Top Ten Tips to Getting Better Gas Mileage

With gas prices rapidly increasing, getting better gas mileage is on everybody's important lists. The list below offers some tips on how to get better gas mileage. And before you decide not to read this because most tips tells you to turn off you're A/C, the tips below won't. The pennies you save, especially for highway driving, won't be enough to negate the discomfort especially with the summer months ahead. So, here are the top ten tips.

1. Drive at a speed below 60 mph

Not only will driving below the limit save you from getting speeding tickets it will save on gas too. Your car's engine eats up more gas for every mph over the 60 mph limit.

2. Ease up on gas and brakes

Avoid aggressive driving-ease up on the gas and brake. Hard braking and quick accelerating decreases your engine's fuel efficiency and is therefore detrimental to your gas mileage.

3. Use you car's cruise control tool

For highway driving, maintaining your speed can help improve your engine's fuel efficiency. Most cars have a cruise control tool that automatically maintains the speed of which your car is going.

4. Maintain proper tire pressure

Always make sure the tires of your car have the proper pressure level. Tires that are not properly inflated are harder to roll requiring your car's engine to work harder and more gas consumption. When tires are not properly inflated, think of your engine as screaming from the hard the work and gulping down gas, fast!

5. Drop the excess weight

Heavy cars are harder to roll, despite properly inflated tires, requiring more work from the engine and more gas. That's why bigger cars generally eat more gas than smaller cars. To get better gas mileage, drop the excess weight-unload the unnecessary things from your car.

6. Replace dirty air filter

A car's engine uses oxygen, which is filtered by the air filter, to burn fuel. A dirty air filter will lower the amount of oxygen and consequently lowers the engine power. This all leads to lesser gas mileage. To avoid this, always check your car's air filter and replace if needed.

7. Follow octane requirements

A higher octane gas generally improves engine performance and saves on gas. Some cars have higher octane requirements and complying does improve gas mileage. However, if you car do not have octane requirements, it would be best to just use regular gas. Using higher octane gas won't likely improve your car engine's performance and higher octane gas costs more than regular gas.

8. Avoid Idling

Even though your car do not run while in idle, it eats up gas, so, avoid unnecessary idling. If stopping requires more than five minutes, then it would be best to turn off your engine and restart once it's time to leave.

9. Check you gas cap

Always check gas caps-close properly and replace damaged ones. Open gas caps will eat up on gas since it causes your gas to evaporate.

10. Plan trips

Planning trips also improves gas mileage. Do all errands in one day so doing errands won't be on a daily basis, thereby reducing driving time. Planning road routes also helps. Avoid high terrain routes since it requires your car's engine to work harder and requires more gas.

There you have it, the top ten tips to get better gas mileage without the discomfort!