Tags: Car Fuel,
The price of gas, still low by last year's standards, has slowly
started to tick back up. With summer fast approaching, now is a good
time to start implementing methods for getting better mileage. Here
are five which are relatively easy to do.
1. Properly inflate your tires
Statistically, 23% of cars have at least one tire
that's under-inflated by 20% or more. According to the
Department of Energy, cars with under-inflated tires lose
1% of their fuel efficiency for every 3 PSI beneath their
recommended tire pressure. That means one out of every four cars is
wasting 3% of the gas put into it. All total, that little
bit of waste accounted for 1.2 billion gallons of gas in 2005.
2. Regularly Change Your Oil and Filters
Clean oil and fresh filters are important in making your car run
more smoothly. Regularly maintaining both your oil and filters helps
to keep your car running more efficiently by preventing buildup.
Buildup, as we all know, forces your car to work harder to achieve
the same results, and harder work means more gas used.
3. Drive Calmer
Your car's fuel efficiency suffers most at two distinct points –
rapid acceleration and hard breaking. Rapid acceleration forces your
engine to work at higher revolution rate, which takes more gas than
a slower, gradual acceleration to speed. Breaking quickly forces
your car to rapidly change gears, which also leads to high engine
revolutions. By breaking and accelerating at a slower rate, your
engine operates in a smoother, steadier fashion which in turn leads
to a more fuel efficient driving experience.
4. Avoid Left Turns
When international package shipper, UPS, was looking for ways to
reduce the fuel costs for their fleet of delivery trucks, one of the
first things they did was remove as many left handed turns from
delivery routes as possible. The notion, which sounds simple and
foolish, turned out to be a winner. Left hand turns frequently
involve a car or truck idling. An idle vehicle is not only burning
gas while sitting still, but also must break to stop and accelerate
out of the idle position – all three of which are large fuel economy
culprits.
5. Clean Out Your Car
The phrase "lean and mean" evokes images of horses and prize
fighters and stands on the belief that by cutting out unnecessary
weight, both horses and boxers will be faster and more efficient in
their respective fields. The same logic applies to your car. By
cleaning out the items accumulating in your back seats and trunk,
you can significantly lighten the load you put on your car. The
heavier the load, the more work your car has to do, and overworking
a car is a surefire means of decreasing fuel economy. Clearing the
junk from your trunk can reduce excess weight and make your car
leaner and meaner. Taken by themselves, each of these measures can
result in a fuel efficiency increase of a few percent. But, when
these relatively simple measures are combined, drivers can find
their cars with an increased fuel efficiency of 25% or
more. With a percentage that large, the savings is rather
obvious.
Scott Conklin is the president of Conklin Cars, a leading
provider of Kansas Honda, Kansas Toyota, and Cadillac
of Kansas cars, trucks, and SUVS. With locations in
Hutchinson, Salina, Newton, and Kansas City, they can be found
online at: conklincars.com
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