With growing gas costs, it is no wonder that more drivers are interested in getting good gas mileage out of their cars. There are several ways to go about getting solid gas mileage from your motor vehicle. You can buy a car with good gas mileage in the first place, or you can get better gas mileage from your car by driving it in a manner that is fuel efficient.
Let's examine the first area. More critical than anything is the car you by. When you compare cars' gas mileage, you generally look at their city mpg and their highway mpg. If you are like most shoppers and are looking at half a dozen or so possible cars, these numbers can often become so jumbled in your head it is hard to remember what was what.
One tip is to just focus on the highway mpg. Most of the your actual miles you put on your car is on the highway. While you may spend more time on city streets, most of the car's gas is spent on the highway. So just compare the highway mpg between various cars. It'll be easier on yourself, and it is also a better way of analyzing the differences between the cars.
Another tip is to look at Japanese brands of cars. While American manufacturers are starting to improve th gas mileage of their vehicles, Japanese car makers have traditionally focused their cars more on efficiency and reliability, whereas American manufacturers have focused more on style.
The final tip goes without saying: the more boring the car, the better the gas mileage generally. Want a hot sports car with a lot of horse power? Be prepared to get terrible gas mileage. If you want good gas mileage, go for the sedan with 130 hp, not the SUV with a V8 engine.
You can also increase your gas mileage by driving your car in an efficient manner. Here are a few tips:
1. Avoid high speeds on the freeway: While going 80 mph might be fun and get you to your location faster, it also is much more costly in terms of gas mileage (not to mention the potential speeding tickets!)
2. Avoid braking or accelerating quickly. Sudden jerks on the pedals are terrible for saving gas. When slowing down, do so gradually and softly, not a sudden stop. Likewise, accelerate gradually, not like you are trying to win a race.
3. Carry a light load. Do you really need to drag your 6 bowling balls everywhere? Doing so will lead to more trips to the pump. So drop your stuff off at your house or apartment instead of dragging everything around town in your car.
4. Roll down your window instead of using air conditioning. The AC eats up a lot of gas, so a good way to save gas is to simply not use the AC. While this is not practical in the dead heat of summer, there's certainly nothing wrong with turning off the AC and rolling down the window and enjoying a nice breeze.
5. Get your friends to drive. Hey, what better way to save gas than not driving at all! Get your friends to pick you up and drive you places. They ought to be worth something after all right?
Improve Your Gas Mileage
It is incorrect to think that the only way to improve your gas mileage is to purchase a more fuel efficient car. It is entirely possible to improve the gas mileage of your current car to save you the expense of a new car's purchase which might offset any savings in fuel costs you gain. The driving technique of older cars is one way to even the high tech performance of newer cars.
To do this there are four things you can do:
1. Always keep an eye on your speed,
2. Use cruise control,
3. Consider when to use air conditioning, and
4. Have your car serviced regularly.
This article will discuss these points and provide you with practical tips on improving your gas mileage.
One of the easiest ways to be more fuel-efficient is to drive at a steady speed. Keeping a good speed means maintaining as constant a speed as possible during all driving trips. The general rule is to not drive faster than necessary, especially in urban areas, where you frequently have to accelerate at short distances and subsequently use the brake to reduce speed upon reaching an intersection. Then the entire event repeats again which wastes fuel. You can follow the same procedure when traveling on the highway. Your engine will use fuel a lot more efficiently if you keep a constant speed.
To keep the same speed, particularly when you're driving on the freeway, good use of cruise control is an excellent way to reduce your fuel use and improve your gas mileage. Your cruise control makes sure that your enging is working as efficiently as it can in order to reduce the need for you to think about how to make your car run more efficiently. Cruise control will make sure that you are using the best gas mileage, so it changes the way your car runs.
One thing that can eat up gas is air conditioning. There is alway a propensity during the summer for people to combat heat by running their air conditioner at full blast 24/7. Even though this feels better, your gas mileage efficiency takes a drastic cut. One way to make a big impact on your gas mileage, especially during a long trip, is to turn the air conditioner down just a few degrees. You can find more fuel saving tips on .
You can greatly increase the odds of getting better gas mileage from your car, simply by making sure your car is in the best possible condition. Your car will need to use more gas if you have not had it serviced in a while, because the car will be putting more strain on your engine. The gas mileage efficiency can be increased greatly by making sure the engine is in tip-top condition, making sure the filters are always clean, and by also making sure that tire pressure is always correct.
Now you can see that there are tons of ways to increase your car's gas mileage. By only using one or two methods you can see significant increases in gas mileage. If you keep a steady speed, use the air conditioning selectively, and keep your vehicle maintained, you will see an increase in gas mileage, maybe even saving you enough money to help you buy a more fuel-efficient vehicle.
Both Warren Wong & Fred Jackson are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Warren Wong has sinced written about articles on various topics from Pregnancy Problems, Pregnancy Week by Week and Pregnancy Problems. The author writes for a website that helps users pay less at the pump.. Warren Wong's top article generates over 110000 views. to your Favourites.
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