Meet Lucy - And Save Some Fuel!

 This is Lucy. For all of my sighing and dreaming of electric vehicles, Lucy is my current vehicle of choice when I am not on a two-wheeler, when I need to haul something, when I need to travel more than 20 miles or 60mph. She is a 1994 Ford Ranger with a four-cylinder engine and a five-speed manual transmission. I bought Lucy from Janet for an extremely small amount of money and have spent that amount of money again doing some needed repairs. This morning, it was 20 degrees and foggy when I left the Yellowhouse, And I was very thankful to have Lucy. I find myself thankful often to have Lucy.

But it's a bittersweet thankful. Lucy runs on gasoline, and I do not like burning gasoline. I have a long list of reasons I do not like burning gasoline, but we will save those for another day.

Until I can make a switch to a much more Mesquite Hugger-ish vehicle, I want to keep working on ways for Lucy to burn less fuel. So this post is to share a few of the resources that are available.

The best wealth of info I have found for learning how to burn less fuel is a forum called Ecomodder. The posters on Ecomodder regularly reduce their fuel consumption by more than 30% and are happy to share their tips and tricks on the forum. I find their threads downright addictive.

 

While there are many great places on the forum to learn more, I will start you off with a list of 109 Hypermiling/Ecodriving Tips.

 

 

Next on the list is a site and Youtube channel called MPGomatic. While Ecomodder is a forum for the hardcore hypermilers and modders, MPGomatic is more geared for the average Joe or Jo who wants to save fuel and get the most out of their existing ride. MPGomatic started as a Kickstarter campaign, which I gladly supported for the cause AND so I could get a sticker with their rocking logo:

You can find MPGomatic here at MPGomatic.com.

 

 

(I'm also a big fan of the Maryland Terrapins' mascot even though I am not much of an athletic supporter.)

 

May your ride sip rather than guzzle!

 

Bonus link for the day, the Bottle Rockets singing $1000 Car.