Summer Gas Saving Tips!

It’s Summer!! It’s time to go camping, start traveling, towing your boat, you name it. You’re going to have fun. Well you want to save money on gas don’t you? Check out these tips from USA Today. The biggest one for me to remember will be the lead foot. I’m always in a hurry to get somewhere when I know I should slow down, enjoy the scenery, and save gas money!

AutoMD.com is offering five simple steps to save gas for summer driving. Makes sense to us. The one they don’t list as one of the five, but one that tiremakers like Michelin underscore over and over, is to make sure your tires are properly inflated. Michelin cites the Transportation Department as saying 5 million gallons of fuel are wasted nationwide every day from underinflated tires.

So, summer vacationers, here you go. Some of these AutoMD.com tips are illuminating:

1. Cruise, Don’t Speed. Each 5 mph you drive over 60 miles per hour is like paying an additional 24 cents per gallon for gas. Take advantage of cruise control to smooth out your throttling and keep your speed steady and fuel-efficient (but only on flat terrain – if you are driving hills, skip the cruise control and keep the speed down).
2. Lighten the Lead Foot. Rapid acceleration and braking can increase fuel burn by as much as 40% and makes toxic emissions five times higher – remember that a significant percentage of the energy needed to power your vehicle is burned up in acceleration. Slowly increasing your speed and leaving more room to slow down while braking will reduce your fuel burn and improve your gas mileage.
3. Avoid Idling. Turn off your engine if you are stopped for more than 30 seconds. When you idle your engine, you are getting no MPG, adding to pollution and wasting money. Two minutes of idling uses up 1 mile of gasoline, and 10 seconds of idling uses more fuel than turning off the engine and restarting it.
4. Remove Excess Weight. Your car is not a storage unit! An extra 100 pounds can reduce fuel economy by 1% to 2%. 
5. Turn on the Ventilator. And turn off the air conditioning and roll up the windows, if you can. The most efficient air is the air that comes in through your flow-through ventilator. Air conditioning or open windows (because of the drag) make your vehicle less fuel-efficient. But, for hot summer drives, turn off your AC and roll down your windows when driving around the neighborhood or in city traffic, and do exactly the opposite on the highway – driving fast with the windows open can burn more fuel than AC.

You already did these anyway didn’t you?