11 Gas Saving Tips to Increase 5% more Gas Mileage You Must Know

Every one likes fuel efficient car.

Whenever we come across the new car purchase discussion, 1st question the majority people will ask is the gas mileage.

It is very important that we have an idea about how much the gas mileage cost our car.
The MPG (miles per gallon) is a standard to give us draft ideas.
Every car manufacturer will have the ideal mpg when they design the new model.
For instance, 30 MPG means your car can run 30 miles per gallon.
For sure, higher mpg means better fuel efficient.

There are couple factors which will affect the fuel efficiency.
Today we're going to discuss the 11 ways you can improve the gas mileage of your vehicle.

11 Tips to Increase Gas Mileage

Basically, we can discuss gas saving in 2 ways, drive efficiently & proper maintenance.

Part I: Efficient Driving
1. Prevent Idling
Under the safe premise, you should switch off the engine as possible as you can.
When engine is running but not car is not moving, you're consuming the gas with absolute 0 mileage.
So if vehicle will stay stationary for more than 1 min, better switch off the engine.

2. Go steadily with pedaling and braking.
Rapid acceleration and braking will waste gas.
The fuel efficiency can be improved by 5-30% via improving driving habits. If calculate it with cost, you can save $0.15 to $1 per gallon. So, let's drive sensibly!

3. Minimize car weight
Here we're suggesting you to leave extras at home and clean off the stuff in the trunk. The car fuel economy decrease by about 1-2% every 100 pounds of extra weight. Which means it will cost up to 6 cents per gallon on your fuel bill. So, get rid of unnecessary items in the trunk to reduce the weight.

4. Keep windows closed.
Try to keep your vehicle in aerodynamic. Keeping the windows closed can reduce drag and wind resistance for your vehicle. This helps your car more aerodynamic and better the fuel efficiency. Another way is to remove the racks on top of the car roof. The racks may increase the wind resistance when the speed is higher than 35 mph.

5. Use cruise mode on the freeway.
The constant velocity of cruise control mode gives your car no acceleration. No acceleration reduces the engine work as well as the gas use amount.

6. Drive at speed limit.
The faster you drive, the better fuel consumption & mileage will be. Of course, safety first. Under that premise, follow the speed limit instruction, drive as fast as you need.

7. Minimize AC
Use the air condition more moderation will save the gas. Also use the AC at high speed is much better to help fuel economy comparing to rolling down the windows.

Part II: Proper Maintenance
8. Check tire pressure
The owner manual will tell the recommended tires inflation per your vehicle.
The proper inflated tires will give us better fuel economy.

9. Change air filters
The clogged air filter will cost higher gas because engine needs to work hard.
To replace the clogged air filter especially for old model cars with carburetor engine may improve fuel economy by 2-6%. The dirty air filter also may cause the car idling rough. Check our before discussion, Why the Car is Idling Rough & 10 Tips to Solve Rough Idle Causes-Part I for more ideas.

10. Check spark plug & fuel injector.
Bad spark plug may decrease 30% fuel economy and cost you about 90% more per gallon. So if you sense the fuel performance is significant poor, you can check the spark plug & fuel injector.

11. Fill gas tank in the morning or late night
The fuel is dispensed by volume when it is hot outside. With this theory, fill you tank when temperature is cool outside, you can get more gas with same amount of money.