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Ten Tips To Save On Gasoline
by Jeffrey Strain
Description: Tips for saving money on gasoline.
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Gas prices continue to be near all time highs meaning that car travel
is taking a a larger portion out of each of your paychecks. AAA
estimates that the cost of driving a car including all direct and indirect
costs has surpassed 50 cents a gallon with that price expected to rise.
Reducing the cost of driving your car can be done fairly easy simply by
paying a bit more attention to your car. Here are 10 easy ways to cut
the amount of gas your car uses:
1. Purchase your gasoline when it's coolest outside such as in the
early morning or at night. Gas becomes denser in cooler temperatures. Since
gas pumps only measure the volume of fuel - and not the density -
you'll get better overall gas mileage for your money by purchasing fuel when
it's cool outside rather than in the heat of the day.
2. Religiously check your car's tire pressure each month (make sure to
purchase a good-quality dial-type gauge for yourself -- pencil-style
gauges and the ones mounted on the air hose are unreliable according to
federal government surveys). Under inflated tires reduce fuel efficiency
by 2% for every pound they are under inflated. Under inflation also
causes premature tire wear giving your tires a shorter use life.
3. Slow down and drive at the speed limit. Cars use about 20% more fuel
driving at 70 miles per hour than they do at 55 miles per hour.
4. Avoid using air conditioning whenever possible. Air conditioning
reduces fuel economy by 10% to 20%. Use the air ventilation system
instead.
5. Don't drive with open windows when traveling at high speeds. Open
windows on the highway can reduce fuel efficiency by 10%. It's much
better to use the ventilation system.
6. Remove car racks and other items which make your car less
aerodynamic when they're not being used. Leaving them on only makes your car less
fuel efficient and costs you money.
7. There is no need to let your car idle. Even on cold mornings, cars
don't need to idle more than 30 seconds. Newer cars are designed to be
driven almost immediately and letting your car idle longer is a waste of
gas.
8. It's more efficient to turn off your car and turn it on again than
to let it idle for more than 45 seconds while waiting.
9. Remove all the excess weight from your car. Many people use their
car trunk as a storage space adding unneeded pounds to the car's weight.
This unnecessary weight reduces the car's fuel efficiency by about 1%
for every 100 lbs.
10. For most cars, higher octane gas is simply a waste of money.
Regular unleaded (approx. 87 octane or so) is the least expensive and what
you should purchase. It's important to remember that octane is a
measurement of how hard it is to ignite the gas, not the quality of the gas.
Purchase mid or high octane gas only if your engine pings, knocks or
rattles when using regular unleaded fuel.
Copyright (c) Jeffrey Strain. He is owner of
http://www.paidtodriveautowrap.com - a website dedicated to telling you
the truth on why getting paid to drive a car isn't as easy as many make
it out to be.
