shift smart, S-Smart

Gas prices continue to go up, but people can never stop driving in the deep-south backcountry of America. However, for the first time being in a long drive for three weeks, I realized something has changed.
As I drove on the interstate going toward Charlotte this afternoon during early rush-hour traffic (4:00 p.m.-ish), the driving momentum on the open road was fairly different. Through out my one hour thirty minutes drive, there wasn’t loads of traffic, but everybody remained at a constant pace of 62 mph. I wasn’t only talking about those old people whose would not be driving nor those idiots talking on their cell phone and eating t-bone stakes at the same time; the whole damn motorway was moving at a speed of 62 mph. Sure, the speed limit is 65 mph and 55 mph, but in this part of the interstates, it really translated to be 75 mph and 70 mph.
Usually I would be annoyed and start to find passing opportunities within traffic, but somehow, I slow down today; I was moving at the same pace as everybody else, 62 mph. With my calculation, I was actually rather surprise by the mpg when I arrived in Charlotte; with no A/C, I only burned 3 gallons of fuel in a 90% highway and 10% city driving condition. That was 26.6 mpg in an Infiniti G35 Coupe, which is… a lot.
So, I had to do a few things in town, had a lovely yet massive dinner with my friends, had a nice walk a long the water’s edge of an artificial pound, then it was time to drive the same trip in reverse.
The traffic out of the city was moderate, and yes, everybody was still driving at about 62 mph. Not to long after, however, the traffic really seems to clear up; there was nothing, except the empty interstate, a cool summer evening and my G35 Coupe. So I decided to bring the challenge up a notch, pushing the vigorous V6 to 68 mph.. Beyond any expectation, the range of my vehicle actually slightly increased. As time accumulated, the fuel gauges dropped so slow that I almost forgot I was driving a proper 280 horsepower V6 power-panzer.
At the end of the trip, I calculated my mpg; despite the extra weight from my massive dinner, my G35 Coupe managed to pull of an astonishing 30 mpg, and that was with about 50% of the drive time going at 68 mpg. That is totally exceeded the factory mpg assumption.
Maybe Top Gear top tips suggested at a 53 mph is the optimum speed for most vehicle, and yes you have to shift smart, S-smart; but ultimately, if you are driving a car that have decent mechanical engineering (in this case the VQ35 has better than decent engineering) and a very though out aero design, driving slow does not necessary to mean saving fuel. Of course, I cannot blast down the highway at 120 mph to shoot for a better gas mileage, but by modifying your driving style slightly do makes the biggest saving for petroleum shopping.
This is a good way to end a day, really, not only having a superb driving experience at a very chill summer night with windows down, but it also proved a 280 hp powerhouse does not necessary mean its need more fuel to be feed. And this simply concluded my next automobile shopping analysis; I don’t have to fall for the Smart Car nor Prius, as long as I can drive smart, I can save fuel in a CLS 600 with no problem.