Here’s a few tips I put together on how to increase the gas mileage of your car. I’ve limited this to things that actually work and that are practical to actually do. None of this is magic or requires buying expensive equipment that will never pay for itself.
Tires
Next time you buy tires, get tires that are rated to have low rolling resistance. Different tires take different amounts of energy to push down the road. Several tire companies are responding to the demand for efficiency by making “green tires” (which are actually still black.) And if you’re buying new tires you might want to get the wheel alignment checked. Especially if you live in a state like California where they spend more money decorating the median than paving the roads.
Another thing you can do is to over-inflate your tires a little. But this does reduce your traction a little and causes more center tire wear. However if your tires are under-inflated you are wasting gas and wearing out your tires on the edges. So check your tire inflation and save some gas.
Drive Slower
Another free trick to save gas is to drive slower. Do you get out on the highway and drive 80 when the speed limit is 65 or 70? If you actually slow down to the speed limit you can save a lot of gas by not pushing air to 80mph. Dropping your speed from 80 to 65 will save you a lot of money and will probably only add a few minutes to your trip.
Other Tricks
I’m sure there’s other tricks so if you know a way to save gas that works feel free to add your comments here.
most 3rd world countries are now converting their buses, public utility and private vehicles to propane, cooking oil, and other cheaper alternatives… how come US/Canada doesn’t have these?
Simple: maintain your car.
Change the oil regularly. The old “every 3,000” miles does not apply to most newer cars anymore. It’s more like every 5,000.
Change your air filters every 6,000 miles, unless you live in an area with a lot of air pollution.
Keep your tires balanced and aligned. Some places like Walmart offer lifetime warranties on these services.
Get regular tune-ups. If your timing’s off or you have a bad spark plug, your mileage will suffer.
Most of all, there’s no need to slam on the gas when coming from a stop. C’mon, really.
My pickup truck gets poor gas mileage. My solution was to move across the street from my work. Now I only need to spend gas on my weekly trip to church / Walmart / the grocery store / the book store. The first is on the way to the other three, so I can make it all one trip.
From my apartment I can walk to the barber shop, the grocery store, the hardware store, my work.
I go to filling up every two weeks to filling up once every month or two.
Accelerate slower!
The engine uses a lot more gas to accelerate than it does to cruise. Particularly if the acceleration is fast. Moderately accelerating so that the transmission can shift into the higher gears faster will help save gas.
-V
This may seem obvious but emptying my trunk (including removing the spare and jack) seems to have made a real savings. I know this is not for everyone but I live in Holland and everything’s so close by, that even if I get a flat I could just walk home or to work in a half hour or less.
Drive smarter, not faster.
If you see that a light will obviously be red when you approach it, take your foot off the gas.
Coast half of your stop – If you see a stop sign up ahead, begin to coast a block ahead of time. It reduces gas usage and break wear.
Let people in on the highway – Instead of trying to squeeze someone out of a lane or speed ahead to gain 1 or 2 car lengths, just be nice. It saves the gas that you and the other car would’ve spent being agressive – not to mention reducing costs by cutting out some heart medications.
Does driving a standard instead of automatic change anything?
Lighter means better fuel consumption.
Take all that junk out of your car.
Lower the air resistance.
Remove any after-market roof rails, spotlamps, mudflaps, etc. Keep you car clean – why do you think they polish racing cars and aircraft?
Best of all, change your car –
My Audi A2 does 65mpg @ 70mph 🙂
Slatts
#1
Many public buses run on natural gas here in SoCal, USA and have been for quite some time. I also see many civil service vehicles running on alternative fuels.
#7 Driving a standard should do better, but many auto transmissions have overdrive and lockup features that reduce the advantage of driving a standard transmission equiped vehicle.
Saving tip – reduce warm up time, just start it and GO, take it easy until warmed up.
I’ve been in places where it is illegal to warm the engine more than 5 minutes, and have heard the time is reduced to 3 minutes now in Germany.
#7 – driving a standard transmission should improve your mileage – it’s simply a less complicated device than an automatic transmission and that translates to a more efficient engine.
That said, many people are useless at efficiently changing gears with a standard transmission – they shift too soon or too late. I know people who have never driven in 3rd gear “because it’s too much trouble shifting down again”.
Tip: at “long” traffic lights with heavy congestion, put it in park and switch OFF your engine.
I’ve been at intersections where the light takes 3-4 minutes to cycle through, and traffic congestion forces you to sit through at least 2 light changes. If your engine is OFF, you’re not using gas and you’re not polluting the air. Any car less than 10 years old will not have a problem re-starting.
When driving downhill, put it in neutral and turn off your car. Only drive when the wind is behind you. Drive in the slipstream of a large truck whenever possible. Plan your route so you only make right hand turns. Turn your car off at red lights and traffic jams. Make all passengers pay a share of the gas. Keep your car exterior polished to a high wind-resisting shine. Never turn on your air conditioner, and always keep your windows closed.
According to my 2006 Impala computer, if I drive 60 instead of 70 I get 7 miles per gallon better.
WTF? I’m certainly NOT turning off my car, I’d lose breaking, steering and a slew of other things. With any modern car, how would even work?
Consolidate your trips so that you drive fewer miles. 100% savings on the miles you don’t drive.
#5, 20 pounds isn’t going to change much in a one ton car.
#12 must be kidding (is anyone THAT stupid?). Running in neutral or with the engine off is illegal in many places for obvious reasons.
You could push in the clutch when going downhill, but that’s hard on the clutch throw out bearing, so not sure of any $$ savings there.
Turn your engine off when you’re waiting at a drive-through!
When coasting down a hill, put the engine in neutral but don’t turn it off. Turning the engine off when you’re moving is unsafe.
DWYutzy, if you need to brake while going downhill, use your parking brake.
More tips…
Always drive in the smoothest lane. Bald tires fully inflated get better mileage. Ask your neighbors to pick things up for you when they are going out. Only buy gas when the price dips and stock pile gas in gas cans in your back yard. Only buy 2 gallons of gas at a time to avid carrying the extra weight.
Don’t drive.
Lose weight.
Ditto iWalk
I started riding my bicycle to work and I’ve saved gas and lost weight.
1. Keep your speed down so you aren’t fighting air friction.
2. Buy a vehicle set up to get good milage.
3. Do maintanance including using low friction sythetic transmission oil and engine oil.
4. Dump the extra weight because not matter what you think it does cost to haul it though you should keep the spare. (Make sure it and the jack work. One of my fellow teachers had unused jack supplied with her truck when she bought it new and we twisted the crank in too trying to use it. It was a hunk of junk. She had a big extended cab truck and this might have worked on a small car. All I can figure is that once they had her money the company didn’t care if she got stuck somewhere with no way to change a tire.)
5. Easy on the gas and the brakes.
6. People warm up cars for them not the car. Dress warm, put it gear and role away nice and slow.
7. Avoid driving more than you need too.
Thought I saw that photo somewhere before. Here are some more ways to save gas.
Improve Your Mileage — a post on cagematch with other humorous vehicle photos.
#14, #17 you guys are aware cars should have a ignition setting between on and off that unlocks the steering column?
Try siphoning gas from your next door neighbour’s car. If he complains, shoot him in the face.
When getting gas at a gas station, just drive away without paying and scream “Halliburton sucks!”.
ALWAYS ENTER COMMENTS IN ALL CAPS!!! ***AND USE LOTS OF *** AND !!! THE INTERWEBITUBES ARE POWERED BY A COMBINATION OF GASOLINE AND UPPER-CASE LETTERS!!! ***
#25 of course there is a position between lock and on.
This doesn’t do anything to make driving with the engine OFF or the transmission in neutral any more LEGAL.
Running engine off in neutral on an automatic transmission can result in catastrophic failure because the tranny is still pumping fluid and creating heat, but not being cooled.
Power braking and power steering still won’t be working with the engine off.
BTW I only mentioned the legality, not the safety aspect.
I don’t know about other states, but in California:
Coasting Prohibited
21710. The driver of a motor vehicle when traveling on down grade upon any highway shall not coast with the gears of such vehicle in neutral.
From the CA Vehicle code.
I have recently been conducting a test to see how much I would save by driving to work at 65 vs 80. The results: I saved under 3 mpg (~34 mpg vs ~31/32 mpg). I’m sure if we extrapolate over the week/month/year we can claim this to be huge difference. Perhaps even enough to pay for one more tank of gas per year. However, I do notice that it is much harder to maintain 65 because of people cutting in front of you and stupid drivers that have not figured out how to merge.
Frankly, the best way to save gas is to carpool or telecommute.
@12,17,21,…
1) Do not assume that rolling in neutral (or with the pressed clutch) will save you any gas. Efficiency of the gas engine drops fast with the lack of the load. Hence, coasting in gear will use less gasoline than coasting in neutral (theoretically and experimentally proven and fairly well known fact).
2) Due to the efficiency depending on the load and modern engine design combined with modern transmission design and aerodynamic qualities of many cars (not SUVs) the “sweet spot” of least gas consumption is not always at lower speeds! Many modern cars use the least gasoline at 65, 70 mph and some at even higher speeds. Rule of the thumb: higher the highest gear ratio and more aerodynamic the car – you’ll be the most efficient at higher speeds. Assuming that you drive smoothly at such speed.
(Old 55mph ideal applies to obsolete engine/transmission technology and atrocious non-aerodynamic designs of the 1970’s-80’s. And to their modern cousins – SUVs).
I’ve started driving to work at 55mph instead of 65 or 80.
Since the roads in my area have a speed limit of 30mph, I am now causing 15% fewer deaths by driving at only 55mph.
You’re welcome.