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As you may have heard, or shockingly found out recently at the pump, the price of gas hit a new all-time high this week. Here are four tips from AAA on how to increase your fuel economy . . .
1. This first one may be tough to comprehend if you drive like me. Slow down. According to AAA, 55 miles per hour on the highway is the magic number. When you go faster than that, it begins to eat away at your fuel economy. Also, use cruise control when you can to stay at a consistent speed.
2. Don't brake hard or gun it. When you see a red light coming, take your foot off the accelerator and coast instead of braking hard at the last minute. And when the light turns green, don't jam your foot down on the gas pedal and gun it.
3. Remove any dead weight. Every 100 pounds of additional weight can reduce miles per gallon by about 1%. So at the current prices, that's an extra 4 to 7 cents per gallon. By the way, real dead weight… not the mother-in-law.
Also, rooftop cargo carriers can be a drag on fuel economy . . . as much as 25% at freeway speeds and 8% in the city. If you don't need it, take it off.
4. Avoid prolonged idling. If your car will be stopped for more than 60 seconds, shut off the engine to save fuel. A lot of newer cars do this automatically which freaked me out the first time it happened when I drove one of our station vehicles… I thought it stalled out, but nope it is a gas-saving feature.
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