No matter what vehicle you drive there are two factors involved in improving gas mileage.
Those are the maintenance of the car and the way you drive. Of the two, maintenance is the easiest to address, but overall has less impact than your driving habits.
The three key aspects of keeping a car at it’s highest fuel efficiency are; tire inflation, the tuning and maintenance of your engine and using the proper motor oil.
Typically you will save 4 percent of your fuel usage if you tune your engine rather than letting it fail its emission test. You can save as high as 40 percent on fuel usage if something dramatic had to be fixed like a faulty oxygen sensor which would mess the ratio of fuel and air. Lets say that fuel is $2.75, then you can save 11 cents per gallon.
Tires are safer and last longer when they have the right air pressure. The owner’s manual will tell you what pressure the tires are to be pumped to it is also on the inside of your car’s door jam. Printed on the tires will be the maximum pressure but don’t follow this. Keeping your tires properly inflated can improve fuel economy up to 3 percent, saving you about 8 cents per gallon.
You can improve your mileage by one or two percent saving 3 to 6 cents per gallon at the gas pump all by just following instructions and using the correct motor oil.
A great saving of 25 percent can be achieved by following the recommended products, parts and maintenance for your car.
Fuel burns much quicker when you have bad driving habits, you can cost you more than $1.50 pr gallon. Unlike mechanical problems someone cannot come along and take away your bad driving habits for you.
The worst offender is aggressive driving – speeding, rapid acceleration and braking to maneuver through traffic. That kind of driving can lower your gas mileage by as much as a third on the highway (think only 10 mpg instead of 30) and five percent around town. That costs you as much as 91 cents extra per gallon.
Speeding is the second greatest waste of fuel. Gas mileage decreases rapidly when speeds exceed 60 mph – costing you about 11 percent of your gas mileage for every 5 mph you speed. So traveling at 70 mph you will lose 50 cents per gallon, that is just an increase of 10 mph.
It can cost you an extra 6 cents per gallon by idling too long and carrying extra weight, 6 cents is for 100 pounds alone. Your engine can be slowed yet still maintain it’s speed through the use of overdrive gears while driving on the highway, cruise control also saves your mileage.
By tackling these problems your mileage can be improved greatly, so get your car properly maintained and remind yourself to keep up good driving habits you will save money on fuel.
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