The Comprehensive Guide To Saving Money on Gas

Step 3 Steps 5 & 6 - Bad Habbits

Don't Idle
Idling in your car equates to 0mpg in your average. There's an old legend that starting your car takes more gas than leaving it idling. This used to have a grain of salt to it, but in modern fuel injected engines, it's not the case. Even idling for 30 seconds uses far more gas than starting your engine. The only hitch is that repetitively starting your engine adds additional wear and tear, so best bet is to avoid situations where you would need to idle entirely. Other than that, it's a trade off. (for my vehicles, If I'm planning on waiting any more than 2 minutes I turn it off)

Don't Carry Extra Weight!

If you own a van, and you don't normally use the removable rear seats, remove them until you need them. If you have a hundred pounds of stuff you've left in your trunk, clear it out. If you don't know how to or wouldn't want to change a spare tire (which you should know how to do) replace it with a can of "Fix-A-Flat" (a good thing to carry anyway). The rule of thumb is every 100 pounds dropped is another mile per gallon.

Comments

[delias1]

im having a hard time figuring out where you are getting your data from

[RickO5]

Depends on which data you mean. A lot of it is personal data collection using the vehicles I have access to and an OBDII laptop connection and log tool. Other parts are government sources, as well as other sources.

[delias1]

i guess it would be the one on your speed reflecting fuel mileage, i know you lose fuel economy the faster you go but 3 mpg per 5 mph? that seems a little drastic to me. i drive a 2005 f150 with a 5.4l, at 110 kmph (i live in the great white north) i pull 21 mpg over a distance of 450 kilometers and use roughly half a tank, now at 145 kmph i get slightly less then that, i think the last i checked it was roughly 19 mpg. sorry i have no idea where i was going with this, i sorta lost my train of thought half way through.