I have a new policy: slow. It saves gas.

Drivers tailgate and pass me on Woodward. Doesn’t matter. In fact, I now chuckle a little when an Escalade or H3 speeds by. My Saturn has a 12-gallon gas tank. At $4.01 a gallon, the last fill-up cost me almost $45. An Escalade has a 26-gallon tank. That’s more than $100 to fill it from E (if you use regular; the manufacturer recommends premium). When such a gas hog whizzes by, I think about the relative percentage of the driver’s hard-earned cash that goes right into the tank.

When I drive slowly and steadily I can get more than 30 mpg, even in city driving. An Escalade, according to this site, gets 13 mpg in the city and 19 mpg on the highway. I can’t even imagine. Using that 13 mpg figure, the Escalade can go about 340 miles from F to E in the city. On my last tank, I got 368 miles. I’m going 8 percent farther for 45 percent of the cost. I fill up about every 10 days in my Saturn. If I drove an Escalade, I’d be filling up every nine days, and paying more than twice as much.

Laughing yet? I am, at least as much as anyone paying twice as much for gas as five years ago. And we all are; it just hurts more for those driving monster trucks. So I may laugh, but it’s a nervous one.

Which brings me to my conservation tactic: Drive it like you borrowed it. Drive it like it’s not yours. Drive it like you borrowed it from Charles Jefferson of Ridgemont High and you’re afraid a crash could mean a wicked beating from the star quarterback. (”It’s okay. My dad is a TV repairman. He has this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it.”) Coast a little. Clutch on the way up to lights. Enjoy the scenery. If the posted speed limit is 45 mph, try 40 mph. Or even 35. What’s your hurry? I drive about 30-35 mph all the way down Woodward to work. While it does take me a few minutes longer, gas isn’t something I can afford to take lightly anymore.

Let the H3 drivers point and laugh.

Tags: Gas //