REAL gas-saving tips

[joreth]

 With gas prices soaring, everyone wants to save money on gas.  Unfortunately, most of what gets passed around the internet is pure bunk (boycotting gas stations will not drop prices, and buying gas early in the morning will not put more gas in your tank for the same price).  Here are some REAL tips for how you can get the most fuel efficiency out of your car.  Of course, the best way to save money on gas is to DRIVE LESS, but since we won't do that, try these:

1) Avoid High Speeds: As your speed increases, your aerodynamic drag increases in an exponential fashion. Driving 62 mph (100 km/h) vs 75 mph (120 km/h) will reduce fuel consumption by about 15%. 

2) Do Not Accelerate or Brake Hard: By anticipating the traffic and applying slow steady acceleration and braking, fuel economy may increase by as much as 20%. 

3) Keep Tires Properly Inflated: Keep tire air pressure at the level recommended by your vehicle manufacturer. A single tire under inflated by 2 PSI, increases fuel consumption by 1%. 

4) Use A/C Sparingly: When the air conditioner is on it puts extra load on the engine forcing more fuel to be used (by about 20%). The defrost position on most vehicles also uses the air conditioner. 

5) Keep Windows Closed: Windows open, especially at highway speeds, increase drag and result in decreased fuel economy of up to 10%. 

6) Service Vehicle Regularly: Proper maintenance avoids poor fuel economy related to dirty air filters, old spark plugs or low fluid levels.  

7) Use Cruise Control: Maintaining a constant speed over long distances often saves gas. 

8) Avoid Heavy Loads: Remove the sand bags from your trunk in the spring, don't carry around tools and gear that you won't need on this trip, and pack lightly for long trips. 

9) Avoid Long Idles: If you anticipate being stopped for more than 1 minute, shut off the car. Restarting the car uses less fuel than letting it idle for longer than a minute, but short idles are cheaper than restarts. 

10) Purchase a Fuel Efficient Vehicle: When buying a new vehicle examine the vehicle's rated fuel efficiency. Usually choosing a small vehicle with a manual transmission will provide you with great fuel economy. 

11) Combine Multiple Trips: Plan several destinations in one day and plan your route to include the most straightforward path instead of going out, coming home, going out, coming home, going out, etc. which can exponentially add to your gas consumption.  Try to drive to each destination with as little doubling-back as possible.
 
You can also visit http://www.gasbuddy.com/ to find the cheapest fuel in your area (for most major cities, you can also type in www.[yourcityname]gasprices.com in your web browser and go directly to that city). 

But before you drive 30 miles across town to save 2 cents per gallon, factor in the amount of gas SPENT in getting there and back.  For instance, if your closest gas station is selling gas at $3.60 and 10 miles away is another gas station selling gas for $3.58 and your car gets 20 miles to the gallon and you have a 10 gallon tank, then you will have spent 1 gallon of gas to get there and back.  That's spending $3.58 in order to save 20 cents.  You just spent 1700% of what you saved!

But, since you should now be combining your errands and trips into one, long, linear path in one day (as opposed to running out to the store every day for just one more thing), you can look up the cheapest gas station on your route and get gas while you're out, rather than making a special trip across town to save a buck (which you won't).

So, pass this around to try and combat the poor advice given out by other emails.  And remember to protect your friends and family's email addresses by putting them in the BCC field and erasing all headers from those who forwarded this to you.  forwardedemails@yahoo.com is available if you must put something in the To field.

http://www.gasbuddy.com/
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/gastips.asp
http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/saudigas.asp

Comments

[joreth]

Yeah, as long as the difference between the two is negligible, I'll stick with my A/C. I drove my first 6 years in this state with no A/C and I finally bought a car that has working air conditioning. I know I could survive without it if it really made a significant difference, so I'm really glad to see it doesn't.

But I do try to keep it down low and only use it when I need it ;-)

And, well, I suppose it is logical to decide what gas to recommend based on the owner demographics. For some definition of "logical" anyway.