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Miles Per Dollar (MP$)


Pablo Mac

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You generally get pretty good MP$ on public transit. It'd be helpful if cache owners could give some info about bus/trolley/etc. routes that access their caches so that we could consider that as an option. Obviously, caches on top of mesas out near Wile E. Coyote's house aren't reachable by city bus, but plenty of urban and suburban caches are. And of course there are many series of caches that are deliberatly strung along trolley lines, e.g. in Dallas.

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5.17 MP$ with the 150 SC 5.4 4x4.

 

When I'm driving to a cache, as of today, I'm gettin $9.33! (Didja notice gas prices have dropped recently?). Of course, when I'm actually caching I'm getting infinty MP$ since I'm not using any gas! (I like to state the obvious now and then... :ph34r:

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Ha! The odometer in my SUV stopped working about 2 years ago. Ignorance is bliss.

 

Actually, whatever it costs to get anywhere, I am going to pay it. And studies suggest that just about everyone else will too. Of course people will fret and obsess over any price increase, usually for 3 or 4 months, then it's business as usual.

 

Side Note: On occasion, I prop my GPS up against the windshield to follow printed directions while traveling. Of course, I would do it more often if batteries weren't so expensive.

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I don't get it.

 

Must be the "New Math". As my MPG goes down the MP$ also goes down. Seems I need a 1 MPG vehicle to replace my 10 MPG 454 Suburban.

Think about it. If your MPG went down, you would get fewer miles to a tank. Therefore, you should get fewer miles per dollar spent. If gas was cheaper, a dollar would buy more gas, therefore taking you farther, hence a higher MP$.

 

Anyway, the faithful WJ gets approximately 6.45 MP$ around town.

Edited by sbell111
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Bummer.

 

Sorta wish I had not looked at this site right before a geocaching trip to PA and event in TN, but, ouch, I did.

 

My new 2006 Tahoe, touted by the manufacturor to get 16 City and 21 Highway MPG, consistantly gets 16.8 Highway MPG. The vast majority, easily over 95%, of my driving is Interstate at 60-70 MPH.

 

At today's gas prices that's only 5.58 Miles Per Dollar!!

 

The advertised 21 Highway MPG would have given me 7.24 MP$

 

Serious bummer, no matter how you look at it. I can't help but feel ripped off, by the gas industry AND Chevrolet.

 

Ed

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...My new 2006 Tahoe, touted by the manufacturor to get 16 City and 21 Highway MPG, consistantly gets 16.8 Highway MPG. The vast majority, easily over 95%, of my driving is Interstate at 60-70 MPH. ...

You should get bettter mileage than that. Change the air filter and use your cruise control.

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...My new 2006 Tahoe, touted by the manufacturor to get 16 City and 21 Highway MPG, consistantly gets 16.8 Highway MPG. The vast majority, easily over 95%, of my driving is Interstate at 60-70 MPH. ...

You should get bettter mileage than that. Change the air filter and use your cruise control.

 

Thanks, did the air filter, changed it to a $60 micro-fiber doo-dad that was supposed to help (darn micros!)

 

And I use the cruise control everywhere, literally! I even set it in school zones, 'cause I can't drive 25!

 

Thanks for the tips, though! Hope to meet you this weekend at my TN event, Pirates on Cherokee Lake?

 

Ed

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Just went and filled the tank, gas is down to $2.58, raising my MP$ 6.51.

 

At that price (it will be higher up north, and I'm towing a trailer 500 of those miles) my weekend trip of 1632 miles, without counting geocaching detours, will cost $501.26!

 

In 1955 my parents bought the house I grew up in for $3,700.

 

I've had numerous cars I paid less than $500. for, and driven them for years.

 

I'll be towing two jet-skis 1/3 of that distance, and paid less than $500 for both jet-skis and the trailer!

 

Y'all need to start puttin more Where'sGeorge dollars in caches... This geocaching is a losing proposition! :)

 

Ed

Edited by TheAlabamaRambler
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At a British mpg of 35 (US 29), my 1.6 litre Ford Focus gives 3.69 miles per US Dollar.

 

Fuel prices have recently dipped to only $7.86 per US gallon - a bargain!

 

I quit complaining a year or two ago, when I was told how much some of you European folks were paying per Liter (litre?)...

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At a British mpg of 35 (US 29), my 1.6 litre Ford Focus gives 3.69 miles per US Dollar.

 

Fuel prices have recently dipped to only $7.86 per US gallon - a bargain!

 

I quit complaining a year or two ago, when I was told how much some of you European folks were paying per Liter (litre?)...

We were across in California last September, and it was like free fuel: even though I was driving one of these!

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Anyone wanting a serious jump in mileage can simply slow down. Dropping from 70-75 mph to 55 can increase your mileage by 25%. Works in a big truck, my pick up, and the van.

That's why I'm addicted to cruise control in my Grand Cherokee or my wife's TrailBlazer. On the interstate, my mileage has improved from the high teens to the mid twenties.

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Anyone wanting a serious jump in mileage can simply slow down. Dropping from 70-75 mph to 55 can increase your mileage by 25%. Works in a big truck, my pick up, and the van.

 

The national 55 mph limit was a good thing, I never minded it. Implemented to save fuel, but the politicians folded under protest.

 

However, though most Interstate traffic in the South is now 'limited' to 65-70 the actual average speed is 75-85.

 

Not legal, but real, meaning that at 55 you are 20 to 30 mph slower than the rest of traffic flow.

 

You may be legal, but you're begging to get hit or cause a wreck!

 

NASCAR drivers can go 3-wide at 200 mph because they know exactly what to expect from the other drivers.

 

Though it is pretty silly to assume, our traffic flows well only when we can expect certain behavior from other drivers. When just one driver behaves differently it causes problems for all. Ten cars running 80 on the Interstate 20' apart are asking for trouble, but they do it every day. When that pack comes upon a car traveling 55 there's gonna be a snarl, some scary manuevers, maybe a wreck. Not legally the fault of the fuel-saving driver, but in reality he's the proximal cause.

 

Ed

Edited by TheAlabamaRambler
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... However, though most Interstate traffic in the South is now 'limited' to 65-70 the actual average speed is 75-85. Not legal, but real, meaning that at 55 you are 20 to 30 mph slower than the rest of traffic flow. You may be legal, but you're begging to get hit or cause a wreck!

Yet another good reason to drive a larger vehicle.

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... However, though most Interstate traffic in the South is now 'limited' to 65-70 the actual average speed is 75-85. Not legal, but real, meaning that at 55 you are 20 to 30 mph slower than the rest of traffic flow. You may be legal, but you're begging to get hit or cause a wreck!

Yet another good reason to drive a larger vehicle.

 

Absolutely! I consistantly drive 100k+ miles a year, keep my cruise set at 2-3 mph above the Interstate limit and drive an SUV (a Suburban, a Tahoe and an '87 Caprice that's bigger than the Tahoe) and stay worried about my wife in her New Beetle.

 

That's why this thread interests me, to see how many of us pay extra for big fuel-guzzlers when alternatives are readily available. We (I) wail about costs when I could get a decent import at 35-40 mpg for far less money.

 

Is that sick or what?

 

Ed

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Though it is pretty silly to assume, our traffic flows well only when we can expect certain behavior from other drivers. When just one driver behaves differently it causes problems for all. Ten cars running 80 on the Interstate 20' apart are asking for trouble, but they do it every day. When that pack comes upon a car traveling 55 there's gonna be a snarl, some scary manuevers, maybe a wreck. Not legally the fault of the fuel-saving driver, but in reality he's the proximal cause.

 

I really don't get your logic. You say folks speeding and following too close are not the ones at fault because of a slower driver? If you can't handle the conditions then you're driving too fast.

 

A fuel-saving driver versus merging traffic, a slow moving semi, travel trailers, moving vans, cellphone users, or folks just chillin'. Is there really a difference?

 

Once I dropped my speed, I actually enjoyed my commute a lot more. I never once had anyone make a remark or gesture. (Try comparing that to running up behind someone a flashing your lights.) The only folks that seemed to get "stuck" behind me were the ones not paying attention. That's not my fault in the least and only demonstrates they weren't watching far enough ahead to adjust.

 

Quite frankly, it's hard for me to feel sorry for folks complaining about fuel prices if they're not doing their part.

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Though it is pretty silly to assume, our traffic flows well only when we can expect certain behavior from other drivers. When just one driver behaves differently it causes problems for all. Ten cars running 80 on the Interstate 20' apart are asking for trouble, but they do it every day. When that pack comes upon a car traveling 55 there's gonna be a snarl, some scary manuevers, maybe a wreck. Not legally the fault of the fuel-saving driver, but in reality he's the proximal cause.

 

I really don't get your logic. You say folks speeding and following too close are not the ones at fault because of a slower driver? If you can't handle the conditions then you're driving too fast.

 

A fuel-saving driver versus merging traffic, a slow moving semi, travel trailers, moving vans, cellphone users, or folks just chillin'. Is there really a difference?

 

Once I dropped my speed, I actually enjoyed my commute a lot more. I never once had anyone make a remark or gesture. (Try comparing that to running up behind someone a flashing your lights.) The only folks that seemed to get "stuck" behind me were the ones not paying attention. That's not my fault in the least and only demonstrates they weren't watching far enough ahead to adjust.

 

Quite frankly, it's hard for me to feel sorry for folks complaining about fuel prices if they're not doing their part.

 

You don't 'get my logic' because you are hung up on ethics vs. reality.

 

The pack of idiots running bumper-to-bumper is ethically wrong, but in reality the law-abiding ethicist at 55 still is the actor that caused the wreck.

 

I leave Birmingham in an hour on a 1700-mile round-trip to pick up a cacher in Pa. and attend an event in Tn.

 

I drive that route on cruise-control at 72 mph several times a year, in the slow lane unless passing.

 

I guarantee somewhere along that route a pack of drivers, especially trucks, will find me to be an obstacle to their driving desires and will threaten my safety if I don't get out of their way.

 

Not right, but real.

 

Ed

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I guarantee somewhere along that route a pack of drivers, especially trucks, will find me to be an obstacle to their driving desires and will threaten my safety if I don't get out of their way.

 

Really? Or would you just feel threatened?

 

Remember, I know all about driving big trucks and putting large number of miles behind me. As long as I'm not holding anyone up--in other words, they can get around me--I don't care what anyone is doing behind me.

 

Also, unless you're the fastest person out there, there will always be someone you're inconveniencing. I know, I used to be that person who had to be "first." Like I said, life is so much easier now that I've slowed down, both on my sanity and my pocket book.

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I guarantee somewhere along that route a pack of drivers, especially trucks, will find me to be an obstacle to their driving desires and will threaten my safety if I don't get out of their way.
Really? Or would you just feel threatened?
I'm actually going to have to agree with TAR on this one. Around here, the most aggressive and unsafe drivers on the road are driving semis. It is not uncommon to see them driving 70 in a 55 zone through the inner loop around Nashville. They will routinely drive within a few feet of the car in front of them and aggressively pass to either side.

 

Granted, I agree with CR that the hypothetical accident would be the fault of the truck driver, but it would not necessarily have happened if everyone ignored the speed limit.

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Around here, the most aggressive and unsafe drivers on the road are driving semis.

 

I suppose it's where you live. Around here the most aggressive professional drivers are the tri-axle drivers. They get paid by the load so they have to rush constantly. The second are the port workers who move shipping containers around and they are in the same boat--paid by the load and several loads per day. With both, a few minutes could made the difference of $50 to $100.

 

This is no excuse, but it may help folks understand why they feel the need to "get on down the road."

 

Also, many places restrict trucks to the two right hand lanes, but then car folks think the middle lane is the slow lane, and then complain the trucks in the middle lane are tailgating! That's the fast lane for them.

 

Still, whether I'm in a truck, my car, or on my bike, I don't let big trucks intimidate me. In fact, if I see one driving unsafe I'll get the company name and report them. I've done it plenty of times.

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...I suppose it's where you live. Around here the most aggressive professional drivers are the tri-axle drivers. ... The second are the port workers who move shipping containers around and they are in the same boat--paid by the load and several loads per day. ...

I suspect that most of us are like me and have no idea what you are talking about.

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...I suppose it's where you live. Around here the most aggressive professional drivers are the tri-axle drivers. ... The second are the port workers who move shipping containers around and they are in the same boat--paid by the load and several loads per day. ...

I suspect that most of us are like me and have no idea what you are talking about.

 

What CR is saying is there is a difference between your standard 18 wheeler and a dump truck or a truck hauling a container...

 

And living in a port city, I agree completely. I feel safe around an otr / 18 wheeler, and can't stand to see the dump trucks or containers..

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