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Tips for Better Gas Mileage
How much will it cost to fill your gas tank tomorrow? Five dollars more than last week or five dollars less? In these days, going to gas station sometimes feels like a day in Vegas. Every time you buy gas you are making a bet on whether the price of a gallon will be more or less expensive tomorrow. It would appear that saving money at the gas pump is completely out of your control. Or is it? That 20 cent per gallon hike in gas over the past week can be offset if you are willing to take control of your actual gas mileage.
What most drivers either don't know or don't really believe is that with a few simple driving changes you can not only get back that 20 cents, but a lot more. If you commit to following all these tips for better gas mileage, you can potentially cut the actual price you pay by almost a dollar per gallon. Additionally, there are some widely held beliefs about cutting gas mileage that are actually a little more than myths.
Control your need for speed. Once your speedometer rises above 60 mph, your gas mileage takes a hit. While each car has its own individual optimal speed range for gas mileage efficiency, nearly every car on the road will experience a reduction in mileage once they go over 60 mph. It is patently untrue that there is a single optimal speed to reach peak fuel efficiency, but it is true that driving at a constant speed and avoiding braking and quick acceleration helps save gas. Here is food for thought the next time you have the urge to press down on the accelerator: Every 5 mph you go over 60 is estimated to tack an extra 20 cents per gallon onto the price you pay at current figures. In other words, if you paid $2.75 for gas today and drove at 80 mph then what you really paid was $3.55.
Don't be idle. Gasoline was designed to make the car move. Using it when your car is standing still is an enormous waste that you can easily control. Obviously you sometimes have no choice, such as a stoplight, but if you are waiting in line to pick up your kids from school or waiting a parking lost while your spouse runs to do something that will "only take a minute" you are wasting precious fuel and your gas mileage is a big fat zero. But wait a minute, didn't you always hear that starting an engine wastes more gas than keeping it running? Yes, back in the days when all cars were carburetor-based, but today's engines get their gas through a fuel-injection system that makes that old advice obsolete. If you know that you'll be idling for more than a minute, you'll save gas and improve your mileage by shutting off the engine.
Don't put off car maintenance. When you are nearing empty and aren't sure you can make it to the nearest gas station you probably shut off the air conditioner to conserve gas, right? Guess what? It's actually better to stay cool because what is really working against you are probably such things like low tire pressure and a dirty air filter. Keeping your car properly tuned, your tires at the right pressure and your air filter clean can improve your per gallon gas mileage by potentially as much as 50%. Think about that a moment. Let's say you currently get 20 miles per gallon and it costs $2.80 for each of those gallons. By making sure your car is in tip-top shape you can stretch those 20 miles by an extra five to ten. That should be enough to get you to the closest gas station and keep you from sweating like a pig. Not to mention for the same $50 or so that you pay to fill tank you can get an extra 150 to 200 miles more than you're used to. Obviously, these figures are based on ideal circumstances, but it is important to keep in mind that any steps you can take to improve your car's efficiency will translate into better gas mileage and that means more money in your pocket and less money in the hands of the oil companies.
Plan ahead. The way some people plan ahead to get better gas mileage is to buy their gasoline on a Wednesday because they've heard that is when the price is lowest. Typically gas can be found cheaper during the week than on the weekend, but there is no special day when gas prices are lowest. Rather than planning for that, you should plan on combing tasks so that you retrace your driving route as little as possible.