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It's not the car you drive, it's the gallons you burn

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It's not the car you drive, it's the gallons you burn

Environmental hypocrisy

from JoeUser Forums

I cringe everytime I hear people yell about SUVs and their gas mileage. I was talking to a friend of mine in California who made some pretty...militant remarks about people who drive SUVs and their irresponsible behavior.  To which I said, "Wait, don't you commute an hour per day to work?" To which he said, "Well sure, but I drive a Toyota Corolla."  So what?

I don't care what kind of car you're driving, if you're driving over an hour (total) per day, you're burning a lot of gas. Some people have to drive that far and other people simply prefer to live out in the country.  And I have no problem with that.  But if you do live far away from work (or in the case of my friend simply have to drive through heavy traffic for long periods of time) then you can't go around condemning other people's car choices.

I don't have an SUV.  But I do have a car that only gets 18 miles to the gallon.  I also drive 6 miles to work and 6 miles home.  I spend about 20 minutes per day on the road -- total. 

The Corolla gets around 35MPG on average if you're driving it mostly in the city.  My friend drives about 25 miles each way, 50 miles per day.  So he burns 1.43 gallons of gas per day.  I burn 0.67 gallons of gas per day. Over the course of the year, he uses over 500 gallons of gas.  I use 243 gallons of gas -- less than half as much.

I don't care what kind of car other people drive.  But if you're going to take on a holier-than-thou attitude on fuel standards, then you better be factoring in your commute distance. 

politics
16,376 views 35 replies
Reply #26 from JoeUser Forums Top
Silly people. Regardless of your drive a very high MPG car is smart common sense and good for the enviroment. Driving a vehicle that gets 16-18mpg just because you have a 5 mile commute is a weak spin attempt to try and justify an excessively wasteful lifestyle. I drive a $4000.00 car I paid cash for that gets almost 40MPG not because I can't afford a Mercedes but because I want to minimize my impact on the environment and I don't want anyone to ever look down on me as a wasteful and excessive person. It is quite humbling to know I can afford anything I want but that I *CHOOSE* to drive the gas miser. Try being humble it is quite refreshing.
Reply #27 from JoeUser Forums Top
Our family has three cars. My wife drives a 94 Ford Escort. Not really my cuppa tea (fairly uncomfortable and I don't like Fords) but it gets the job done for her. Taking the kids to school and then going to work, she uses about a tankful a week (~10 gallons).

Me...I drive a 79 Honda Civic to work. Since I commute 150 miles a day, it only makes sense to drive a car that gets 35 MPG. I rather enjoy driving my car, but that's just me. However, I do have a 99 Dakota with a nice V6 in it. Gets about 21 MPG and I usually drive that on the weekends. Why? Because I *like* to. Do I need to justify myself for driving a vehicle with sub-optimal mileage? Nope, and anyone who thinks I should can kiss my white ass.

You see, last I looked, this was still a country where we're still free to make our own choices. You can bet your bottom dollar that if I could afford to drive a 300C with a nice Hemi V-8 in it, that's what I'd be driving. But since I can't, I make do with my commuter car, and drive the less economical car on the weekends. Do I get a kick out of seeing an H2 pull into a station and pay $100+ for a fill up? You bet, but it's their choice.

All of this self-righteous BS that people *have* to drive super-eco-friendly econo-boxes really pisses me off. I wonder if people say the same thing about the folks who drive BMWs and Mercs over in the EU, paying their $6+ a gallon for fuel. As Brad said, it all boils down to overall *total* consumption, not just *rate* of consumption.

-- B
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Reply #28 from JoeUser Forums Top

Silly people. Regardless of your drive a very high MPG car is smart common sense and good for the enviroment. Driving a vehicle that gets 16-18mpg just because you have a 5 mile commute is a weak spin attempt to try and justify an excessively wasteful lifestyle. I drive a $4000.00 car I paid cash for that gets almost 40MPG not because I can't afford a Mercedes but because I want to minimize my impact on the environment and I don't want anyone to ever look down on me as a wasteful and excessive person. It is quite humbling to know I can afford anything I want but that I *CHOOSE* to drive the gas miser.


Obviously you didn't comprehend what was posted. They're refering to pickups, NOT SUV's! There isn't such a thing as a high MPG full-size pick-up. Most of us that drive them do so because we need a pick-ups capacity. There are certain things a car just won't do no matter what mileage it gets. We "choose" to drive pick-ups.
Reply #29 from JoeUser Forums Top
Remeber, that's 18MPG in ideal conditions. Most cars use a lot more in the first few minutes of operation when they're getting warmed up, to ensure that users get the best experience possible, even at the cost of more gas. And that's just starting up in the morning. If you go to get lunch, that's another chunk gone, without actually going more than a couple of miles. Longer journies do burn up more fuel, but it's not a linear relationship.
Reply #30 from JoeUser Forums Top

Silly people. Regardless of your drive a very high MPG car is smart common sense and good for the enviroment. Driving a vehicle that gets 16-18mpg just because you have a 5 mile commute is a weak spin attempt to try and justify an excessively wasteful lifestyle. I drive a $4000.00 car I paid cash for that gets almost 40MPG not because I can't afford a Mercedes but because I want to minimize my impact on the environment and I don't want anyone to ever look down on me as a wasteful and excessive person. It is quite humbling to know I can afford anything I want but that I *CHOOSE* to drive the gas miser. Try being humble it is quite refreshing.

Who are you to say I live a wasteful lifestyle?  You're just setting an arbitrary definition of what's "wasteful" -- and you're trying to assert that *I'm* arrogant. Amazing.

Why not bike to work? That's even less "wasteful".

I don't want anyone to ever look down on me as a wasteful and excessive person

So basically you are ruled by the opinions of other people. Well unless you're biking to work, you're a wasteful person. Go get a bike.

Reply #31 from JoeUser Forums Top

Remeber, that's 18MPG in ideal conditions. Most cars use a lot more in the first few minutes of operation when they're getting warmed up, to ensure that users get the best experience possible, even at the cost of more gas. And that's just starting up in the morning. If you go to get lunch, that's another chunk gone, without actually going more than a couple of miles. Longer journies do burn up more fuel, but it's not a linear relationship.

18mpg is what my car averages.  Not ideal.  Under ideal conditions it gets 26mpg.

Reply #32 from JoeUser Forums Top

Now, think how much gas you'd be saving if you had a car that got 35+ miles to the gallon.  I also live fairly close to my job, but my son is forced, via economic necessity to live rather far away.  He's saving up to get a more fuel efficient car so that, coincidentally, he can spend less money on gas.  My stance has always been, live as close to work as you possibly can, and get a car that has the greatest fuel efficiency.  Whether that's a holier than attitude, I'm not sure.  I live close enough to where I work I can bike, and living in Oregon it's actually kind of pleasant to do that.  My wife has to drive half an hour to work (due to traffic) and so we got her the most fuel efficient car possible.

Having said that, I've seen pics of Brad's car, it's a pretty sweet machine and I wouldn't mind having that parked in my driveway.

Reply #33 from JoeUser Forums Top

I think people have to look at their entire lifestyle.  Some people drive fuel efficient cars then go home to a heated pool.  I drive a fuel efficient vehicle, but I have a long commute.  However, I have a ton of other things that I do to decrease my use of oil and other resources.

Am I more fuel efficient driving 450 miles a week with my car that gets about 40mpg than Brad who drives less than 100 miles in a car that gets 18mpg?  That really is the point, isn't it?

Reply #34 from JoeUser Forums Top
See, we need to get to work on those anti-matter reactors and transporters from Star Trek, then we'd be all set.
Reply #35 from JoeUser Forums Top
The issue of fuel "waste" can only be measured by absolute consumption compared to others. The effeciency of a car doesn't make one lick of difference unless you're comparing relative waste between people driving the same car (or cars with the same gas mileage).

I drive a Ford Focus, and in ideal conditions I get around 30mpg. I drive about 24 miles per day just for travel to and from work. So if I do nothing but go to work and come home, I consume 0.8gal/day. Brad by comparison uses something close to half a gallon a day. I use 0.3 gallons more than he does per day, and I have a much more fuel effecient car. Technically, I'm the more "wasteful" one since I use more gas on a daily basis.

Now, if you're talking about someone who has a gas-guzzler and drives 100mi/day, then yes they do spend more gas per day than the average driver. But it's not the mileage that matters so much as the actual day to day consumption. It gets better when you start factoring in people who carpool and do the calculation on gallons per day per person.

Your fuel effeciency is factored against how much you drive. You can have the most fuel effecient car in the world, but if you drive 400mi in a day, you've spent more than most other people did in that same day. You may get a great number of miles to the gallon, but you're still using more gallons of fuel.