Driving for Fun or for Economy?

[pbanders]

Given the price of gas, I recently tried taking it really easy driving my Boxster ('03 w/Tip). Drove with the roof up (AC on), 5 mph or less above the speed limit, easy accel, cruise control as much as possible, avoid surface streets as much as possible, anticipate lights and kept rolling, etc.

I just put gas in it, 9.275 gal for 201.5 miles at $4.279 per gallon ($39.69), 21.7 mpg. Before I started driving this way, I drove fairly hard, usually 80+ on the freeway, a few hard (WOT) accelerations per drive, and I was getting about 19 mpg, so my mileage is up by about 1.7 mpg. If I'd driven 201.5 miles at 19 mpg, it would have come to 10.61 gallons, so I saved about 1.34 gallons, which works out to $5.71 - more than I thought, but still not a really huge savings.

Maybe I'll drive just a little harder....