With the recent rise of gas prices, there has been a ton of articles in the various forms of media on how to get more MPG. I travel a good distance every day to get back and forth to work, approx 160 km round trip, so naturally I tried a couple of techniques I had read about. Much to my surprise, they really did improve my mileage quite a bit.
Slightly overinflate tires. Stay within reason though, it's amazing how much pressure will build up in the summer heat. Excessive overinflation will cause premature wear just as much as underinflation, and possibly cause a slight loss of traction. Take the max load rating, which is marked on the sidewall, and inflate to 8 - 10 pounds under that when the tires are cold.
Coast to stop lights/signs. Obviously this is not feasible during peak traffic hours.
Accelerate like your Grand Father. Taking away from a dead stop just to get ahead of the other guy, or to let the girls hear the fart pipe on your Honda uses a lot more gas than cruising a couple of KM's on the highway. Again, not always feasible depending on traffic.
A clean air filter.
Highway driving with the windows up. Using the A/C in the summer is "usually" cheaper than leaving them open. Aerodynamics is the key. If you drive a Hummer, well you probably don't care about mileage, you have the automotive equivalent of a brick, so don't bother.
Driving at the speed limit, or slightly under. Many municipalities in Mtl have their traffic lights synchronized so that if you are doing 50 - 60 km/h, you can "surf" a good distance before you get stopped. As for the highway, it is strictly MY opinion, that since the majority of cars sold in North America are destined for the US, the auto makers design their cars to get optimum mileage at 55 MILES per hour, not 100 KILOMETRES per hour. The difference isn't that big, but if your car has a tachometer, check the difference in RPM at both speeds.
Just using a few of these tips, I have been able to get about 140 - 160 km extra per tank. Driving in off peak hours obviously helps, and reducing my speed from 108 km/h to 100, only adds about 5 minutes to my trip. 25 minutes (a week) to save about $14. Multiply that by 52 weeks, and you save $728 dollars a year. With gas prices continuing to rise, so do the savings.
Just my 2 cents.
Slightly overinflate tires. Stay within reason though, it's amazing how much pressure will build up in the summer heat. Excessive overinflation will cause premature wear just as much as underinflation, and possibly cause a slight loss of traction. Take the max load rating, which is marked on the sidewall, and inflate to 8 - 10 pounds under that when the tires are cold.
Coast to stop lights/signs. Obviously this is not feasible during peak traffic hours.
Accelerate like your Grand Father. Taking away from a dead stop just to get ahead of the other guy, or to let the girls hear the fart pipe on your Honda uses a lot more gas than cruising a couple of KM's on the highway. Again, not always feasible depending on traffic.
A clean air filter.
Highway driving with the windows up. Using the A/C in the summer is "usually" cheaper than leaving them open. Aerodynamics is the key. If you drive a Hummer, well you probably don't care about mileage, you have the automotive equivalent of a brick, so don't bother.
Driving at the speed limit, or slightly under. Many municipalities in Mtl have their traffic lights synchronized so that if you are doing 50 - 60 km/h, you can "surf" a good distance before you get stopped. As for the highway, it is strictly MY opinion, that since the majority of cars sold in North America are destined for the US, the auto makers design their cars to get optimum mileage at 55 MILES per hour, not 100 KILOMETRES per hour. The difference isn't that big, but if your car has a tachometer, check the difference in RPM at both speeds.
Just using a few of these tips, I have been able to get about 140 - 160 km extra per tank. Driving in off peak hours obviously helps, and reducing my speed from 108 km/h to 100, only adds about 5 minutes to my trip. 25 minutes (a week) to save about $14. Multiply that by 52 weeks, and you save $728 dollars a year. With gas prices continuing to rise, so do the savings.
Just my 2 cents.
