Do you prefer to use less fuel, or get better MPG

[Canoehead]

Hypothetical - you can go through town, it is 5 miles of stop/go traffic, and you will likely only get 30mpg, so will use 1/6 of a gallon of gas. Alternatively, you can go around the downtown on a less congested stretch and get 60mpg, but that is a distance of 20 miles, so you will use 1/3 of a gallon of gas. WHAT DO YOU DO?

I'm curious as to whether people want to burn less fuel overall, or score big mpg numbers. I suspect the first is the "smart" thing, but confess to sometimes feeling drawn to the second.

[live4redline]

The least amount of fuel used to get from point A to point B is the best choice and least amount of waste.

That goes for your scenario and one that involves a longer down hill route over a shorter up hill route.

[deleted user]

Would you rather your car have 50k miles or 200k miles?
Would you spend more money for more miles on your odometer?

regards
mech

[inuvik]

Least amount of miles for me trying to get the best mpg possible.

[live4redline]

Mileage effects consumer value true, but it all comes down to what maters most to you... MPG, resale value, horsepower, maintenance costs, or ect..

To know where the most cost savings will be achieved, you have to do the math of both and compare. But considering that in the Mirages case, fuel savings can pay for the car over time and consumer value will constantly go down whether you put mileage on the car or not, I feel that fuel savings will more then likely win in the over all and i want to say there's been a better mathematician who has commented to that cause in the past maybe. But there are a lot of factors involved.

But just to be contradictory in a fun fashion, I would rather have a car with 200k miles and only 3334 hours of engine run time over a car with 50K miles and 13,336 hours of engine run time.

[Canoehead]

Mileage effects consumer value true, but it all comes down to what maters most to you... MPG, resale value, horsepower, maintenance costs, or ect..

To know where the most cost savings will be achieved, you have to do the math of both and compare. But considering that in the Mirages case, fuel savings can pay for the car over time and consumer value will constantly go down whether you put mileage on the car or not, I feel that fuel savings will more then likely win in the over all and i want to say there's been a better mathematician who has commented to that cause in the past maybe. But there are a lot of factors involved.

But just to be contradictory in a fun fashion, I would rather have a car with 200k miles and only 3334 hours of engine run time over a car with 50K miles and 13,336 hours of engine run time.

It is interesting that cars don't seem to have hour counters, only odometers. Of course every car that is for sale used is advertised as "mostly highway miles" and yet most of us live and drive in cities . . . Hmmmm.

And to everyone who commented - of course I know less distance and less gas is better . . . I just sort of like when the numbers on my dash are good.

[cyclopathic]

Whatever takes less time.

[deleted user]

I can regularly get much better than 30 mpg in my Mirage (manual). The shorter, harder to master route, would be my challenge to see how high I could get my average mpg. One trip last week for lunch about 12 miles round trip through quite a few lights (20) and speed limits, as well as a cold start, I hit 68 mpg round trip. I can regularly hit 50 mpg, within 2.5 from a cold start and climbing my 12% grade driveway. .3 mile to the main road I'm at 30 mpg, 50 mpg within 3 miles when I concentrate and use my best techniques.

regards
mech

[live4redline]

^ Making the most out of the given situation and continually striving for more with technique and practice to get the best overall result. I can dig it!

[cyclopathic]

^ Making the most out of the given situation and continually striving for more with technique and practice to get the best overall result. I can dig it!

He is addict. I'd bet he'd be hitting triple digits regularly in my Prius. C.

Personally I prefer a route with curves. Adds about 7mi to my commute, but no napping in traffic and saves time on most of the days.

Need a proper wrc car on some sections, at least better suspension.