long period of time. Mainly, they all drive hybrid cars, no
doubt. It's been stated that drivers have exceeded 164 MPG in current
market vehicles while competing in these special marathons, just for
these purposes. They've been able to achieve over 2,254 miles on a tank
of gas. That is just unbelievably amazing!

On Wikipedia..... it says that.... "One of the best ways to optimize
mileage (both hybrid and non-hybrid) is to keep up with vehicle
maintenance. Key parameters to maintain are tire pressure, tire balance,
and proper motor oil weight and level. Hypermilers often inflate their
tires to the maximum recommended air pressure, since the harder a tire
is the less energy is required to move it. Under-inflated tires can
lower gas mileage by 0.4 percent for every 1 psi drop in pressure of all
four tires per gas tank." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermiler

But, to save gas while going down hill or something, one turns off the
engine and coasts in neutral! Now, that is just totally dangerous,
especially while in traffic and whatnot. Here's some other stuff to
check out

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/01/king_of_the_hypermilers.html?welcome=true

http://www.hypermilers.com/

Anyone got any thoughts?

GEEMANECRICKETS!!! I reckon i fall in that catagory. Its called being a
SINGLE MOM!!!

lol bigsister
I can relate
And thank you "wwe" for the info

Explorer
Doesn't sound crazy to me at all. Sounds interesting. Thanks for finding and posting this.

Did you find any reference to how much mpg that are achieving over a level course? Or what speed was found to be optimum?

Oceans

Maybe Explorer went for a drive....

A friend's dad told me a story years ago about some hippies he met in the US while buying race car parts.
They were travelling across the country from California to the east coast in an old Chevy pick up truck. Instead of using gas they had built a wood stove in the back and were burning wood they collected along the way. Basically gassifying it and running it through a duct over the roof of the truck and into the engine. It ran poorly and wasn't very fast but it was free fuel. I wonder if they ever made it.
Not sur how to convert it into miles per stick but it sounds like an interesting idea.

Maybe that was a hippie joke! How can burnt wood produce a gas that has energy conent, and how can a liquid fuel engine burn a gas????

Now, I COULD imagine a steam engine....

I still think it was gerbils, though.

It's possible for this to work somehow. If you look at how a high efficiency wood stove works, it has a grate or diffuser at the top of the firebox and it traps any unburnt gasses and has a secondary burn which makes it efficient. The flame is partially blue more like a gas flame.
Gasoline is actually vaporised by the carburator or injectors. Propane is vaporised also if you're using it for a fuel.
It's just a story I was told and thought it might work although I've never tried it myself.
I have tried used cooking oil in my ddiesel Volkswagon though. It works well and smells like french fries when it's running.
I wonder if using wood might be like sitting around a campfire? Might help to relax those people prone to road rage!

I can see it now....cruising down the highway with a weinie roast and marshmellows going!