Do you care about the gas mileage you get?

[Colonel Cadillac]

As I was thrashing my car on the way back to my sister's place tonight getting terrible gas mileage, I was wondering if you guys care about your mileage and drive like granny's to get the best bang for your buck.

For me, I don't care because driving is the one thing that is truly blissful and worrying about my MPG's kills the fun. I cared for a few weeks this year, but I hated every minute of that driving style. I guess it's just part of the cost of an expensive hobby.

[MrH]

Nope, not at all.  If I want better fuel economy, I'll buy a more fuel efficient car.

I get 21 mpg in the miata around town.  That's nearly unheard of. 

[Eye of the Tiger]

I thrash the hell out of an economy car and get 30 mpg. For me, it comes down to vehicle choice rather than driving style. I can't control myself enough to get good mileage in a fast car.

[Soup DeVille]

Yes, but not in the way it effects my driving. I keep track of my mileage, but mostly becuase it will occasionally let me know when something is wrong. The Civic gets about 30MPG overall.

[dazzleman]

Yes I care, but it shows up in vehicle choice rather than driving style.  I wouldn't slow down for better mileage.

[Rupert]

Eh, I don't drive enough miles (in my personal cars) in a year to care. (I don't really care what the work trucks get, but that's largely because it's always super shitty-- we got 7.8 MPG in our Dodge as we drove around the mountains with a 10,000 pound trailer last week). The difference around town between bad, thrashed MPG in the Explorer and good, slow MPG is, like 3 MPG, at most.

[Cookie Monster]

No.

No point in trying to eek good mpg's out of a Miata. I could get a hybrid for that.

[Rich]

I do when I'm on the highway.  Those are miles spent not accelerating, so I could care less if I'm in a high powered car.  I'd want the most MPGs I could get.

Around town I don't care since I can have fun with the gas pedal

[GoCougs]

Not ever.

[hotrodalex]

I do for the first 10 miles after I fill up. Then I forget and my lead foot comes back.

[FlatBlackCaddy]

Do I care???

Shiiiit.

I normally pump a few gallons onto the ground for my fallen homies.

I don't give a fu....ck!

[TBR]

Definitely, there's a 5+ mpg difference for me and on a tight budget that does make an impact.

[Vinsanity]

For me, I don't care because driving is the one thing that is truly blissful and worrying about my MPG's kills the fun. I cared for a few weeks this year, but I hated every minute of that driving style. I guess it's just part of the cost of an expensive hobby.

Same here. I should care, but when I tried to drive to conserve fuel, I ran out of patience very quickly. It reminded me of when I had to bum rides from my dad, who drives in a very leisurely manner.

[SVT666]

I currently spend about $50 a week on fuel and I average about 22 MPG with 80% highway driving (rated at 18/23) and it drinks Premium only.  I could easily get away with driving a Mustang GT (17/26) or a Dodge Charger R/T (16/25) and get the same or slightly better fuel economy.

[Laconian]

Yes I care, but it shows up in vehicle choice rather than driving style.  I wouldn't slow down for better mileage.

Ditto.

[Rupert]

Do I care???

Shiiiit.

I normally pump a few gallons onto the ground for my fallen homies.

I don't give a fu....ck!

[Tave]

Like other posters have said, I don't care enough to alter my driving style, because it wouldn't make much of a difference, but I cared enough to buy a frugal car in the first place.

[cawimmer430]

Of course I do. Gas is expensive. Every milliliter is precious.

[GoCougs]

Wow, I can't imagine ever caring, especially when buying a new car. As much as I deride it, warmology is at least a quasi rational basis for caring but finances simply isn't, at least in the US whereby depreciation is such a major hit in the first three years. A person will never be remotely close to being financially ahead buying a brand new Civic that gets ~35 MPG vs. a low mileage '05 Civic that gets ~31 MPG.

[68_427]

Yes.  I've burned through $60 of gas in less than a week.

[Byteme]

Depends on what I'm driving.

In the Jaguar, I didn't really care.  
In the 3 and 6 I expect decent mileage and generally drive to get it, although I don't get close to driving like a hypermiler; I just drive more sensibably in those two cars.
In the Miata I generally get 29-30 and drive somewhat aggressively.

[Lebowski]

This sounds bad but I could care less.  I average probably 10mpg in the Vette which is terrible, but I tend to be either driving aggressively or stuck in traffic (plus my commute is so short it never really warms up).  My 4Runner gets a little better mileage in the city but worse on the highway.  The vette actually gets good highway mileage.


But I only drive ~8k miles per year so it just isn't that material for me.

[MX793]

I cared about it a bit more when I was driving 25K miles a year, but not as much anymore.  I care about it in the sense that I calculate what I averaged on any particular tank, though I don't keep a record beyond a mental note of what I typically get, what my best ever tank was and roughly what my worst was.

I also care in the sense that if I am buying a new car and am comparing two similar vehicles (size, performance, etc) and one gets considerably better mileage than the other (or one requires premium while another requires regular), I'll give some points to the one with the lower fuel cost.

[TBR]

Wow, I can't imagine ever caring, especially when buying a new car. As much as I deride it, warmology is at least a quasi rational basis for caring but finances simply isn't, at least in the US whereby depreciation is such a major hit in the first three years. A person will never be remotely close to being financially ahead buying a brand new Civic that gets ~35 MPG vs. a low mileage '05 Civic that gets ~31 MPG.

That isn't how I understood the question. I took it to be talking about driving style, not car choice. And, I don't think it is unreasonable for people to consider gas mileage when considering what type of car they want.

[CALL_911]

I care, because my parents pay for gas. If I paid for my own gas, I wouldn't.

[Eye of the Tiger]

I care, because my parents pay for gas. If I paid for my own gas, I wouldn't.

[dazzleman]

I care, because my parents pay for gas. If I paid for my own gas, I wouldn't.

You're a parent's dream.

[CALL_911]

You're a parent's dream.

Not really. If someone bought you a nice car and is paying for gas, the least you can do is not be a douche about it.

That, and I'm only getting 29-30 mpg per tank (mind you, this is a smallish VW. I'm sure I could do 2-3 mpg better). Guess my words and actions don't quite align.

[dazzleman]

Not really. If someone bought you a nice car and is paying for gas, the least you can do is not be a douche about it.

That, and I'm only getting 29-30 mpg per tank (mind you, this is a smallish VW. I'm sure I could do 2-3 mpg better). Guess my words and actions don't quite align.

I'm very happy to get 29-30 mpg.  I do much better on the highway than around town, but most of my driving is the latter.  I only get about 19 mpg or so around town, and about 30-32 mpg on the highway, depending on how fast I go.

Lots of kids whose parents buy them nice cars are total douches, so you deserve some points for not going down that path, man.

[Colonel Cadillac]

Not really. If someone bought you a nice car and is paying for gas, the least you can do is not be a douche about it.

That, and I'm only getting 29-30 mpg per tank (mind you, this is a smallish VW. I'm sure I could do 2-3 mpg better). Guess my words and actions don't quite align.

Haha I absolutely took the opposite approach.