11 Gas Saving Tips You May Not Have Thought Of
By Eric Peters, Automotive Columnist
Ok, so gas prices have moderated a bit — but the fact is most of us are scared to death about spending too much money on gas or otherwise. Here are some ways to eke more mileage out of whatever you’re driving, as well as some things to consider if you’re thinking about a new vehicle:
1) Do the Poor Man’s Hybrid: When you’re stuck sitting in traffic, your engine is getting 0 MPG. If you are faced with having to sit still for more than a minute, turning off the engine until things get moving again will save fuel.
2) 4×4: If you drive a truck or SUV with a part-time 4×4 system, be certain the system is in 2H whenever you’re driving on clear, paved roads. Keeping a 4×4 system in 4H when not needed will burn up more fuel as well as accelerate wear of major parts such as axles and transfer case.
3) AWD: Skip it. This feature has been oversold to the public. Most people don’t need it and would be able to deal just as well with the handful of days where there is snow on the ground with a front-drive car that has good all-season tires on it. Why cart around an extra 100 to 200 pounds of deadweight and lose 2-4 mpg every time you drive for the non-benefit of an AWD system that might come in handy a few days each year?
4) Tire inflation: If you want to maximize your fuel savings, inflate the tires to the maximum recommended “cold” inflation pressure. Your tires will wear faster, it’s true — and the ride may be noticeably firmer (even harsh) but the decreased rolling resistance can save a couple of MPGs — which may be worth more when it all washes out than having the tires wear out a little sooner than they otherwise would have.
5) Forget premium gas (unless the owner’s manual specifically calls for it): Burning the wrong grade of gasoline can reduce economy as well as performance — in particular, using high-octane premium in an engine designed to burn regular grade gas. Octane is a measure of burn rate — not the qualityof the fuel. Higher octane fuels burn more slowly than lower octane fuels. Put high octane (slow burning) gas in an engine designed to run on regular (faster burning) gas and combustion efficiency is actually impaired, not improved. This reduces fuel mileage as well as performance.
6) Empty the trunk: Every extra 100 pounds of stuff you’re carting around with you can reduce your vehicle’s gas mileage by as much as 2 percent. Don’t use your trunk as a permanent storage space for old boxes full of junk — or cart around an old axle housing in the bed of your pick-up.
7) Maintain your momentum: Ideally, pace yourself so that you avoid ever coming to complete stop. Your car burns the most gas getting itself going from a dead stop. If you can anticipate the light ahead going green and roll up to it gradually so that when it does, you’re still moving — you can save an amazing amount of fuel relative to the same car coming to a stop, idling for a minute and then taking off when the light changes. In traffic, try to avoid the stop and go by holding back as many car lengths as necessary to maintain a steady pace. And so on.
8) Smooth driving: Build up speed gradually and you can improve your overall mileage by 10 percent or more. Cruise control can help maintain smooth, steady speeds with little abrupt use of the throttle. The optimum “mileage zone” to eke the best-possible fuel economy out of your vehicle is approximately 45-mph; speeds of 70-mph and faster dramatically cut down on gas mileage.
9) Synthetic oil and lube: Though a quart of synthetic oil costs about three times as much as a good name-brand conventional oil, synthetics make up for the higher up-front costs by improving gas mileage and reducing wear and tear on your engine. Especially if you live in an area were winters are harsh and summers hot. Synthetics flow much better (and thus provide easier cold starts with less wear and tear) under extremely cold conditions and provide superior lubrication (reduced friction) and protection at very high temperatures. Your engine will last longer and you’ll get a mileage boost, too.
10) Windows up: It is more efficient — and you’ll burn less gas — running your car’s air conditioner. The aerodynamic drag (at highway speeds) caused by open windows takes more energy to overcome than operating the AC compressor. Plus, you won’t muss your hair.
11) Roof racks: Avoid them unless you actually use them. Roof racks create significant wind resistance and increase aerodynamic drag — which can cost you a 2-5 percent reduction in fuel economy at highway speeds.
For more tips on how to conserve fuel, check out the Department of Energy’s web site at www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/drive.shtml.
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Here’s a tip that saves gas and makes life easier. Park ‘head out’ whenever possible.
You use a little more gas when parking, so do it when the engine is warm and running most efficiently.
It’s a bit safer too, since you also have better visibility of pedestrians (e.g. in a busy mall parking lot) when backing in to a spot than you do when backing out.
This works especially well at a stadium or movie (when cars arrive at different times but all leave at the same time. You can spend a lot of time idling while waiting to back out, yet it’s a lot quicker and easier to pull straight out if you park head-out.
Dan that makes some sense but not all the time. Some places even discourage it. The problems are some people can not back up safely between two parked cars without hitting one and they also have a harder time judging when to stop. The best thing is to pull into a space when you can drive forward into it and when you leave are able to drive out forward but that would be included in the everyone already knew that column.
Nice idea but I actually got a ticket for that once on a college campus; cost me forty bucks to back into that spot. And the kicker was in that particular situation it was actually easier to back in than to maneuver around to pull in forward.
There is a very good reason for not backing in to parking spots and it is not because you might hit something backing in. It is because when a vehicle is in reverse there are brake lights and backup lights on–visual warnings to a pedestrian that the vehicle is about to move–which are not there when the vehicle is about to move forward out of the parking space.
Unfortunately on most US and Euro cars except for the latter Audi A6 which had wrap around tail lights, this is bunk.
Most cars you can’t see squat of the persons rear lamps if you’re directly perpendicular to the vehicle as in a parking lot situation, as is where most accidents happen because idiots drive too damn fast through them. You only see them if you’re directly behind them backing up from an adjacent space.
That’s just another one of the virtues that endears me to my car. It doesn’t need any of those stupid side illuminated reflectors(for the rear anyway). The brake lamp is shone through the side, same for the reverse light and blinker. And that statement could be made for pulling out with the nose, just engage your blinkers as well, and it works for backing out for just that much more noticeablility. And yes I swapped the stupid RED turn signlas out for the AMBER Euro ones.
I wasn’t aware AWD was just for snow. The Audi Quattro system was designed for better handling on dry pavement.
JJ if you need AWD on dry pavement you are not following most of the suggestions on this article. If you are going around corners that fast you should be getting a ticket!
What is this in the article, something I have said and others have denied and lied about for months:
” The optimum “mileage zone” to eke the best-possible fuel economy out of your vehicle is approximately 45-mph; speeds of 70-mph and faster dramatically cut down on gas mileage.”
There is nothing new in this article. That is why I average 40 mpg combined when my vehicle is rated at 35 mpg highway.
I wasn’t aware that one’s acceleration was limited to 0.5g in any direction? [braking, cornering, going]
George there are lots of things you do not have a clue about. You need a car with AWD with yellow turn signals with a full sized spare with a 500 hp engine that gets less than 15 mpg.
AWD is a marketing term.
I’d like an Audi [torsen] Quattro (four wheel drive), but I don’t require one.
Amber is the correct color for turn signals.
If you don’t have a full size spare wheel coming out of the trunk, where do you put the full size wheel coming off the vehicle?
I am fast in any vehicle I drive. I drove a 184hp 325i convertible for the Susan G. Komen (BMW fundraiser), it was plenty fast, even with the top down.
The lateral acceleration thing was in response to your ‘If you are going around corners that fast you should be getting a ticket!’
So you want to limit everybody to under 0.5g cornering, or what?
George if you are going around a corner at .5 g you are not following any speed limits. Not even close. This article is about saving fuel not dumping it in the air driving .5 g around corners.
Like I said, your fast driving is lame. Go to an amusement park and get all the Gs you want. Not on our roadways.
A twelfth gas saving tip is to establish residency in Mexico. Mexico gives its people the freedom to special order any vehicle they wish. If you’re willing to pay the 15% sales tax and 2%/ market value per year tax (a fee similar to California, Nevada or Arizona), you can have anything you wish.
When you take delivery of your new VW Polo Bluemotion with Start Stop technology, you drive it back to your home State and dual register it (keeping your Mexican Title but having US number plates). You need not even continue paying that 2% tax if you never go back to Mexico. Don’t expect to reach the official 3,3Liters/100Km though. Traffic control in the US is so screwed-up and overseen by such idiots that your consumption will most likely be 1,5-2 liters higher.
Also. I have an Audi S3 Quattro which I rarely drive over the set Speed Limit. There are many roads in our area at which I probably reach 0,5G’s or higher while driving UNDER the posted Limit. I find Quattro drive better on a rainy Autobahn than my other Audi which is 2WD with ESP.
AGAIN. Germany has far fewer accidents than the United States.
Doug, why is it that Germany has better fewer accidents than the US? Do they have better DUI enforcement? Do they have better tailgating enforcement? Do they have better roads? Do they have more expressways? Tell us why there are fewer accidents if there really is.
I suppose you would say because they drive faster.
Do you even know what .5 Gs stands for? .5 Gs would about throw you out of the car and most tires would not keep traction at .5 Gs. Is your .5 Gs acceleration or braking rather than cornering? Either way you would not be folloiwing any speed limits and if a policeman saw you accelerating that fast you could be charged with reckless driving.
Their signage is better, their road design is better and obtaining a Driving License is an involved process which requires classes and tests both in the classroom and on the road. The costs equate to about $3000. And, yes, their low rate of accidents is partly to do with a lack of a general Speed Limit on the Autobahn. Germany has done many studies (it is the only Country in the world which has added then removed Speed Limits on various sections of Autobahnen – or Autoroutes, Autopistas, Interstates or whatever you want to call them) and the results were Speed Limits made virtually no difference regarding accidents. What did occur was that drivers limited to a speed became more frustrated and aggressive (tailgating, etc.), traffic became heavier and other driving laws were less respected. Over time, driving skills would also deteriorate. One need only cross over to France or Italy to see this.
And yes, I do know what ,5 G’s is. I have driven well over that on the Nürburgring. If your vehicle cannot corner at a force of 5G’s, it should be banned from the highway.
Doug you are partly right about Germany. You are wrong that speed limits cause more tailgating and agressive driving. If a road is congested you are still going to have agressive driving with or without a speed limit if nothing is done about it. Agressive driving comes into affect when there is a limit and a police officer waves at you if you are well over the limit and does nothiing about it. I have seen where there was enforcement and the driving is dozens of times better than where everyone decides how fast they and others should be driving. There is no tailgating or agressive driving because there is no benefit in it. The only time it would be safer to have no limits is if there are many lanes to separate the different speeds of vehicles. That does not happen in the US unless there is traffic congestion causing them to build more lanes. With the large amount of congestion on such roads it does not make it safe to have no limits because even countries like Germany add speed limits around congested areas.
No, I’m not wrong. I live here. On the A5 North of Frankfurt, when the electronic speed limit signs are on, there is less distance between cars then when they are turned off. French roadways are heavily speed limit enforced and their bad driving is well known. Their accident toll is much higher also as is nearly every other Country in the EU -all of which have speed limits. When speed limits are in force, the engineering and developement of highways and automobiles takes a back seat. One need only travel to France, Italy or England to witness this or just visit an auto dealership where these countries can only sell their vehicles because of their cheap prices.
Doug you may be there but you are still an idiot. It must be all the alcohol. Yes when speed limits are present you have vehicles closer. I would bet for one the speed limit signs come on when there is more traffic and two if you drive slower you can drive closer to the vehicle in front of you and be safe. A minimum recommended distance is 2 seconds with a recommended distance of 3 seconds. If you have 2 seconds at 100 mph that is slightly under 293 feet. With 2 seconds at 70 mph that is 205 feet. That is about 90 feet or more closer you can drive and still follow the minimum 2 second rule.