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

Environmental hypocrisy

Published on September 3, 2005 By Draginol In Politics

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.

Comments (Page 3)

Draginol

on Sep 07, 2005

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.

jeblackstar

on Sep 12, 2005

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.

KarmaGirl

on Sep 12, 2005

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?

jeblackstar

on Sep 12, 2005

See, we need to get to work on those anti-matter reactors and transporters from Star Trek, then we'd be all set.

Zoomba

on Sep 12, 2005

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.

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