With 3-buck-a-gallon gas here to stay, I decided to see what I could do
to lengthen the trips between my 35-plus-dollar fill-ups. My first
thought was to reduce my highway speed. Well... traveling down the
highway at 65 mph lasted about ten miles. Cars were whipping past me
and I quickly felt I was going to become a rolling speed bump. That
old blue-haired lady didn't just flip me off, did she? Why is that
old geezer giving me the evil eye as he passes by? So next I try to
never fully depress the gas pedal. Boy, does that ever get boring
fast! And talk about needing willpower. Not throttling your Mustang
is like being placed in front of a plate of chocolate chip cookies and
trying to never give in. That is not going work! What to do?
Perplexed, and needing to run some errands, I hop in my daughter's
little ZX3 Focus. While driving around I notice (much more noticable
than my Mustang) that unless you get off the gas way before you stop
you have to scrub off a bunch of speed. So playing around I decide to
slip it in neutral and coast up to my next stop. Wow, it's amazing
how far a modern car can roll and not lose much speed. On the rest of
my stops, and on any downgrades, I slip the car into neutral. Without
all the engine braking, this has to help save some gas, right?

So I give the clutch pedal thing a try on my Mustang for the next
couple fill-ups. My first fill-up I find I gained an extra mpg. The
second fill-up I gain 2 mpg. Ahhh... this is easily explainable you
say -- a mile or two per gallon change is insignificant and could be
attributed to many factors. Okay, but keep in mind I've checked my
gas mileage at nearly every fill-up for the last 3 ½ years and I have
never gotten 21 and 22 mpg with the driving I do. Never. My old 5-oh
consistently gets 19-20, and I mean consistently.

Seems this simply change nets me a couple few bucks at every fill-up.
And the best thing is I can still drive 75-85 mph on the highway AND be
able floor it anytime I get the urge.

Give it a shot and see if it works for you... just be sure to get your
coasting speed/distance right so you're not backing up or slowing
down traffic.

Patrick