Don’t drive aggressively. Rapid acceleration and braking can lower your gas mileage by 33% at highway speeds and 5% around the city.- Watch your speed. Each 5 MPH you drive over 60 MPH is the equivalent to paying an extra $0.24 per gallon of gas.
- Lighten the load. Carrying an extra 100 pounds in your car could reduce you MPG by up to 2%.
- Don’t stand idly by. If you have to wait awhile, don’t let the car idle… shut it off. It’s more fuel efficient to restart the car.
- Check your tires. Keeping your tires inflated to the proper pres-sure can increase your gas mileage by up to 3.3%.
- Oil Matters. Make sure you use the manufacturer’s recommended grade of motor oil—it can increase gas mileage by 1-2%.
- Do it once. Plan to run all of your day’s errands in a single trip. You can use twice as much fuel driving several short trips when the engine is cold compared to one longer trip with a hotter more efficient engine.
- Take the high road. For increased fuel economy, drive in the highest gear whenever possible. For automatic transmissions you should avoid using the “sport” mode – it wastes gas.
- Cool off. When driving around the city, keep the windows down. However, when driving on the highway, you should turn on you’re A/C. Driving at high speeds with the windows down creates a lot of wind resistance which affects the aerodynamics of the car, thereby reducing your MPG.
- Fit it up. Properly maintaining your car is a key component to fuel efficiency. Performing a badly needed tune-up or fixing a car that has failed an emissions test can improve your gas mileage by as much as 4% (in fact, repairing a faulty oxygen sensor can increase your MPG by as much as 40%).