“Efficiency is doing better what is already being done.”
- Peter F. Drucker
It is the nightmare that faces almost every person every week. Filling up your personal car with gas prices on the rise. The cost of running your car has become not only a key economic indicator, but a real-world drain on your resources. Who hasn’t stood at the bowser and watched a good proportion of the weekly pocket money disappear into the tank?
Getting your vehicle, be it petrol or diesel, to go as far as possible on the least amount of fuel is ultimately going to put dollars back in your pocket… but how do you do it? Whether a short trip to the school or office, or a longer road trip to the woods to take in the fall colors, try these driving best practices and you could improve your fuel economy by up to 15%.
1. Set your cruise control to 55 mph.
Cruise control applies the throttle more smoothly, reducing fuel consumption. More than 50 percent of the energy required to move a car is spent overcoming aerodynamic drag (pushing air out of the way). The faster you drive, the more aerodynamic drag increases and fuel economy decreases. Increasing your cruising speed from 65 mph to 75 mph will drive up fuel consumption by about 20 percent. Reducing your speed from 65 mph to 55 mph improves fuel economy by about 10 percent. And try to anticipate changes in traffic flow so you can ease into stops and starts. Driving at a steady pace saves gas.
2. Drive off promptly to prevent wasting fuel.
Don’t leave your engine running when you first start up. Cars these days do not need to be warmed up before you drive them. Drive off straight away if you can, but drive gently until the engine has reached its normal operating temperature. This doesn’t increase fuel efficiency as such, but it does mean your engine is switched on for less time.
3. Use your gears wisely.
Driving in the highest gear possible without laboring the engine is a fuel-efficient way of driving. A vehicle traveling at 37 mph in third gear uses 25 percent more fuel than at the same speed in fifth gear.
4. Neutral is also an option.
Learn how to coast between traffic lights, applying power intermittently, as needed to keep the car rolling with traffic. If you know you need to stop down the road, you can also save a lot of gas by simply lifting your foot off the accelerator and coasting long before you need to stop. What’s the hurry? You’ll only have to sit there at the light anyway. You can reduce the load on your engine at a red light by putting it on neutral as you’re waiting. However, too many shifts between “N” and “D” can cause your transmission to wear out, so avoid using “N” for shorter wait times.
5. Switch off your engine.
There are two schools of thought on this one. Switching your engine off for short periods of time can actually increase fuel consumption, as it requires more fuel to get the engine started. Also your catalytic converter will no longer be running at full temperature and so your car will be less efficient, increasing the amount of pollution you cause. However if you are stopped for more than a few minutes then your car will simply burn less fuel with the engine stopped.
6. Fill up with a lower-octane gasoline.
Sorry to tell you this, but in spite of its name, buying premium gas won’t help you get better gas mileage or performance. Buy the lowest grade or octane of gasoline that is appropriate for your car. Unless your car requires premium gasoline, filling up your car with high-octane fuel is a waste of money. That pricey premium fuel won’t boost your car’s fuel economy or performance in the least, so skip it.
If you’re not sure what grade of fuel works best for your car, open up your owner’s manual and take a look. As long as your engine doesn’t knock or ping when you fuel up with regular unleaded, you’re good to drive on this much cheaper gas. Passing on pricey premium gasoline could save you hundreds of dollars a year.
7. Don’t top off.
Don’t bother topping off when filling your car’s gas tank. The gas tank needs room for the gas to expand, particularly on hot summer days when gas warms up and expands. If you continue fueling after the pump shuts off, you also increase the chance of releasing harmful gasoline vapors into the air. And why waste your money paying for gas your car won’t use?
8. Tighten up that gas cap.
Gas will evaporate from your car’s gas tank if it has an escape. Loose, missing or damaged gas caps cause 147 million gallons of gas to evaporate each year, according to the Car Care Council. So be sure to tighten up that gas cap each time you fuel up your car. Also remember that early in the morning and in the late evening are the best times to buy gas. This will mean less evaporation of gasoline as you pump. During these times gasoline is also most dense. Gas pumps measure volume of gasoline, not the density of fuel concentration.
9. Keep your tank above one third full.
If your fuel runs low, the engine might not receive a steady supply of gas (since it will splash around while you’re driving and it might momentarily splash away from the tube that leads gas out of the tank). Not having a steady supply of gas will make your engine less efficient. The benefits of having a full tank will outweigh the drawbacks of having the added weight.
10. Go easy on the air conditioning.
Roll down your car’s windows and let in the summer breeze. Using the gas-hogging air conditioning as sparingly as possible will give your car’s fuel economy a real boost. Air conditioning can drag down your car’s fuel economy by 10 percent to 20 percent.
On days when air conditioning is a must, first try cooling your car the old fashioned way — rolling down the windows, opening the vents, peeling back the sunroof. You’d be amazed how much hot air you can clear out of your car just by opening up for awhile.
Flipping on the air conditioning full blast as soon as you hop into a hot car is a big waste of gas and money.
11. Air off, windows down at highway speeds.
Keep in mind, though, that at highway speeds, driving with your windows open drastically reduces your fuel efficiency, far more so than putting the air conditioning on. Yes, the air conditioning uses more gas, but with the decrease in drag and airflow obstruction, you’re probably just about breaking even. And you’ll have a quieter, more comfortable ride with a lot less stress.
12. Use the trunk.
A loaded-down roof rack cuts fuel economy by as much as 5 percent. But clear the trunk after a trip — and clean out your backseat. An extra 100 pounds reduces fuel economy by 1 to 2 percent. Smaller cars are affected more when they carry extra weight because the reduction is based on the percentage of extra weight relative to the vehicle’s weight. So, if you’ve been putting off cleaning out your trunk or emptying your roof carrier, there is no time like the present. Sure, maybe your garage will be more cluttered, but your gas mileage will increase.
13. Avoid rush hour.
Not only is stop-and-go traffic stressful and annoying, it’s bad for your car’s gas mileage. So avoid driving at rush hour whenever you can. Stagger your work hours so you can time your weekday commuting at less busy times of the day.
14. Use your garage for your car.
Got a garage? Clear it out and make room for your car. Parking in your garage will help your car stay warm in winter and cool in summer, and you won’t have to depend as much on your gas-guzzling air-conditioning or defroster when you drive.
15. Go for the shade.
The hot summer sun that makes the inside of your car feel like a sauna also zaps fuel from your gas tank. If you let your car bake in the sun there’s going to be a greater amount of evaporative emissions that take place than if you park in the shade.
So park your car in the shade of a building or tree whenever possible. And buy a good windshield shade. A windshield shade blocks sunlight and helps to keep heat out of the inside of your car.
16. Don’t circle in a parking lot, and keep well away from the store fronts.
Look for a spot in the empty half of the parking lot. Many people spend significant time idling and creeping, waiting for a “close spot” to open up.
17. Tires effect fuel efficiency.
It is estimated that about 50 percent of tires on the road are under inflated. Aside from increasing the rate of wear, this wastes fuel and decreased your fuel efficiency. Check your tire pressures every fortnight. Worn tires will also decrease fuel efficiency (and your safety!), so check the tread regularly. If you are replacing tires then consider some of the newer “Eco” tires that are designed specifically to increase fuel efficiency.
18. Keep your engine in tune.
Fixing a car that is out of tune or has failed an emissions test can boost gas mileage by about 4 percent. So be sure to give your car regular tune-ups. You’ll also want to watch out for worn spark plugs. A misfiring spark plug can reduce a car’s fuel efficiency by as much as 30 percent.
19. Replace air filters.
Keep a close eye on your engine’s air filter. When the engine air filter clogs with dirt, dust and bugs, it causes your engine to work harder and your car becomes less fuel-efficient. Replacing a clogged air filter could improve your gas mileage by as much as 10 percent and save you 15 cents a gallon. It’s a good idea to have your engine air filter checked at each oil change. The Car Care Council recommends changing your car’s air and oil filters every three months or 3,000 miles or as specified in your owner’s manual.
20. Use the right oil.
You can improve your car’s gas mileage by 1 percent to 2 percent by using the manufacturer’s recommended grade of motor oil. Opt for motor oil with the words “energy conserving” on the API performance label. This oil contains friction-reducing additives.
21. Maintain a log.
Maintain a log over time of how many miles you go (the main odometer) and how much gas you put in (from the gas pump, including fractions). Put it in a spreadsheet. It will keep you focused, and other methods are inaccurate; you will never know for sure if you’re saving fuel, wasting fuel or just seeing errors from gas pumps that stop pumping at different points, or fractions of miles being dropped off your “trip” odometer when you reset it.
22. Leave the car at home!
Probably the best way to decrease the amount of petrol you burn, is to leave the car and home, and take a bike, bus, or train, or to walk. A quarter of all car journeys in USA are less than two miles long, and walking or cycling are cheap and clean alternatives, and healthy too!
As gas prices continue to climb, increasing the fuel mileage is the best way to protect your pocket book. So give these tips a try and spend less money on gas by increasing your car’s fuel efficiency.
If you liked this article, please bookmark it on del.icio.us or vote for it on Digg. Thank you!
Related Posts
- How to Be Frugal Without Being Cheap
- 10 Little Things You Can Do to Save Ma Nature
- Warning: 10 Sure-Fire Ways to Waste a Workout
- Re-Energize: How to Get Past Your Midday Slump
- 10 Simple Ways to Winterize Your Car
- Jazz Up Your Life Using These 11 Sports Psychology Techniques
- 13 Smart Ways to Make a Traffic Jam Work for You
- 13 Tips to Maximize Every Hour of Your Day
Sorry dude, but your tips have some errors in them. It is a downright myth that open windows at highway speeds have any drag effect on a car.
check this out.
there are also several other good places to check… this has even been featured on the show braniac.
andrew, actually, this was covered in a later episode, when it was re-revisited. I believe it was a representative from Toyota that corrected them on this - that basically the test was done at too low a speed for aerodynamics to play a part at all, and that it’s better to roll down the windows up to about 45 MPH, and roll up the windows and turn on the AC above 45 MPH.
Episodes like this one are proof that the Mythbusters methodology is in fact fairly scientific. Their methods are just rigorous enough for most of the myths they test, and results are subject to peer review (namely, viewers, of whom many are scientists).
#2 is wrong. “Modern engines” are exactly the same fundamentally as ones in the 50s. If you want a long lasting engine, it better be warmed up. When oil is outside of its heat-range (cold or hot), it isn’t lubricating properly. Meaning your engine will not last as long, far offsetting the price of fuel with major overhaul costs.
By the way, the cruise control thing is only partly right. Perhaps on flat surfaces the cruise control handles the throttle more smoothly, but it works not at all on hills. Leave the cruise control on and you’ll hit a hill, your speed will drop and, halfway up, the cruise control will downshift and stomp on the accelerator to get you back up to speed. Much better to handle it manually, and give it a bit more speed at the bottom of the hill and cruise up it. Unfortunately, this requires anticipation, something that cruise control doesn’t have (yet).
“The faster you drive, the more aerodynamic drag increases and fuel economy decreases. Increasing your cruising speed from 65 mph to 75 mph will drive up fuel consumption by about 20 percent. Reducing your speed from 65 mph to 55 mph improves fuel economy by about 10 percent.”
Actually, the gearing of your car affects economy at speed much more than the speed at which you drive.
For example, I have a VW, which has a very ‘long’ top gear. In this type of car, you’re more efficient at 70 than 55, due to the way the gearing interacts with the torque and horsepower peaks. The only time I get over 40mpg is when I’m doing long stretches on the freeway at ~70mph.
Some cars (Jeep Wranglers and other off-roaders, for example) have very ’short’ top ends, which means that they’re really most efficient at below-highway speeds (~45mph or so).
Another tip you should add to your list is ‘Buy a manual transmission’ since, properly driven, they eliminate the 5%-10% power loss that a standard automatic transmission causes.
Actually, the greatest error here is the statement regarding higher octance fuel. This varies highly from car to car, but, you *WILL* get more power out of higher octance fuels in any card with OBD-II or newer, and, a smaller increase in mileage. Chances are the higher performance your car is to start the greater the difference will be, but, it is not “just marketing” to rip us off. The problem is that you will not be getting an increase in performance equal to the increase in cost, that is where the “ripoff” is. Club racers don’t use 110 octane fuel just so they can spend $5/gallon to brag about to their friends. Unless you are running the Atkinson cycle in your hybrid, (Prius, Ford Escape, others), if your car was made in the last 5 years (10 even?) there will be a difference in performance and mileage. If you are running an Atkinson cycle engine, using a higher octane fuel will actually do nothing. Of note also — there is some talk of higher sulfur content in higher octane fuels — reason enough not to use them if that’s true.
Keeping your tank full?
With the feed from the tank near the bottom of a gas tank and a fuel pump supplying a constant pressure moving the gas, I sincerely doubt that interrupting gas flow from sloshing is a problem. It could be a problem with lawn mowers, go carts and even motorcycles, but it is immediately evident when you have interrupted flow by the engines behavior.
I routinely drive my car with a 16 gal tank down to the 1 or 2 gal mark, and I have never experienced any variation of power, and any variation that a driver can’t detect is unlikely to be significant. On the other hand I can easily feel when my tires are low or the power drain from putting on the AC.
It would be a good idea to post what your sources are for this info.
Another thing I remember reading was that shifting into neutral while slowing down doesn’t help with fuel economy, it does the opposite. Gas is needed to keep the engine idling, and while it’s in gear cars momentum keeps it running.
1. Is extremely bad advice. If the speed limit is 55 then yes drive at 55. If the speed limit is 70 drive at 70. It is unsafe to drive 15 mph below the limit, not to mention that you are causing traffic slowdowns which keeps cars on the road longer. Why 55 by the way? Wouldn’t 45 be more fuel efficient than 55? Do be a proactive rather than a reactive driver as the tip suggests.
5. Is sort of false, but by omission. It is true that you car uses more fuel starting up than idling, but even if you car idles for a minute or two it is still using less fuel. The bigger point is that the most wear on your engine occurs when you start the car. Engines are far more expensive than the few pennies of gas you probably aren’t saving anyway if you turn your car off and then start it again 5 minutes later.
Most of the other ones are great (though a few of them won’t save you more than a penny or two per tank), especially the last one. If you can carpool or walk that will save a real amount of gas and money.
Don’t Buy a Big SUV.
Why do most Americans feel obliged to buy really big cars?
The best one is to cycle to work. Much quicker for getting around Oxford.
2. In the winter, cars most definitely need to be warmed up. If you start it up and take off, there’s a pretty good chance that when the hot air meets the cold engine block, you’re going to crack the block. This means a new engine, which will put you back at least a couple grand.
4. Don’t use neutral unless your engine is off. When you put a car in neutral, it is not connected to the transmission. This means it can idle at a much higher RPM. Obviously this only holds true for those driving automatics, because you have to disengage the clutch with a standard transmission, otherwise you’ll kill it.
6. Higher octane fuel does give you better performance. Since premium gas is more volatile than regular gas, more of it burns when inside the cylinder. As such, there’s more power with each stroke of the pistons.
9. Most gas tanks are designed with an indentation where the fuel line connects to the bottom of the tank. This ensures that there’s always fuel ready to be pumped into the line. Even if it’s sloshing about inside the tank, some of it is filling up that indentation.
14. The defroster uses absolutely no fuel to run. It takes heat that’s already coming off of the engine and blowing it into your car. The fan that moves it into the car is always running. If anything using defrost is more efficient because you’re getting the hot air away from the engine.
Something to add though, would be for truck owners to leave their tailgate up. Having it down or having a net only decreases your fuel efficiency. When the tailgate is up, the airflow doesn’t even go into the bed because a cushion of air is created inside the bed. If you’ve ever ridden in the back of a truck, you’ll notice that as soon as you duck down into the bed, there’s nothing blowing around. By leaving the tailgate down, you don’t get a cushion of air, and the airflow is pressing down into the bed causing more friction.
most of your points would suit the general driver, i use neutral for coasting sometimes and other times when my speed is ok or i need to slow down or maintain speed i leave the car in gear with no accelerator application the feul injectors switch off, and your using no gas!!!
i go slow towards the crest of a hill and fast down hill, surely that makes the most sense, seens you dont have to work against gravity!
mike, don’t know what you are talking about with higher engine rpms in neutral for an automatic.. try it, the car always has higher rpms when in drive.
First of i just want to say Martin and Ben you guys are idiots. Martin putting you car into neutral take stress of your car witch therefore is better on your car like your tans and uses a little less gas not much but a little. Ben if your car is running it is using gas it uses gas the hole time it is on in tell you turn i off so it is using gas. i think for the most part all the stuff above is true. How much gas you car uses is mainly on how you drive it and if you keep it tune up.
ok, saying premium doesn’t increase your cars performance is ridiculous and it may be have a higher price but it also comes with a stronger resist to knockback and that is what the octane rating is and it does perform the cars overall performance also
well myth busters once told me that it was more fuel efficient to stop the car then start iot again to sacve gas bbut THIS tells me otherwise i am apauled by this work of art.
Shifting into neutral while you slow down is beneficial. But you don’t want to stay in neutral once you reach a stopped position because your vehicle WILL idle faster when in neutral. I notice that on my commute people just drive 75 from one bottle neck to another at which point they have to slow down dramatically. I stay at a constant 60 in the slow lane. And trust me I’m not a hazard and am a lot safer (and efficient) than the guy going 75 weaving in and out of traffic. And as for the comments about high octane fuel. I don’t think the higher “perfomance” or power of an engine using that fuel is in question. What was stated was that using higher octane fuel in an engine not designed for it will not noticably increase your mileage.
Ok, it would take me a long time to correct everyone who is wrong, so I will only hit the major ones…
1) Premium fuel DOES NOT give you better gas mileage. Premium fuel has a higher octane, and therefore is less likely to knock. Knocking is when fuel autoignites before it is supposed to because of higher compression in engines. You should always buy the cheapest grade you can before your engine starts to knock, this will save you tons of money and will be more than worth it in the long run. The reason race car drivers use 110 octane is because they usually run higher compression ratios to get more power, so they need the higher octane so the fuel does not ignite early. Also, premium fuel used to have additives to prevent wear in the engine, so it might have been worth the money, but now the govt. mandates the additives be added to all grades of gas. This information is FACT, as I work at a Petroleum refinery and know my stuff.
Also, Higher octane gasoline will give you more power, BUT ONLY IF YOUR ENGINE HAS A COMPRESSION THAT MATCHES THE NEED FOR THAT OCTANE. If you are using 110 octane in a Honda engine that will run 89 without knocking, your are pouring your money down the drain. Your engine, not being high compression, will not make use of the high octane!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating
The guy who talked about OBD-II was right, but the gas mileage increase will not be worth the price if you want to save money.
So, read the owners manual, if your Honda says 89 is good, use 89. If your Porsche says to use 92, use 92. There is a reason they give you manuals.
2) This one was not in the article, but should have been BECAUSE IT IS THE EASIEST WAY TO GET BETTER MILEAGE. (the guy who wrote it obviously does not do much research). FIND A GAS STATION THAT SELLS 100% GASOLINE. Most gas stations these days use a 90% gasoline 10% Ethanol mix because its cheaper for the gas station to get and they can charge you the same price. I have done the calculations myself, and on a 30mpg vehicle, you will only get about 27mpg with a 10% ethanol blend. (this varies with vehicle) Ethanol does not have as much stored energy as gasoline, and you will get less gas mileage. (don’t even get me started on the HUGE problems with ethanol).
3) Your car will get the best gas mileage when your car is warmed up. Running your engine cold means that your oil is cold and will not perform as well. You should always let your car idle for at least 15 seconds before taking off like a bat out of hell. Most engine wear takes place when the car is first started as it takes time for the oil to reach all parts of the engine. (this will vary depending on the viscosity of oil you use).
For everyone who thinks they know what they are talking about, please go out and read before you post. People who don’t know anything about this subject will read your incorrect crap and the world will become MORE STUPIDER.
hey Derek,
Great Information, but lighten up a little bit