Gas prices are up learn to drive sensibly to stretch your mileage
Gas Prices are Up – Learn to Drive Sensibly to Stretch Your Mileage
Owning a car is one of life’s little pleasures, a dream come true. But, for some it is turning into a nightmare thanks to the ever increasing price of fuel. People all over the world are having to pay as much as twice the amount that they used to pay three years ago for fuel. The increasing demand from countries like China seems to indicate that the prices are going to go even higher.
If prices wont come down, the next best thing that you can do is to learn how to stretch the MPG that you’re getting from your vehicle. Following some or all of the tips below should help you to save a significant amount of money down the line.
Enough small talk… here come the tips.
Tip 1 – Turn off the engine when idling in traffic for a long time. You’re wasting a lot of fuel just being in a gridlock, and your engine is also having to take wear and tear without doing any real moving. You might as well cut the engine and save your fuel and maintenance costs
Tip 2 – If your car has a manual transmission, take care to shift your gears at the right time. Work yourself up from the 1st and 2nd gears as fast as possible, as they burn the most fuel. If your car has an RPM meter, don’t let the rev count fall under 1000 as it means that your engine is laboring. 3000 – 3500 is ideal for shifting into a higher gear. If your car has an overdrive option, use it as much as possible as your car is going at lesser revs.
Tip 3 – Keep your tyres properly inflated. If your air pressure is too high the ride will be uncomfortable and bouncy, and a low air pressure will increase friction between the wheels and the road surface thereby burning more fuel.
Tip 4 – When getting your vehicle serviced, get the air filter element looked at as well. Having a clean air filter system can mean as much as several miles extra per gallon of fuel.
Tip 5 – Ease off on the gas pedal. Accelerating unnecessarily burns a lot of gas. Use gradual acceleration instead, and stick to the speed limits.
Tip 6 – Schedule your travel so that you hit the least amount of traffic, as this is one of the biggest fuel wasters you will face.