How to boost your automobile milage

Adopting a few new driving habits can improve your milage. Put another way, stopping some existing habits can do the same thing. Either way, or using both approaches, is bound to postpone your next visit to the gas station no matter what you drive.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• You'll need to pay closer attention to what you do as you drive.

1. Things to stop: I'll bet you know what most of these these are; they're the little things you do on the road that nickle and dime your fuel supply. The problem is they happen one or two at a time and are small by themselves and thereby seem insignificant. But, like small nickles and dimes, you know they add up! Unless it's an emergency, don't gun your engine for any reason. What is the benefit? So you get to your destination 32 seconds sooner. So what!? And gunning it at start up only wears your engine parts more. No benefit. Stay nearer to the speed limit. Few people go 55 m.p.h., but moving from a typical 75 or 80 m.p.h. down to 60 or 65 m.p.h. will impact your fuel consumption greatly. If your vehicle has a milage computer, you can see for yourself. When your car is still for any amount of time, turn it off. (i.e. waiting for a bridge to close, running into a convenience store, briefly visiting a friend, etc.) How much effort is it to turn the key again? Would you throw good food off your plate after paying for it? Don't accelerate uphill. You're already using more gas when your going uphill. You'll need a little more gas, of course, but why burn more if you don't have to? You can probably use your breaks a lot less often than you do now. Of course you need them at certain times, but many times they are over used. Remember, you use your gas pedal to give the car energy to move forward. Any time you use your breaks you are wasting the energy you've just given to the car. Sometimes you must, but very often it's bad braking habits that waste a lot of energy that could still be sitting in your gas tank. Do you speed up just to apply the breaks seconds later? Why? Try to give the energy actually needed; you'll find you need the brakes less and thus save your gas. Don't tailgate. Realistically, the guy or gal in front of you isn't likely to think, "Gee, this person's in a hurry! I'd better step on it!" Face it: You're stuck behind a slowpoke. Tailgating isn't going to get you there any faster, is it? And, how often do you use your breaks while tailgating? When your foot is on the gas, keep the other OFF the break. Self explanatory. When you are going down a hill, let the hill do the work if possible!
2. In traffic, don't change lanes so much. It's a false sense of progress, and you usually have to gun the engine to get that "space" in the other lane. Face it: You're in traffic. Where possible, move forward by using less braking without using gas. Not always easy, but worth a try.
3. Keep your car tuned. A more efficient engine burns gas more efficiently. And make sure your tire pressure is proper. Remember how tough it is to pedal your bike with underinflated tires?

Tips & Warnings

• If you want to get a good idea of when your car is wasting energy, imagine how you feel when you are on a bicycle. What would your own heart and lungs have you do as you ride it? For starters, you wouldn't use the brakes so much and you'd keep your tires full. You'd probably rest on your way down hills and take it slow and steady up the hills.
• These are strategies; though it is fun to watch your milage increase they aren't intended as games.