How to Improve Your Gas Mileage

Gas isn’t as expensive as it used to be, but it still pays to squeeze the best mileage out of your vehicle. The following tips are designed to give your vehicle quite a boost when it comes to fuel efficiency. In fact, these tips can help you improve your gas mileage by 10% or more, depending on your vehicle and overall driving conditions.

Practice Gentle Starts and Stops

You might not put the pedal to the metal every time you take off from a stoplight, but you might tend to push that accelerator pedal just a bit harder than necessary. An aggressive launch might put you in the lead in the Stoplight-to-Stoplight Drag Race, but you’ll waste fuel while doing it. A gentle take-off not only boosts your gas mileage, but also save plenty of wear and tear on your vehicle.

The same applies when coming to a stop. Smooth deceleration is just as important as smooth acceleration, so try to take it easy on your brake pedal. You can do this by judging your stopping distances better and anticipating when the traffic light turns yellow. You’ll save more fuel plus you won’t wear out your brake pads as often.

Watch Your Speed

We all want to unleash our inner speed demon on the highway but pushing your car to the speed limit and beyond can quickly turn into a game of diminishing returns. Most gasoline-powered cars achieve their optimal gas mileage at 55 mph, according to recent data. Any faster and your fuel economy quickly plummets.

Adhering to local speed limits can help you save fuel, in most cases. When it comes to interstate driving, however, setting your cruise control somewhere in the 55-to-65 mph range will help you burn less fuel on those long drives.

Avoid Unnecessary Weight

Unless it’s moving day and you’re trying to stuff as much in your car as possible, then chances are you don’t need to keep all that stuff in your vehicle. Nevertheless, we often carry more stuff in our vehicle than we need to bring. The added weight places extra strain on your engine, which in turn causes your vehicle to burn more fuel.

Shed some dead weight if you want your vehicle to perform better fuel-wise but be careful not to toss out anything that you might need an emergency, such as your spare tire or vehicle jack.

Keep Your Tires Properly Inflated

Did you know that your gas mileage can take a 0.2% hit for every 1-psi drop in tire pressure? Under inflated tires create extra rolling resistance your vehicle must overcome, which it does so by burning more fuel. Check your tires often and make sure they’re inflated at the pressures recommended by the manufacturer. You’ll find that info on the placard nestled in the driver’s side door jamb or in your owner’s manual.

But don’t try to over inflate your tires in search of better gas mileage. Not only are the fuel economy gains extremely negligible, but you’ll also end up with a harsher ride, additional tire wear and a greater risk of a blowout.

Stick to Your Vehicle’s Recommended Fluids and Fuel

Whether your vehicle calls for regular or premium unleaded, it’s a good idea to stick with what the manufacturer calls for. Using regular unleaded in lieu of premium, for example, might help you save a few cents per gallon at the pump, but you gas mileage will most likely suffer for it.

Modern engines that require premium unleaded can change their timing to compensate, usually at the expense of fuel economy. Older engines may suffer from pinging and detonation that kills fuel efficiency while also doing some potentially serious damage to your engine.

The same goes for your engine oil. Always use the specific type of oil recommended for your vehicle. Using engine oil of a heavier weight than recommended (such as using 10w30 in place of 5w30) simply exposes your engine’s moving parts to additional friction, making engine work harder and burn more fuel in a process.

Don’t Idle So Much

You might not realize it but idling for long periods of time can just as easily destroy your gas mileage as any of the other bad habits mentioned so far. Your engine uses anywhere from a 1/2-gallon to roughly a gallon of fuel for every hour it operates at idle. That’s a lot of fuel you could put to better use on the open road.

Fortunately, most modern vehicles now come with start/stop technology that automatically shuts off the engine when stopped for brief periods. If you have an older vehicle, consider shutting it off if you’ll be sitting still for a while.

Invest in Regular Maintenance

Good maintenance is always the key to good gas mileage. Ignoring the need for regularly scheduled service and tune-ups will always drag down your vehicle’s fuel economy, not to mention the impact lax maintenance has elsewhere. A dirty air filter, filthy engine oil and/or worn spark plugs can all contribute to your car’s declining fuel economy in one way or another.

You should always have your vehicle serviced according to the schedule recommended in your vehicle owner’s manual. Your owner’s manual will also tell you exactly what parts need replacement on a regular basis and how often it should take place. Common parts like oxygen sensors and spark plugs are also crucial for emissions performance, so keep that in mind during your next service.

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