Tips
Helpful Tips on How to Improve Your Car’s Gas Mileage
Here are some easy things you can do to improve the gas mileage of your car:
Driving Habits
- Clean mud from your car or truck if you’ve been off-roading. The extra weight adds up surprisingly fast and can slow you down.
- Multitask by grouping your daily trips and errands. This saves you the cost of restarting your engine, which uses a lot of gas.
- Roll your windows up. Open windows cause drag and hamper your mileage.
- Avoid running your air conditioning when possible. The compressor pulls power from your engine and can affect gas mileage.
- Easy come, easy go. Go easy on the gas and break pedals. Sudden starts or stops use more gas than gradual changes in speed.
- Don’t idle for long periods. Turn off the engine off if you’re going to sit for a while.
- Try to reduce the amount of time spent warming up your car in winter.
- Lighten your load by cleaning out your trunk. Hauling around heavy things, like golf clubs, can reduce your mileage.
- Slow down a bit. You can improve gas mileage by up to 15 percent when you drive at 55 mph instead of 65 mph.
- Use overdrive, or the eco-drive function, if your car is equipped. Turn on overdrive gearing as soon as your speed is high enough.
- Cruise control helps you maintain a constant speed and improves gas mileage.
Service Tips For Better Mileage
- Replace the spark plugs in your engine regularly so the air and fuel mixture burns cleaner and more efficiently.
- Improve the intake/output system. By allowing gas to get in and exhaust out of your vehicle you will improve the vehicle’s overall performance and gas mileage.
- Use high-quality or synthetic motor oil to reduce friction and improve your car’s overall performance and fuel efficiency.
- Check your oil! Low oil makes your engine work harder.
- Change your filters. Dirty filters can increase fuel consumption by as much as 10 percent.
- Keep tires properly inflated and aligned. It will give you better mileage and extend the life of your tires.