ALT-9 Ways to Save Money on Gas
1) Brake the right way - A car consumes most gas when it accelerates up to speed. It's a simple law of physics. A moving car doesn't require much gasoline to keep moving. In real life this means, in order to improve your mileage you need to keep the ride smooth. The person you seen on the highway that follows too close drives very nervously and he too needs to brake and accelerate constantly. In really heavy (but still moving) traffic it seems most cars do this. It is relatively easy to hold a speed in a long line of cars without stepping on the brake. Just keep a little bit more distance and try to practice this. If the traffic moves along, you rarely need to brake, unless everything slows down. If you pay attention to the cars ahead you can anticipate when things will slow down and you can ease off the gas. This means you won't lose all that power to friction (on the brakes) and you can keep your speed without having to accelerate. In heavy traffic this is the most efficient way to save gas and can easily get you 10% - 20% better gas mileage.
2) Turn off your air condition - This tip might be somewhat impractical in some areas. I would never dare to switch off the air condition of my car in Arizona in the Summer. However I also know that the compressor for the air conditioner loads the motor of my car more, which will reduce my fuel economy. I try not to use the air conditioner if I don't have to. Park your car in the shade if you can, so you won't have to keep the AC working as hard when you go somewhere.Roll down the windows just a tiny bit, so the air can circulate through your car while you are parked. Turn off the AC 5 minutes before you reach your destination and don't keep it working until the last second.
3) Manual vs. Automatic Shifting - A manual transmission is truly fantastic. I can only encourage everyone to try it out. You can pretty much determine if you want to sporty shift (at higher RPM) or a fuel efficient shift(at low RPM). No matter how great automatic transmissions are, they aren't as smart as a car operator. Due to the way an automatic transmission shifts, there are also higher gas consumption associated with automatic transmissions. Overall a manual transmission can be a lot more fuel efficient.If you have a manual transmission and want to save some gas, you need to shift up early and shift down late. You need to feel the car and the load condition to figure out when you need to shift. A car that goes uphill needs to pull a lot more and should be driven at a higher RPM. On the other side, if you are gliding along an empty road, you can drive at extremely low RPM. Then if you want to accelerate you quickly shift down, get up to speed and shift up again.Automatic Transmission - If you have a cruise control and there isn't a whole lot of traffic, you should use it. Use the overdrive gears, as this will generally keep your RPM down and your wallet happy. Shift into neutral when you are standing still to reduce transmission strain and cool off the transmission.
4) Inflate your Tires to the specified level. This will reduce the contact area of your tire to the road and therefore reduce the friction. It will help you to get a slightly improved gas mileage. If you don't need Snow Tires or Chains, remove them. Don't drive around all summer with Snow Tires. They are softer and have a deeper profile which will increase friction.
5) Don't fill up unless you are on empty, since all this gas weighs a lot. By reducing weight your car is doing less work to get to the speed of travel and in turn will save you money in the long run. However I usually only do this when gas prices are falling or constant. Furthermore, when gas prices are rising, I fill up sooner. Due to the psychological impact of rising gas prices, people usually do the exact opposite, which will eventually cost them more.
