Gas Mileage Tips
What with the increased price of gas, many of us are watching our gas mileage. Below are a set of tips from the folks at Edmunds that can increase your gas mileage significantly, up to thirty five percent in mixed driving (mixed driving is when you spend part of the time on the interstate and part of the time on city roads).
1. When leaving a stop sign or stop light accelerate gently by pressing lightly on the gas pedal. Try it a couple of times to get the feel for the best gentle acceleration pattern for your personal vehicle.
2. When approaching a stop sign or stop light that is red or turning red, take your foot off the accelerator and roll up to the light or sign, braking gently.
(These first two tips alone can make a huge difference in mixed driving.)
3. Relax, take your time, and drive the speed limit. Speeding takes more gas - more gas accelerating, more gas decelerating, and more gas cruising.
4. Follow the 45 AC rule. (Using AC will take 3 to 5 MPG off your cars mileage). If you are under 45 mph, turn the AC off and roll a window down. If you are over 45 MPG, roll the windows up and turn on the AC (wind resistance at over 45 wipes out any advantage in having the window rolled down).
5. Don't tailgate - leave two seconds between you and the car in front of you. Tailgating causes you to accelerate and decelerate harder, which effects your gas mileage. Focus on "driving smoothly". Give people room, and accelerate and decelerate gently.
6. It takes the average human being 20 minutes to walk one mile. If you have stores and such close to you, walk to them, besides saving gas, you will get your exercise too.
7. Take mass transit. (Many people, according to Edmunds, believe that mass transit will not work for them, but then cannot answer even rudimentary questions about their mass transit systems.) Try it a few days and see how it works for you. If a clean mass transit ride is not possible, consider a "mixed commute". A mixed commute is where you drive to a park and ride lot, or drive to a more convenient mass transit route, and then take the route the rest of the way in or out of your work.
8. Carpool. Many counties and government agencies provide a service that matches car poolers up. If you can't coordinate something at work, you can try them. (Edmunds also reminds you that even 1 day a week or carpooling or mass transit reduces you gas expenses by 20 percent, assuming a normal five day work week.)
9. Never leave your car idling. With modern fuel injection engines, starting the car takes about thirty seconds worth of gas. So if you are stopping for longer than thirty seconds - and idling - you are wasting gas.
10. If your job allows, ask if you can work either an alternate schedule (say, four ten hour days) or virtually, even one day every two weeks reduces your commute footprint by 10 percent. It never hurts to ask.
11. Combine your errands into a single trip. Most people run errands in a starfish pattern (in and out of home over the course of a day). Plan them to run them all at once in a circle or an out and back pattern. Another errand suggestion is keep track of your errands for a while and see which ones you can extend the pattern on. (For example, if you go to the grocery store on twice a week, see if you can cut back to once a week. If you go once a week, cut back to once every two weeks, etc.). Many of our errands are "spur of the moment". With a little planning, we can sometimes radically change our patterns. Another suggestion is to combine your errands with your commute - stop to or from work - and save yourself an entire trip.
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