I've read in the past 10 yrs in a couple of places where BMW came to the
determination that near full throttle take offs from a stop, then coasting
to a stop was the most fuel efficient manner of driving.
Burning rubber at the light may reduce your own actual mileage, anything
short of that seems A-OK. Whoohoo!
Eric
'63 Crown Four-Door
'72 Newport Custom Sedan
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For ages we've been told to accelerate slowly away from a stop sign, yet get
into high gear as soon as possible. If you do that and watch the Instant
Fuel Economy readout, you'll see that all of that extra time spent in the
lower gears results in something like 12 mpg with a very slight throttle
input for quite a long time. Even after you get up to 30 mph or so, it
still takes a good while to get the fuel economy readout into the 20 mpg
range. To get the similar readings with the "Average Fuel Economy" feature,
you'll have to "zero" the computer at a stop sign.
I read in a '75 Chevrolet owner's manual that it was sometimes better to
accelerate moderately instead of slowly from a stop. This way, you got to
the more efficient fuel use range quicker for better overall economy, even
if it took a smidge extra to do it faster. After watching the fuel economy
readouts, it makes sense, just as long as you stay out of the power mixture
in the carb or fuel injection.
Just some thoughts,
W Bell
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