Why an mpg improvement in yr 2?

[Mark]

You made it sound like you were going 5 under, not 5 over. Not aware of many 55MPH "highways". Try only going 5 over in the NJ-NY-CT tri-state and you will get flashed at, honked at, flipped off on i95 5 under and I bet someone would run you off the road.

If it's in the 70s out I think it's in the 80s in the car. I need th AC personally.

You apparently didn't live through the "National Maxinum Speed Law" time period (where the entire country was 55 mph).

We live in different worlds. I pass way more people than people pass me. There's not a speed limit over 55 mph in my entire county. If I don't stray far from home on a tank of gas, most of that tank will be about 60 mph or under. Do I go 65 mph in a 55 zone sometimes? Sure I do, but my average would be more like 60 mph. I might see a handful of vehicles on the road when going to work or coming home (about a 12 mile drive one-way).

A traffic jam would be some farmer's cow on the road!

I almost had my first accident with a student driver this week. She wasn't the most experienced driver (meaning her parents haven't driven with her at all yet). This event wasn't her fault, however. We were going over a large hill, and she probably let the car slow down a bit (maybe 50 mph or so). I'm sure that annoyed the two vehicles behind her, & they were really on our tail. As we came over the hill, we both spotted a young dog (half grown Golden Retriever in my opinion). The dog was on the left shoulder, & when it saw us it bolted right in front of us. We both slammed the dual brakes quite hard, and cars behind us had to swerve to miss us! We missed the dogs and the trailing cars missed us thankfully! If it had been a deer, I may have let her take it out. Killing a dog is another story! It would have freaked her out, too! So far my only road kill with a student driver has been an opossum. She hit it quite well (double thump), but they are sort of ugly (no disrespect to God's creatures however). That was about 10 years ago.

Back on topic -

I'm pretty much in the 40-50 mpg range most of the year with my Mirage. The exception would be consecutive days of -20F or lower. Then I might see the upper 30's, especially if I let the car idle a bit to warm up. If I had to drive 70+ mph most of the time & use A/C more often, I would probably own something else. A Mirage feels more like a slow tin can in heavy traffic city areas to me.

[7milesout]

You made it sound like you were going 5 under, not 5 over. Not aware of many 55MPH "highways". Try only going 5 over in the NJ-NY-CT tri-state and you will get flashed at, honked at, flipped off on i95 5 under and I bet someone would run you off the road.

If it's in the 70s out I think it's in the 80s in the car. I need th AC personally.

It's amazing how different people are. A long time ago, I use to road race motorcycles. I would go just as fast as that motorcycle would go, and I would slide a knee-puck across pavement. And I would love to do that again ... if I didn't have a family that would dislike me being severely injured or kilt. But that's on a controlled, purpose-built racetrack.

...YET!... I drive like I'm driving miss Daisy around town. And when I'm by myself, I will rarely use the A/C system in any of my cars. I drop the 2 left side windows and I'm very comfortable. There's a section of town here where the speed limit is 50 mph. So I go 50 mph. That section turns to 55 mph closer toward my house. And in that section, I typically go 50 mph (not 55). I just leave the cruise control where it was and go 50 mph. I have noticed more drivers lately that seem to be content just to follow along behind me even going 5 under. I don't know if they're trying to save fuel, or if they're in a driving trance where they're thinking of everything else in their life (except their driving), and the only thing they see is the back of my car, and they go into some trance and just follow. I should mention, these are 4 lane roads. I won't do below the speed limit on a 2 lane road and trap people behind me. That's not nice. I might do the speed limit and trap people behind me, but I won't go below the speed limit on a 2 lane.

It can be 90° and I'll have my windows down and be doing 5 mph under the speed limit. Why? Because in suburban areas where there are traffic lights, it is completely pointless to try to "get ahead." I go the speed limit or 5 mph under and I stay right up with all the traffic racers around me. Meaning, they blow me off the road, and sometimes get out of sight. And they draft, cut, weave, and dart around each other like they're Jeff Gordon, only to have me roll right up beside them at the next traffic light. Or I even ease on pass them as they're accelerating from a dead stop and I've managed to roll through said traffic light (having coasted my speed down while approaching traffic stopped at the light). Only to have the cycle start all over again. "And they're off!" They all start cutting, weaving, darting, diving around each other trying to get the lead. Or drafting each other half a car length from each other in a pack of 20 cars or so. Meanwhile, I'm behind them all, enjoying a nice breeze with no pressure to worry about changing lanes into anyone, or to look out for the heat because I'm going 12 over, or to have to stare intently at the bumper that is a couple feet in front of me because I have to react immediately to any unexpected change. None of that. Just cruising and enjoying the weather, and barely using fuel. Yeah, I get warm. But I'm no prom queen. I can handle it.

There are 3 scenarios where I will use the A/C. It's 90°+ degrees with not a cloud in the sky. And the car is acting like it's a greenhouse ... A/C on. Or it's wet / rainy and very humid. I'll have to run the wipers (windows closed) and the humidity will cause the windows to fog ... A/C on. Or I have a prom queen for a passenger .... A/C on.

[Mark]

There are 3 scenarios where I will use the A/C. It's 90°+ degrees with not a cloud in the sky. And the car is acting like it's a greenhouse ... A/C on. Or it's wet / rainy and very humid. I'll have to run the wipers (windows closed) and the humidity will cause the windows to fog ... A/C on. Or I have a prom queen for a passenger .... A/C on.

I am very similar to you. I don't really like A/C, but I appreciate having it just the same. Clearing the fog inside the windshield would be my number one reason for wanting it. If it's well above 90F, lots of sun, quite humid, & even a breeze doesn't feel all that good, I will use A/C sometimes. None of my motorcycles had A/C, & I still survived.

My third scenario may differ from the one you shared, however. I don't haul too many prom queens around these days, but I have delivered a few puppies for a friend. Some puppies just get car sick regardless of what you do, but they tend to grow out of it. I will go out of my way to make them as comfortable as possible & use A/C without reservation.

My friend has been getting about $2,500 a pop for them, which makes them expensive cargo. I would do the same for a worthless mutt, however. Most people meet me about half way, but I have gone as far as driving one pup to O'Hare & flying it down to Miami as a carry-on with a small pet carrier (allowed if under 20 pounds on some air lines), fly back to O'Hare & then drive 3.5 hours back home all within a 21-hour period. It was the first pup she sold. Thankfully, she has found some flight nannies to do some since that time. Some people are willing to pay big bucks for a puppy.

A cat is a different story, however. I don't want Dirk on my case about cats. So I'll just leave it there.

[7milesout]

I will go out of my way to make them as comfortable as possible & use A/C without reservation.

Makes sense, I would do the same for dogs.

I hauled a couple squirrels in my Mirage once, left side windows down as usual. They seemed to love it and chilled out when they felt the breeze.

As far as cats go, I like juggling them (like on The Jerk). And kicking field goals with some. Actually, I have 2 cats. 1 American Standard I think they're called and he is the coolest cat I've ever been around. Would clone him if I could. And I have a calico (female) who's the most annoying idiotic dumbass creature that's ever lived on earth. She would get sent through the uprights for a point after T.D., if I thought I could get away with it.

[Mirageman38]

We live in different worlds. I pass way more people than people pass me.

Yeah, you live in the better one. This area is full of a-holes.

[defensivetackle88]

It hard to for me to achieve 50 MPG HWY with the A/C on at 65 MPH on so I stopped caring about that 50's. I'm happy with 45 and call it a day.

I weight the same as Aaron Donald

[Mirageman38]

Hehe I just did a test drive along a flat road after my tranny fluid job and cruise set to 55 with AC off the lie-ometer was REPORTING about 58MPG. Maybe my car is fine after all and it's all in my head...