If fuel mileage didn’t change, the engine must not have noticed much. But you looked hip, I bet!
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Based on the following comment, I have reconsidered my posting and have removed it.
The way to maximize your fuel economy is to keep your tires properly inflated, avoid unnecessary engine idling, and accelerate slowly to allow the transmission to upshift through the gears sequentially.
I can tell you that working at a company with a fleet of full-size trucks and cargo vans, I always get the best fuel economy out of all my co-workers. That is because I never start the engine until I am ready to move, roll down the windows rather than run the A/C, turn off the engine if waiting for a train or other delay of several minutes or more, and accelerate slowly to reduce wear-and-tear on the transmission.
I always get excellent fuel economy out of my personal vehicles as well, by doing the same thing.
Everything you say makes a lot of sense. Except for the window vs AC thing. I believe the accepted wisdom (here anyway) is that rolling down the windows adversely affects mpg more than the AC does. Windows down affects wind-resistance streamlining. But on a truck where it can’t be streamlined much, that common wisdom quite possibly doesn’t apply
Windows up during a cross country trip makes sense but windows down while waiting at traffic lights on a daily trip to work does not cause drag, air conditioning does.
That’s because co-workers many of whom do not care about the vehicle, abuse it break it makes no difference. Now I see the garbage trucks, full throttle to the next stop 100 feet away, then the brakes squeal because the pads are worn.
At lower speeds, windows open beats having the AC on.
At higher speeds, it’s the opposite.
The study I read had the crossover point around 20 mph for the vehicle being tested. I assume it varies for different vehicles, but it’s likely in that range.
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I am mystified by the number of people who are still idling their engines for unnecessarily long periods of time. A few days ago, I went to the pharmacy, and I parked near a guy who was idling his engine while doing something with his cell phone. The temp that day was in the upper 60s, so there was no need for either heat or A/C–IMHO–and the guy had his car windows open.
I chatted with the Pharmacist for several minutes because I was the only customer, and when I returned to my car, that guy was still sitting in his car with the engine idling. From what I observed, he must have been idling his engine for well over 5 minutes. I wonder if he is one of the people who are complaining–loud and long–about how much it costs to fill his tank.
