Cruise control

By Cletus Bianchi

Since the advent of ‘throttle-body injection,’ my days of pretending to be a car mechanic have continued their steady decline. These days, computers plug into computers and tell mechanics (that are closer to electrical engineers) how to fix a problem.

These technical advances have given me more than free time and cleaner fingernails. They have dramatically increased modern vehicles’ fuel efficiency. With gasoline and diesel pushing $3 per gallon, it can be easy to overlook these advances. Fuel prices also make us evaluate the types of vehicles we drive and how we operate them.

My personal preference runs toward bigger. I’m willing to pay more for the hauling capacity and protection a three-ton chunk of Detroit steel can deliver. Obviously, that higher cost shows up at the fuel pump as well, but I have to admit I’m pleasantly surprised at the fuel efficiency of our big new SUV.

Next to bird dogs, there’s nothing that stirs more one-up-man-ship among guys than MPGs, especially when comparing V-8s! Towing capacity, torque and horsepower are nice, but squeezing an extra mile per gallon out of a tank of fuel is like winning the lottery, especially if you’re driving to meet your buds for the weekend. Few fishing or hunting stories can compare to averaging nearly twenty on the last tank!

Newer vehicles even come with a fuel economy read out. It’s almost like watching a scoreboard. Keep it over 20 and you’re winning; let it drop into the teens and your defense is getting rattled.

There’s also the ‘saved a nickel on that tank’ competition. Guys are more excited by finding a gas station with slightly cheaper fuel than women are by shoe sales, even if that nickel only saved a dollar on a fill-up. Who cares if you had to drive fifteen miles out of the way to save that buck? That falls under the ‘road rules’ I’ll discuss in a future column.

With nearly a million miles of road experience, I’ve had ample time to consider my driving habits. It doesn’t take an engineering degree to figure out that modern vehicles are most fuel-efficient when they are turning fewer than 2,000 rpms. Even the little mini-cars with three- and four-cylinder engines are geared for highway cruising around that magic number.

My unscientific experimentation has proven to me that every one hundred rpms over 2,000 costs me about 10% of my fuel efficiency. That didn’t matter when I was only paying a buck a gallon. It seems huge these days.

Then, if you consider that 2,000 rpms keeps you traveling right at the speed limit most of the time, you can add in the extra savings from no speeding violations, reduced insurance premiums, and less time spent chatting with local law enforcement.

So of all the options available on a new vehicle, cruise control may be the most valuable to me. My wife would argue that seat warmers come first, but that’s another column as well.

Cruise control saves fuel. Cruise control facilitates smoother traffic flows on interstate highways. Cruise control reduces leg cramps on really long trips.

Cruise control also describes how I’d like to travel life’s highway for a while.

When I was younger (a time that seems further and further away), rapid acceleration, frequent lane changes, and hard braking are an accurate description of how I drove my life. My engine was still new, the brakes reliable, fuel efficiency of no concern, and the body in good shape.

As the miles (and years) rolled past, the body was the first to go. Several blowouts and some fender-benders resulted in reduced performance and noticeable wear and tear. But heck, the paint job never really mattered that much to me anyway – as long as the engine was still purring.

Roll a few more miles (and years) and start-ups became more difficult, especially on cold mornings. My towing capacity was taxed by family, work and community responsibilities. Trips to my mechanic became more frequent.

Since trade-in on a newer model is not an option, it has become obvious that better maintenance and prudent operation are necessary to get more mileage and maybe become a ‘classic’ someday.

That’s why I’m glad I’ve found my own cruise control. Squealing rubber out of an intersection not only wastes fuel and tread, it also rushes me into the traffic ahead. Everyone I left behind at the light usually catches up at the next intersection anyway.

I’ve learned that whipping from lane to lane seldom moves me ahead in traffic and really irritates those around me, especially if I don’t signal. Following too closely and cutting others off creates more stress than moving with the flow.

There’s also no doubt that life’s fuel efficiency increases dramatically if I avoid redlining my rpms.

Life has plenty of on-ramps and construction detours, so cruise control is not always an option. But, I have learned that with proper maintenance, my engine responds to these road conditions faster and better.

I’ve seen enough wrecks, blown motors, and total losses to know that the longer I can cruise at 2,000, the longer I get to keep on rolling.

(click here to read archived columns by Cletus Bianchi)