Noting the bias of a recent article seeking to prove or disprove the potential savings that result from obeying the speed limit and never exceeding 55 MPH, I decided to do a test myself on a recent trip from Sacramento to Oakland, California, a 180 mile round trip. I rented a 2005 Kia Rio from Hertz and topped off the tank just before I left at 11 AM on Tuesday, November 1st, 2005.

The Kia is a compact 4 door with a 4 speed auto transmission. It is equipped with a/c but I did not need it. The car did not have cruise control, so I manually kept the speed between 55 and 60 MPH, I accidently hit 65 a couple of times. I used the on board trip meter which indicated I had driven 180 miles when I pulled in for gas upon my return to Sacramento.

I arrived in downtown Oakland at 12:40 PM, one hour and forty minutes! I did some shopping and visited a client. By 3 PM I was back on the freeway headed toward Sacramento. This time traffic was thicker and an accident closed several lanes so it took 3 hours to get home.

A little after 6 PM I pulled in to a local station and filled the tank - it took exactly 4 gallons. This means that I got 45 MPG in this $10,000 4 door car, (rated by EPA at 32 MPG hwy) and clearly didn't lose a significant amount of time on the first leg of my trip.

It is important to note the return trip took an extra hour and a half because some lead-foot speeder had overturned his SUV on the freeway, shutting down several lanes for hours as rescue workers labored to free the fool and clean up the mess.