Stage IV Weight Reduction

[AZhitman]

Rip out the seats, scrape out the sound deadening, toss the spare tire?

Nope. Quit stuffing the driver.

http://www.thecarconnection.com/news/10 ... t-the-pump

[alms24sebring]

I believe every word of that. I know the gas companies arent complaining tho.

Ooo look a cheeto..

[MinisterofDOOM]

The article makes a good point. I know lots of people who go out of their way to small buy cars with agile chassis and good weight distribution, but weigh 250+ lb.

But...I think the article misses another point. It is NOT size that is causing cars to become overweight. It's tech. Equivalent sized cars from 10 years ago weighed significantly less. Safety garbage, electronic garbage, emissions garbage. Get it all OUT. Save weight there.

[Mr1der]

meh, I call s*** unless it's a driver who can't fit his fat a** in a car.

I'd wager if I take a 110lb girl as opposed to my now 290lb a** in my Civic, put on an flat interstate cruise set at 70, there wouldn't be a 1mpg difference.

I'm a more efficient driver when I don't have total f***' morons cutting me off causing me to decel and need to gas it to get back lost speed.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Like my 300 lb friend who drives a first-gen Chevy Metro?

[audtatious]

Dammit Greg, stop posting my picture online!!!!!!

I can't help I'm that big

[Mr1der]

Like my 300 lb friend who drives a first-gen Chevy Metro?

PICTURES OR I DON'T BELIEVE YOU

[alms24sebring]

Eh I can feel a big difference with a full tank of gas

[sndtgr08]

Eh I can feel a big difference with a full tank of gas

I agree. I do notice perfomance differences between keeping always under 1/2 a tank all week long (I use maybe 1/4 tank a week) and when I fill up for long trips to meets and shows. 200lbs of fuel and cargo, or whatever, is definitely noticeable.

[hannibal]

Sounds like an interesting study, but it's missing some key info to put this in perspective. Americans use over 360 million gallons of gasoline PER DAY. And thats the average from mid March to mid April when demand had already fallen due to higher prices.

In 2011, we used almost 134 billion gallons of gasoline. So wasting 938 million gallons a year is less than 1%. Also compare the costs. We waste $4 billion a year but we spend over $520 billion a year (at $4 per gallon).

In fact our colleagues at Green Car Reports recently looked at two Hondas made 30 years apart and found that the model from the 1980s was actually more fuel efficient than its present-day counterpart.

But the new car is three times more powerful. If Honda had continued to build 1.5L 65hp engines, they'd be getting 120mpg by now.