Re: Beater economics

From: Jason Bleazard (dml@bleazard.net)
Date: Sat Apr 07 2007 - 18:38:51 EDT


Bob Tom wrote:
> Have you tried the following to see if your mpg improves?
>

Let's see...

> If you've got cruise control,

Nope.

> Keep tires properly inflated (follow owner's manual recommendation) and check
> your tire pressure regularly, especially after a sharp drop in temperature.

Thanks for the reminder, it's time to check that again.

> Get rid of excessive baggage and lighten up the weight. An extra 100 pounds in the bed can cut fuel economy by up to 2%.
>

That's a good point, I do have a lot of junk rattling around back
there. I could stand to loose some myself, come to think of it.

> Maintain your truck regularly. Fixing a badly out of tune (spark plugs cleaned and
> properly gapped, plug wires cleaned and not cross firing, distributor cap and rotor
> cleaned, cleaned air filter) can improve gas mileage by an average of 4%.
>

Time to do all that as well.

> If a reduction of $100 per month will help your financial crunch, have you looked
> into the possibility of lowering your truck insurance i.e. putting on collision only and no comprehensive or raising the deductible amounts?
>

I'd have to double check, but last time I looked I was pretty surprised
how little I was paying for comprehensive. Something like $10 or $15 a
month, IIRC.

> Any possibility of car pooling or ride sharing?
>

That's worth looking in to, but with the contract work I have a tendency
to be working in a different office every six months or so. Probably
time to look in to getting a regular job closer to home.

> BTW, you forgot to mention gasoline taxes which are a huge part of gasoline prices.
>

Just because I didn't mention it, doesn't mean I forgot about them.
Believe me, that's an entirely different rant.

-- 
Jason Bleazard  http://drazaelb.blogspot.com  Burlington, Ontario
his:  '95 Dakota Sport 4x4, 3.9 V6, 5spd, Reg. Cab, white
hers: '01 Dakota Sport 4x4, 4.7 V8, Auto, Quad Cab, black



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