How to Cut Gas Costs

After the gas price increases two years ago, I got sick and tired of running "how to save on gas" posts. But since it seems like everyone is talking about the price of gas these days, I might as well offer these gas-savings ideas from the June issue of Consumer Reports:

• Drive at a moderate speed. The faster you drive above 55 mph, the worse your mpg gets.
• Drive smoothly. Avoid hard acceleration and braking whenever possible.
• Reduce unnecessary drag. Don't carry things on top of your vehicle when you don't have to.
• Don't use premium fuel if you don't have to.
• Minimize driving with a cold engine. Short trips kill gas mileage.
• Keep tires properly inflated.
• Buy tires with lower rolling resistance.
• Avoid idling for long periods.

Here's how I do on each of these:

1. No comment.

2. Are they picking on me?

3. We don't carry items on top of our car, so we're good on one so far.

4. Don't use premium. I'm now batting two for four. :-)

5. I really only drive where I need to go. I don't purposely make short trips.

6. Ouch! I need to check my tire pressure regularly.

7. Does less rolling resistance = less traction? If so, these tires would be a nightmare on Michigan roads in the winter.

8. The worst problem I have here are a couple VERY long stop lights in our town.

Overall, I do need to pay more attention to how I drive as well as check my tire pressure more regularly. How about you? See any ways here that you can save on gas?

Comments

[Kevin]

I've been improving my braking/accelerating trying to become smoother, but I still need to work on the tire pressure thing. I promised myself last fall when I got a new set of tires I needed to watch it closer, but it's hard to do during the cold winter.

[Financial Goal]

My question is on the Premium Gas part. If the car says it requires Grade 91 gas, you shouldn't use anything below that grade or it might damage the engines. Has anyone tried using a lower grade gasoline even though the dealer says it requires Grade 91?

[Chris]

I'm not sure I buy #1. Being the geeky engineer that I am, I've been tracking my gas mileage for over a year now. I get my best mileage when i make trips down highways with higher speed limits (where I can drive 70-75 mph without risk of a ticket), usually 2-3 mpg higher than my typical work commute at 55-60. Maybe that's just my vehicle...

[David]

What kills me is, in an age of $4 a gallon gas, you still see people driving Hummers with no passengers. Ugh.

[Anonymous]

I have ridden the bus to work 40 out of 93 days this year, and my employer provides a free bus pass as a benefit. I keep a calendar next to my desk to remind me that riding the bus saves $$$ (Bus written in green, CAR written in red)

My commute is 34 miles roundtrip. This means I have saved 1,360 miles on my car. The car gets about 27 mpg. This is 50.3 gallons saved. At $3/gallon, I'm saving at least $150-175 so far this year, riding the bus 2-3 days/week.

The bus takes about 30 minutes longer each way, but our service is clean, quiet, and generally on time. I bring my Financial Times subscription on the bus with me to read up on investing and markets. I also can do some investment analysis calculations on my smartphone. Don't knock the bus 'til you've tried it. I'm saving money, planning my investments, and getting exercise walking to the bus stop!

[Chris]

8 tips? Thats nothing. How about 105!
http://forum.ecomodder.com/EM-hypermiling-driving-tips-ecodriving.php

I really like this one: Drive like you ride a bike. When you bike you know when you are wasting energy and the same principles apply to cars. Better aerodynamics, thiner tires, and bigger gears let you go faster with less energy. Lighter weight makes it easier to accelerate. When you hit the brakes you know you are going to have to work harder to get going again. You don't accelerate up hills and so on. Some things we can't change easily like weight and aerodynamics but its good to think about still.

I would also ad:
- Be on time. If you are rushing on the road you wont save much time, but loose a lot of gas.
- Chose when to drive. Need milk? Go when there are less people on the road. You can drive smoother that way.
- Don't cruse the parking lot. It's ok to walk a few more feet.

Fun fact: toppers on pickup trucks lower your gas millage. The best thing to do is use a flat cover.

[Angie]

If your owner's manual says to use premium gas, your engine WILL be damaged over time. It might not break it completely, but it will permanently lower the performance. The combustion of lower quality gas will slowly erode the insides of your engine over time. Also, if you spent money by not buying the base engine, buying a sports car or getting turbo, I don't see why you would throw it away by not paying the extra 25 cents a gallon. If you want to save a few bucks mix the 93 and the 87 to get a mid-octane.

Although you don't need to buy premium all the time if it only requires regular, you may want to consider putting in a premium tank once in awhile. Used to be gas companies put the same additive packs (stuff which contains cleaners and dejunkifiers) in all levels of gas. But these days to save money they may only put the better quality additives in the premium.

[Midg]

Another way to help keep the cost of gas down is to fill up more often when gas prices are rising. Wait as long as possible between fill ups when prices are falling.

[Almuliman]

When I used to commute on the freeway (2/3 70 mph limit, 1/3 60, with the latter usually going more like 40-50), I got roughly 10% worse mileage than what I now get on a smaller highway with very few stops and a 55 mph limit.

I read somewhere that starting your car uses app. the equivalent fuel of 7 seconds of driving (don't know at what speed), so turning off your engine if you sit at a light can also be very helpful over time. Might cost you a starter and/or battery replacement sooner though, but at $3.89/gallon (regular, outside Seattle, WA) that's probably still a net win over time. I'm doing it, in any case :-)

If you or anyone else did that and I was behind you. You better be ready to accept plenty of horn blowing and hand gestures.

[J in FL]

Chris,

Yea, I tried the whole driving slower thing... I drive mostly on interstates... and I didn't notice a bit of a difference, and I was keeping track. I also thought that perhaps it was my car.

[Kevin]

Chris - I like that tip of driving like you're riding a bike, I'd never heard that one before.

I wish bus service were better where I'm at. From my house to my office would take about 1 1/2 hours according to the bus schedules for a commute that takes about 30 min now. I can't afford to lose 2 hours of my life every day. Maybe when we move we'll look closer to my office.

[Rick]

Here's a way to save on gas: don't drive.

Ride a bike. Take the bus (in some cities). But don't drive.

[Chris]

Also re:chris (#1) and the speed issue.

I would say the first thing to worry about is consistency. If you are going 70mph constantly you will do better than going from 50-60 over and over. But, there is a difference between a constant 55 and 70 thanks almost entirely to wind resistance. The faster you go it gets much much more difficult to push the air around the car. The boxier your car is the worse it is too. Thus the prius's extremely aerodynamic shape.

Here is an odd example of how hard it is to push air aside - the Bugatti Veyron, the 1001 HP super-car that can go an amazing 253mph. Well at 155mph the engine only needs 270 of those horses to maintain speed. But at top speed it needs all 1001 simply to push the air out of the way! And it gets 2.2 MPG while doing so ;)

[Tom]

Great tips but if you're disciplined enough, you can also save with a gas credit card :)

[Shane]

"Drive at a moderate speed. The faster you drive above 55 mph, the worse your mpg gets."

Great advice. There's a site - http://www.mpgforspeed.com/ - that has a calculator to show you how much money you will save by driving a little slower on the highways. Pretty shocking...I could save $430 per year!

[Sarah]

Use the cruise control. We've been doing this for about a year now and over that period of time we've increased our mpg by over 1, incrementally. Don't let the car idle. If we are stopped for more than a minute, we turn the engine off. We ease into accelerations and coast into stops. This drives the people around us absolutely crazy. I am amazed at how angry people get if you don't rush up the the traffic light. And fill up at a warehouse club. We use Costco. We save anywhere from 3 to 10 cents per gallon and earn cash back on our Amex if we use that to fill up.

[rwh]

Don't buy ethanol. I used the stuff for 25 years before I figured out my gas mileage is 5-10% better with straight gasoline. Since we only get a 10 cent/gallon discount that amounts to less than 3% at current prices of around 3.65.

[Eric]

Why not ride a bike for short trips? Throw a basket on it, or get a nice big backpack, and use it for trips to get milk or whatnot.

Some of the higher quality tires have lower rolling resistance yet will grip just fine on winter roads.

[Personal Finance Online]

Why not take a walk, hitch hike, or just use your car whenever if it is necessary only.

[dave]

umm....maybe living closer to where you work and play... MOVE DOWNTOWN and ditch the car, move to a downtown where you can do that and you can save on the gas. Downtown property is the only one holding steady or increasing in general, and suburban areas have mainly been hurt in the downturn. The gas issue is a big issue relating to that.