You will learn seven painless, low coast and widely available methods to instantly save gas and improve your cars fuel economy. No expensive investments or fancy gadgets required.
As gas is getting more expensive every day those of you with a long commute or a lot of driving miles can feel the weight of increasing gas expenses.
Luckily there is easy ways to lower your gas bill and I'll list seven that are easy to do and does not require you to invest money in a new car or snake oil add-on kits.
1. MAINTAIN PROPER TIRE PRESSURE
Driving with too low tire pressure increases the rolling resistance of your tires and spoils your gas mileage. It also can make a tire overheat and blow.
Inflate your tires at least to the maximum allowed by the car's instruction manual,
and check the pressure at least once a month using a reliable pressure gauge.
Many hypermilers inflate their tires more than that, to the maximum pressure printed on the sidewalls of the tires themselves. This is often as much as 60 percent more than what the car manufacturer recommends and it will give additional gas savings due to lesser rolling resistance.
The downside is a harder and less comfortable ride. And I can't recommend you outright to do this, even if it's safe, as there is a possibility of uneven tire wear in some conditions.
2. DETACH TRAILERS, SKI BOXES AND ROOF RACKS
If you thought it's too much of a hassle to remove the roof rack or ski box when it's not needed, think again! It's the same if you drive a pick-up truck missing a flatbed cover or if you tow an empty trailer with no purpose.
Anything that you attach to the outside of the car will spoil the aerodynamics of the car and with that your fuel economy. Remove roof racks, ski boxes, bicycle holders and trailers when they are not used.
3. SHUT OFF THE AIR CONDITION
Despite what some would say the air conditioning unit is using a lot of energy and that energy is taken directly from your gas tank. Turn it off when possible and if that's too uncomfortable set it to a higher temperature as that will make it use less gas.
TIPS: Park the car in the shadow, have the doors open for a minute before leaving, drive at night if going for a longer trip in hot weather.
Just keep in mind that driving fast with all windows open is worse for your gas mileage than turning on the A/C.
4. IMPROVE YOUR DRIVING
Your driving style is one of the biggest factors affecting your fuel economy. Avoid breaking by letting the car roll to a stop when you're not in the way of other drivers, keep your top speed below 60MPH or 100KM/H and don't push the pedal to the metal when you accelerate.
5. WALK
Usually if you're not going many miles, walking or biking is a fair alternative, and it's a lot more economic than using the car. You'll not only save fuel but also the wear and tear on the car that can cost as much as the fuel itself.
6. FIX YOUR FUEL LEAKS
Clearly if you have a fuel leak you spill your dear gas into the environment costing you cash and polluting the ground. Fix any fuel leak immediately.
TIP: If the gas cap is broken or missing a lot of gas will evaporate through the missing or broken cap and escape into the air.This is especially true in hot places and when parking in the sun. This can be a significant loss and it's bad for the environment.
7. ARRANGE A CAR POOL
Sharing the car on the daily commute can feel like a fair amount of hassle compared to going by yourself but then you'll save more using this approach than using any of the other tips (except for biking of course).
Joining with just one other person to use the same car for your commute will save you half your monthly commuting cost.
MORE GAS SAVING IDEAS
The above tips are some of the easiest, most widely available, low cost ways to save lots of gas. And that's a no gadgets required bag of tricks.
There's many more ways you can save gas. You can get a more fuel efficient car (hybrid, diesel, smaller car), improve your driving style, improve your cars aerodynamics, use tires with a low rolling resistance, plan your driving, adjust for extreme weather and much more that this article is too short to cover.
There's also many ways to NOT save gas, like installing one of those fuel saving gadgets advertised everywhere. They usually cost a lot but give barely measurable improvements in MPG.
To keep track of your actual gas mileage you can use a handy online metric mpg calculator
