Handy Car Features That Minimize Gasoline Usage

The quest for relief from oppressive gas prices have led drivers on searches far and wide for ways to minimize the effect of the high prices on their wallets.  However, many drivers are literally at arm’s length from ways to help themselves, and do not even know it!  In fact, many features that come standard with new vehicles are not only convenient, but can help you to save on gas usage as well.

Since every gallon counts at today’s gas prices, even the simplest improvements to gas mileage can lead to more money in your pockets.  Although many products make gaudy claims to improve gas mileage drastically, most (if not all) of these claims are unproven.  As usual, the best remedies are usually the simple and somewhat obvious ones.  For instance, use your car’s already existing features to ease up on your gas usage when you are driving around from place to place.

Yaris Cruise Control (Photo credit: nebarnix)

Cruise control is a great feature for many reasons.  It can keep you from having to glance down at your speed all the time, for one thing.  This means that you can avoid getting a speeding ticket by merely setting a consistent speed that will not get you pulled over.  Using the cruise control feature effectively takes away any chance of you accidentally getting a heavy foot and an unintended speeding ticket as a result. 

However, cruise control is also a great way to conserve gas!  When you are on the highway, the cruise control can help your car to stay at a consistent speed.  This means that you will not be accidentally increasing your speed and making the car periodically work harder. 

If you have an “overdrive” option for your car, you should use the overdrive gears whenever possible.  Overdrive allows your engine to work much less than it would otherwise.  Of course, the less your engine works, the less gasoline you use.  In other words, overdrive alone will increase your vehicle’s fuel efficiency. 

While you are at it, keep your eye on your RPM gauge, especially if you drive a manual transmission automobile - but you can learn to use this in an automatic car as well.  After all, any time your car is running in the high end of the RPM range, you are using more engine power than you need to, and thus more gas.  Make sure that you are not staying in the low gears for too long before shifting, and spend as much time in the comfortable RPM range of higher gears as you can, since you will save yourself some gas in the process.  The RPM gauge is another example of an under-utilized feature that, if used correctly, can help you to conserve gas. (In an automatic transmission car, with a little practice, you can learn to use the gas pedal to shift gears smoothly and work your way up into the higher gears sooner.)

Symbol of Air conditioning in a BMW car. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While we are talking about features to use, let’s also mention a feature that you should stay away from if you are trying to conserve gas: the air conditioning feature.  If you turn on your car’s air conditioning, your car will end up working much harder than usual, which means your car will consume more gas to fuel that work.  The easy translation here is to avoid the air conditioning whenever you can.  After all, it may be hot out, but you definitely do not want to have to sweat it out while pumping gas into your empty tank, right? Whenever the weather is cool enough, crack the windows a bit and enjoy the breeze - and save money on gas.

As you can see, there are many fairly basic features your car may already have that, with regular use, can help you go longer between trips to the gas station.  Even though some of these features may only have a small effect on your car’s gas usage, if you follow all of the tips, it will add up.  With gas prices as high as they are now, even if you can save a gallon or two here and there, that can be a pretty substantial savings for you!

3 Tips For Changing Your Driving Style to Conserve Gasoline

Gas prices have spiked again recently, but they've been up and down so much over the past year, people are seeming not to notice as much - which I think is kind of the point.... In  my opinion, the oil companies do this on purpose - it's a form of (as a friend of mine used to say) "cooking the frog." They're getting us used to these spikes, so we don't notice as much that the price is going ever higher - eventually we won't make a peep when it's $5.00/gallon and more....  That's my take on it anyway.

Drive (Photo credit: kaysha)

But most people can improve their mileage substantially, effectively lowering their price for gasoline, with a few simple adjustments. One of the most important is driving style. I find when I pay attention to my driving style, I get SUBSTANTIALLY better gas mileage (like 5mpg or so).

Most drivers are not thinking of fuel consumption when they drive. In past years, it might not have been as much of a consideration, but with the gas prices getting to be so high, we must all think about how we can reduce our gas usage.  After all, it is getting harder and harder to be able to afford frequent fill-ups at the gas station!  What follows are a few pretty basic ways that you can change your driving style to a more fuel-efficient one.

1. One big mistake that many drivers make is accelerating too often.  If you pay attention, you will notice that the vast majority of drivers accelerate almost all the time.  It does not matter whether they are 50 feet from a red light or a turn that they will have to slow down for, they will continue to have their foot on the gas right up until they have to brake.  This is a mistake for a number of reasons, all of which can affect fuel consumption.

First of all, it makes no sense to speed up towards a red light that you will have to stop for in a short distance.  Instead, why not take your foot off the gas and coast a bit?  This will not only allow you to save your brakes, but if the light changes, you can continue coasting until it is time to accelerate, and you may be able to do so without ever having to completely stop.  Your car will use a lot less gas starting from a coasting speed of 20 miles per hour than it would from a complete stop.  Again, the light is red anyway, there is simply no need to accelerate towards it.

2. If you have a turn coming up shortly, there is also no need to accelerate right up until the point where you must turn.  Why do so, when you will then have to brake aggressively in order to safely make your turn?  Instead, when you reach a reasonable distance to your turn, take your foot off the gas pedal and coast a bit before slowly easing on the brake and making your turn.  Doing so will not cost you much time, and it will save gas as well as your brakes, both of which cost a fair amount of money.

Driving Cars in a Traffic Jam (Photo credit: epSos.de)

3. Finally, try not to tailgate behind other drivers, and anticipate future stops or having to slow down.  If you give yourself a good amount of distance between yourself and the car(s) in front of you, you can see whether people are stopping or turning with much more notice, which allows you to coast a bit rather than having to slam on your brakes.  Again, you’re only wasting gas if you speed up to ride the bumper of the car in front of your.  This is needless, rude, and can also be the cause of an accident!

Think of it as trying to keep your engine RPMs as constant as possible. Try watching your tachometer (the gauge that measures your engine's RPM), and learn to drive while minimizing the spikes and keeping the engine's speed as even as possible - usually mine is the most efficient when I'm around 2,000 - when I'm in that range, I know I'm getting close to 40mpg, and it's taken me a while to learn how to get up to 40-45 mph without the needle going over 2,000, but it definitely works!

These subtle tweaks to your driving style won’t cost you any time or money, and will save you a lot of gas and wear and tear on your car.  Also, if you drive less aggressively, you will accumulate less traffic tickets and accidents, which can cost you way more money than gas ever did! It's a positive change all around. Also as a mental benefit, I've noticed that when I drive less aggressively, I also feel less aggressive, which reduces my stress and even helps me enjoy driving more. Try practicing all of these tips over the next several weeks, and you may be surprised to see how much your mileage improves!

More Easy Ways to Improve Your Gas Mileage

Here are some recent articles on improving your gas mileage - something we all are thinking about lately, with the rapid increase in gas prices these days - especially since we can't all drive a car like the one in the picture! :-)

Image via Wikipedia

Check out the tips below, and feel free to share your own as well!

Tips For Improving Gas Mileage « CBS Los Angeles
With gas prices flirting dangerously with $4 per gallon for regular, a few easy changes might help Los Angeles drivers improve their fuel economy.
Publish Date: 03/09/2011 20:45
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/03/09/tips-for-improving-gas-mileage/

How to Improve Gas Mileage and Save Money
How to improve your gas mileage and same some money through fuel economy. Tips on getting better gas mileage.
Publish Date: 03/17/2011 10:01
http://wangsgard.com/2011/improving-gas-mileage/

10 Ways to Improve Mileage | Get Better Gas Mileage
In today's economy, many consumers are being hardest hit in the wallet especially at the pump. There are many ways to cut back, but many still need to drive to work, activities, or get necessities, but they want to do it with the most ...
Publish Date: 03/10/2011 10:01
http://www.get-better-gas-mileage.com/?p=15

 

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