Way back in November, back when I was young and carefree, I wrote about how to find your car’s miles per gallon. Back then I got 29.5 mpg, which is not too shabby, but by gumbo, I wanted to save some money on gas. Recently, I found some simple ways to increase my car’s fuel efficiency. By following these three simple tips, I’ve increased my horseless carriage’s miles per gallon up to a whopping 36 mpg (about a 22% improvement).
How to Improve Your Car’s Fuel Efficiency
- Easy on the acceleration – when the light turns green, slowly ease down the gas pedal. No need to burn rubber, just accelerate slowly and steadily. This makes a big difference in improving fuel efficiency.
- Don’t idle for over a minute – if you’re at a stoplight where you know you’ll be waiting for over a minute, just turn your car off. When the light is about to turn green, turn your car back on. Only do this at stops that you’re very familiar with, and where you know you’ll be waiting for over a minute.
- Drive your optimal speed
Believe it or not, driving at 70mph on a highway or belt-line is not very fuel efficient. For most cars, the optimal speed is 40-60 mph. Yes, lots of cars will pass you. Stay in the slow lane to let them. They are just wasting their gas (and money).
By following these oh-so-handy tips, I only use about 80% the gas that I used to use. That means I’m saving about 20% in gas money, which these days is a big chunk o’ change. So help out your wallet and the good ol’ environment, and don’t drive like a maniac.
May 13th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Nah das bullshit
May 13th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Ride a bike.
May 14th, 2008 at 8:48 am
Mr. Pat, I assure you this is all factual okay??
John, true, riding a bike is great for short distances, but sometimes the road is too busy or too far to ride a good ol’ bike. Sad, but true.
May 15th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Yeah, sometimes I like the pretend I’m not driving 300 miles when I have to. Sucks, huh? I did manage to go an entire month without moving my car, it was pretty sweet. It’s also hard to carry groceries or go on dates on a bike haha “Ay baby, hop on my handle bars!”
Nice site, keep it up.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:29 am
Haha, my solution for the date thing is to be like Dave Chapelle in Half-Baked on his date. Very cheap, and steal some money from a homeless guy to get ice cream.
May 19th, 2008 at 8:00 am
I watched a man on gma and he said also to make sure your tires have enough air in them…it would help on your gas
May 19th, 2008 at 8:32 am
I’ve heard that, too. That also helps your tires themselves last longer.
May 20th, 2008 at 9:53 am
Nah u lyin dog
May 21st, 2008 at 1:30 pm
I will fight you, Gangsta Pat
May 27th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
How about this for a solution… First of all, to hell with the Elk in ANWR. Second, get Cuba’s oil rigs the hell off our coast (60 miles to be exact). It only takes an idiot to figure out that we shouldn’t have to pay a foreign company for oil that actually belongs to the U.S. in the first place. The leadership in our country needs to grow some nuts and tell those unwilling to accept the fact that oil is being drilled ANYWAYS… why not help ourselves? If tree huggers are really as intelligent as they think they are, they’ll figure it out. We may even be able to create some jobs in our country, how about that?
Or maybe we should all buy tiny, elf-like foreign cars and completely elimate the US auto industry? That may help our wallet! Folks, the state of Michigan is BAD shape right now… but we aren’t doing ourselves any favors buying a car made in Germany. You can tell me GM also loves mexican and canadian workers, but take a stroll through Flint, Lansing, and Detroit and you’ll lose count of the abandoned GM facilities.
Get oil prices where they should be and no one would have a forum on how to save $1 a day by getting somewhere 20 minutes late meanwhile wearing out the ignition of a car.
May 27th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
How about this for a solution… First of all, to hell with the Elk in ANWR.
How about this; read up on this. ANWR would help some, but probably not near as much as you imagine.
Your argument that buying “tiny, elf-like cars” would damage the U.S. economy (in particular, Michigan’s) is ludicrous. There are many U.S. automakers making cars that get better and better gas mileage. I don’t know about you, but there is no way I would ever buy some car that cost me more gas money just because it’s American-made. I’ll buy whatever is cheapest and best.
Get oil prices where they should be and no one would have a forum on how to save $1 a day by getting somewhere 20 minutes late meanwhile wearing out the ignition of a car.
If you’re wearing out the ignition of your car and getting places 20 minutes late, I think you’re driving your car wrong. Either that, or your car sucks. Also, good job saying “get oil prices where they should be”, that phrase doesn’t really make sense if you think about it.
May 29th, 2008 at 9:51 am
My ni66a Jayme aint bout shit. I heard he gay yall, look at his shooz. besides, i dont like people playin on my phone.
May 29th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Good job keeping it real, Mr. Pat
June 1st, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Got a new truck Friday.
That is to say, strapped a milk crate onto the rack above the back wheel of my bike.
Works great for groceries and what have yous.
June 1st, 2008 at 10:48 pm
Thanks, RBS. I’ve thought about getting a basket for my bike, but so far just a backpack has worked out.
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:57 am
I’ve been backpacking it for a long time, even strapping the backpack to my above-the-back wheel rack for about a year. I am delighted with the crate. It’s strapped onto the rack with a length of old inner tube.
Much nicer on the back.
And it looks mean.
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:04 am
Haha, a mean bike. If I lived close enough to bike to work, I’d definitely have a rack on it. Probably also put baseball cards in the spokes to give it that realistic motor sound.
June 10th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
I work in the oil industry, but I would like to say one of the reasons gas prices are so high is that China is starting to consume more and more while our own usage continues to increase. Many people are quick to point the blame at the people like me producing the oil (petroleum geologist) but in truth we are just trying to provide a needed service. Blame the bureaucrats if you want to blame anybody.
First, US automotive makers are already on the trend to producing fuel efficient cars. Even small companies are springing up. One such Aptera is already over 200mpg
http://www.aptera.com/
Us automotive makers will catch up or end up losing big time to companies playing the green card.
Second, it is not horribly hard to go without a car. I filled up two times in 6 months and I had work, college seminars, and other such time consuming events. I walked. I ran. When I could I would hitch rides and carpool. It is amazing how much money you save by car pooling alone. Not only that, but I’m in the best shape of my life, running a 3 mile in about 16 minutes. Not to bad for a recovering knee surgery.
If I can do it, anybody can do it. There really is no excuse. If you are lazy, then that’s that. But I hate people whining about the gas prices to me but never changing their habits when I myself have changed my own habits.
June 11th, 2008 at 8:09 am
Wow, I would not mind getting an Aptera, except it’s probably out of my price range. Besides, my Honda does pretty well on gas mileage.
Man, as for cutting down on car use, I carpooled for about 1.5 years, but stopped 2 months ago. I wouldn’t mind going back to carpooling. Riding a bus is not really an option for me (I calculated it out, and it’d end up taking about 2 hours each way). I’ve changed my driving habits by following my above three tips, plus riding a bike whenever I can. Good job for you cutting down on your car use.
August 30th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Here’s a web-based calculator that estimates how much you can save by riding the bus to work.
http://riceball.com/drupal/node/568
November 24th, 2008 at 6:41 am
Jayme, I appreciate your thoughts, but I have to tell you–after owning multiple FORD POS cars, I am ready to buy a Japanese or German Car just to keep some money in my wallet. Michigan needs to quit pushing out crap and start at least having something that is in the ball park of efficiency and reliability. I want to buy American, but I am sick of the junk! ~ Suzi
February 7th, 2009 at 6:14 am
You can improve your gas mileage by 1-2 percent by using the manufacturer's recommended grade of motor oil.
February 7th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Que interesante. Also, getting your wheels aligned can improve your MPG by up to 10%. I need to do that soon.
March 11th, 2009 at 4:13 am
Haha ^^ nice, is there a section to follow the RSS feed
March 11th, 2009 at 11:49 am
Por supuesto, you can follow the RSS feed at http://www.ecojoes.com/feed/