With my vehicles that have outside mirrors, I adjust them to only a tiny part of my vehicle is in the mirror.

Recently I've heard that this is the wrong adjustment, but I believe it depends on your situation.

When stuck in stop and go traffic, the inside rear view mirror only has the grill of the car stuck behind you, with no view of the other lanes.

When lane changing, you need to know if there's a car in the other lane. A quick glance over your shoulder for the blind spot, and the side mirrors for the lanes (inside mirror shows nothing as it's blocked be the car directly behind you)

With the mirrors adjusted so that you see part of your car, you can sight down the lanes far enough to see if you have time to pull in (especially with you're stopped, and the other lanes are moving).

With the mirrors adjusted outwards, you can not see down the lane far enough to be sure you can pull over when you're at a standstill and the other lanes aren't

_________________
Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

I came upon the same MPG vs GPC in Flying magazine last year so here is how if works for me. Keep in mind the following assumption should seem reasonable and the math is easy.

A man drives a Honda Civic and gets 33 mpg, therefore uses 3 gallons to drive 100 miles.

He wishes to do better and gets a Toyota Prius and gets 50 mpg, therefore uses 2 gallons to drive 100 miles.

He has saved all of us on planet Earth from global warming by burning 1 less gallon to drive 100 miles.

A man drives a pickup truck and gets 10 miles per gallon, so 10 gallons per 100 miles.

He upgrades to a newer evil polluting truck and gets 15 miles per gallon, so 6 2/3 gallons per 100 miles.

So he is using 3 1/3 less gallons per 100 miles. He is still burning far more gas than the Prius but you could say his vehicle change results in far more gas being saved.

There are two points to this:

1. The truck guy will not give up the truck to drive a Prius, he has a truck to haul stuff and tow his boat (I have yet to see a Prius tow a 2500 lb Bayliner!).

2. Every reduction in fuel usage helps, BUT small changes to the big users result in far greater change than the sum of all the tiny changes by seemingly everyone else.

Thus completes my annual contribution to Slantsix.org. Later, AARON

_________________
If I keep my car for 20 years, I just might finish it.

Or, how about the nautical scene were fuel consumption is listed in Gallons per hour?

It doesn't mater a hoot to me. I buy the transportation device that fits my needs (actually desire at the moment), and don't worry too much about fuel consumption. It dose bug me to see the social engineering nanny "guzzler tax grab" the US government applies to mend one's evil energy swilling ways...

I figure I'm stepping up to the plate to burn the gas that hybrid & little tin can owners refuse to burn. :tsk:

For you greenies out there, all two of yeah, I did saved the planet a few years ago when I got rid of a 10/15 mpg 93' Suburban, and up graded to a fuel sipping 300C 17/24 mpg... Big percentage increase, not only in fuel savings, but in 0 to 60 times as well, a win win!

However due to the end of global warming, I'm now burning more #2 in the basement for heat. :shrug:

I think the Europeans uses the liter per 100 clicks method of fuel consumption illustration. For us, in the us, that unit of measure would equate roughly to: quarts per 62 miles, yeah that's helpful.

_________________
67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Speaking of sounding like an AM talk radio host...

_________________
一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I wouldn't know, the only AM station we get here is out of St. John, NB filled with interesting down home programing covering old people, cooking, hunting, and clipping coupons...

_________________
67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Tree huggers keep telling us to junk our(cars, appliances,etc) and buy "newer better ones". However they only cite the running costs for comparison. If they were honest they would have to compare "cradle to grave" environmental impact. eg, my 1977 /6 pickup- manufacturing impact divided by 33 years, vs, a newer pickup that will never last half that long with the same use. If I get 5 mpg better how long do I have to have it last to have the same enviro impact?

_________________
Dave

1977 d-200 crew cab ex-army pickup wants it's /6 back
1962 Valiant 2 door, 170, three on the tree
1972 d-100 parts truck
80 volare wagon now a parts car

I'm sure if I spent $25,000 on my slant six I could get just as good MPG as a Prius, then I would be saving some real money!! : )

By the way, I like both methods, its that metric math problem Dan used that got my mind flustered.

_________________

Grandpa's 1974 Dart Custom 4 door 225 auto, Aluminum Radiator, 1920 Holley.