Weight question

[rice]

Does having more weight in the car influence the car's gas mileage? or anything? Lately, i've been giving rides to my two friends, they're rather large guys each weighing like 200+ lbs. so us three together in the car really drags my 94 rolla, i can feel a difference on the highway as well. We travel about 20 minutes there and 20 minutes back, so 40 minutes a day. Is there anything that can go wrong by having too much weight in your car traveling that far distance? Like tire wear or mpg or anything like that? thanks...

[TokyoRacer]

I'm sure it puts more street on the motor/tranny because it has to push mroe weight..not sure if it'd be a problem unless your friends weights equalled out tob e mroe then the vehicles maximum capacity. Obvuiously sicne the engines working harder more fuel would be consumed.

[01loadedLE]

yes you'll definitely burn more gas, and so far as damage goes I dont think you have to worry about exceeding the cars weight limit but you could bottom out the rear tires against the fenders over bumps with them in there...not to mention heavy people wear out seats alot faster too.

[GoPitt68]

When I worked for a titanium manufacturer, we were looking into making titanium coil springs, and pretty much anything else we could get our hands on, for many of the car manufacturers' sports models...for the purpose of getting the car lighter (faster, better MPG, etc.) - and we were talking about 20-30 lbs in savings for a lot more $$$ that titanium costs.

Whenever you read about saving gas, it always mentions getting rid of unnecessary weight you might be lugging around, such as golf clubs in the trunk, sand you keep in the back for the winter months, etc.

So I would say you need to dig the two heavy dudes to get that MPG back up where it should be