How to Get Better Mileage

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Ron Coogan with Greencar.com, today we're going to talk about how to get better mileage. Well, that's on everyones minds these days because gas prices are just so very high. There are things you can do, beyond buying a brand new vehicle that's high fuel economy, to make a difference now. The first one is the most obvious, and don't laugh, don't drive as much. Now, we're used to our cars taking us wherever we want, whenever want and that's fine when gas is cheap. It's not so fine when gas is expensive. One of the smartest things you can do is consolidate your trips into sequential trips. So, if you're starting out in the morning or the afternoon, you know you need to do five errands during the daytime, try to do them one right after the other. It accomplishes two things, it's going to save gas, it also saves emissions because the most emissions, that are created from cars, during the first five of operation when it's cold because the catalyst converter isn't warmed up yet so this is a great tip. The other is drive conservatively. Most people, I think, don't try to race from one stop light to the another but people tend to go faster than they need to, jack rabbit starts, take a big toll on fuel efficiency. Try to start out easy, try to slow down conservatively, you'll save gas. Another tip is highway driving. Highways in Southern California and other areas, they're quite fast. You'd think they'd be sixty-five miles an hour at the speed limit, they're not, they're doing seventy-five, they're doing eighty-five. EPA tells us that after sixty miles per hour, it's a case of diminishing returns, you're fuel efficiency plummets every five miles per hour over sixty miles per hour so try to drive the speed limit and use your cruise control when you can. If you can even out the pedal pressure, you're going to get that much better mileage. You know rolling resistance is a big deal too. Your tires should be aired up to a certain pressure, it'll have the least amount of rolling resistance at that pressure, it will impact fuel efficiency. You can gain up to three percent better fuel efficiency by airing your tires where they should be. Check the pressure weekly, check it against your owners manual so you're putting in the correct pressure. Another tip, unless your owners manual says you must use premium gas, don't. It costs twenty to forty cents more per gallon for premium gas than regular. It does nothing for your performance if you don't require it so you're really flushing money down the tank out the exhaust, if you're using premium when you really don't have to."