Tips on how to save gas money

Posted on 20 Jun 2009 - by Katkat In: money matters, self-help tips

Tips on how to save gas money

Remember last year when the gas prices hike up in an all time high? I was in the US back then and living in northern california. The gas price went up almost to USD4/gallon. We then scrambled to find ways on how to save on fuel. We limit our travel, we carpool, we do all errands in one trip, I rarely use the a/c, etc. Right now, compared to last year the gas price is relatively low and manageable. Still it’s always a good thing to save up anyhow we can.

Here’s how to save up on your gas:

ON CARS

Go for hybrid cars. If I’m going to buy myself a car, I would go for small size and has a really good gas mileage. We had a Toyota corolla SLE before and I love driving that car because I can zip my way in and out of traffic. It’s small and it really saves me up on gas. Now my dad told me that he traded it for Toyota camry. It’s still economical in gas but its size would be a problem to me since I’m small.
Maintain a well-tuned car. Check your tire pressure. Don’t underinflate because this will give the car a hard time running. Driving with soft tyres can add up to 2% to your fuel bills. Invest in tire pressure gauge to check your tires pressure frequently. Clean the air filters. A clogged air filter will make the car exert more gas and energy to run. A new study shows that replacing a clogged air filter on cars with fuel-injected, computer-controlled gasoline engines does not improve fuel economy but it can improve acceleration time by around 6 to 11 percent. When my dad had the air filter replaced it cost us around 80USD. But our mpg improved – from 28 to 31mpg!
Go for the recommended grade of motor oil. If your car doesn’t need premium gas, then don’t bother wasting your money on premium gas since it won’t make your car run more efficiently anyway. Check you car’s manual and see what the recommeded gas/octane rating is.
It’s not commonly known, but Diesel engines can give you a much better gas mileage than Hybrids on long distance drives. That’s one of the reasons, hybrids aren’t popular in Europe but Diesels are.

ON DRIVING

Go slow. Accelerating means using more gas to make your car go faster. Although a clear highway is tempting to go fast, I still go below the speed limit. For a 65mph limit, I will drive at 55-60mph. I read somewhere that driving below 55mph can reduce fuel consumption. As much as possible maintain the same speed. Breaking or accelerating often will not help in saving your fuel. If you have cruise control, use it especially in long drive. I personally love the cruise control because I’m the type of driver who cannot drive in a straight line. Cruise control makes me forget about maintaining the same speed and let me just focus on the road.
Limit the air-conditioning, heater/defroster. I live in northern california – we basically have a centralized airconditioning everywhere. So I don’t need to open the air-conditioning most of the time. I don’t use the defroster much either because it doesn’t defrost the car really well. I just roll the window down a little bit and let the warm air from the outside defrost the inside of the car. Good luck in the Philippines though!
Ride light. Remove any excess or unnecessary baggage from your car to lighten the weight of your car. An extra 100 lbs in the trunk reduces a typical car’s fuel economy by 1-2 percent.
Reduce idling time. If you’re not going to run your car yet, turn it off. Idling gets 0 miles per gallon. Cars with larger engines typically waste more gas at idle than do cars with smaller engines.
Reduce aerodynamic drag. Every car has a certain amount of drag (or wind resistance). This drag, the rolling resistance of your tires (see below under maintenance) and the friction in your engine are the three main causes of reduced efficiency. A car moving through the air causes the air to split around the car and turbulence behind the car (the slipstream). If you drive your car into another cars slipstream, both cars will save fuel (less turbulence). The following car saves the most gasoline. In addition to, opening your windows will increase the turbulences and eventually cost you fuel. I only roll my windows down at city driving but I close it when I’m on the highway.

ON TRIPS

Combine trips. Plan your route well.
Do carpooling. In the US highway, they have a lane for carpool cars. It is encouraged to do carpools to save on fuel consumption, reduce air pollution and traffic.
Use the public transportation. I hate driving to San Francisco so I always take the bus. It will cost me USD4.50 and a longer time but hey I save on gas and driving headache.

AT GAS PUMPS

Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. The colder the ground, the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening, your gallon is not exactly a gallon.
When you’re filling up, do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three stages: low, middle, and high. In slow mode you should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some other liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back in to the underground storgage tank so your’e getting less worth for you money.
One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is half full or half empty. The reason for this is, the more gas you have in your tank, the less air occupying its empty space.
If there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up. Most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.