Drive Slower, Save Money

Here's a money saving tip I found in the May issue of Kiplinger's:

Slow down. Every 5 miles per hour you drive over 60 mph is like paying 20 cents more per gallon.

Yikes! Looks like my recent trip to see my family cost me $3.80 a gallon! ;-)

Comments

[Rick]

I recently got a ScanGuage II (http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/8426/). It just plugs into your car and sits on your dashboard. It tracks all sorts of stuff, but most interesting to me is the ability to show a realtime MPG. So I can see for myself what little differences in my driving actually do to the overall gas mileage. It's quite useful.

[roye]

Woot! I averaged 38 mpg with my last tank in a beat up 1997 Corolla. I just started driving slow, and really easing it up to speed. It gets competitive after a bit seeing how far you can push it. I only almost died on the freeways like 3 times! Screw them, I'm paying $.07 per mile!

[Brad]

This works! I had a 1992 S-10 Blazer and was driving like a bat, tailgating people and getting frustrated with the people who wouldn't get out of my way! My mileage started sinking quickly. That tank I got only 250 miles/tank when I was getting 300+ miles/tank before. I saw this subject on TV and immediately unhooked my battery cable for a couple of hours (the car's computer remembers your driving style and will adjust the variables to get the best horsepower, mileage, etc). The very next tank, on the same route, (driving like a grandma) I got 320 miles/tank. Went from 15 mpg ~ 19 mpg! Learned my lesson!