1. Drive Smarter
In order to improve your gas mileage, it is best to drive at a smooth steady pace. A car consumes the most amount of gas when it accelerates. It is a proven fact that driving slower saves on gas. When driving fast, you are increasing the drag, or turbulence, in turn, increasing your consumption of fuel. Although there is not much a difference on gas consumption between 50 mph and 55 mph, there is however when you are quickly accelerating and braking, for example in traffic.
2. Maintain Your Vehicle Properly
Staying on top of simple maintenance of your car, for example your tires and air filters can get better gas mileage. By keeping the air in your tires at the car manufacturer’s recommended pressure, you could improve your gas mileage by up to 3.3%. Driving with under-inflated tires effects the handling and breaking on your car. This causes the rolling resistance of your tires to increase, which in turns uses, more gas to run your vehicle. Likewise, maintaining clean air filters in your car can improve your miles to the gallon up to 7%. An air filter is important, not only to the efficiency of your cars engine, but also to your cars overall performance. An engine requires a flow of fresh air into the system, in order for the air to mix with gasoline to ignite the energy spark needs to put your wheels in motion. An adequate amount of air mixed with gasoline improves your car's performance and gas mileage.
3. Fill Up Your Tank Efficiently
When it comes to filling up your tank in the most efficient way possible, there are certain things you want to avoid. Don't top your tank off between fills, it not only wastes money but also is also bad for the environment. Doing so forces liquid fuel into your emissions system, in turn causing circuits that route fuel tank vapors to the engine to become overwhelmed. It is most efficiently to fuel up when your tank has hit about a quarter tank, but not any less. Waiting until a quarter tank to fill up will extend your gas mileage because you are hauling a lighter fuel load. However, always avoid letting your gas drop below a quarter tank because this can shorten the life of a car's electric fuel pump.
4. Be Aware of Cash vs. Card Pricing
Recently, some gas stations have started to charge a premium to customers who choose to pay with credit/debit cards, in order to offset the processing fees. When planning to purchase gas with a card, look for gas stations where doing so cost the same as paying with cash. Likewise, if you are paying with cash, make sure the attendant filling up your car is aware of this prior to pumping.
5. Take Advantage of the 'GasBuddy' App
This helpful app uses the GPS location of your smartphone in order to compares the prices of local gas stations, based on user-generated information. Available in a majority of metro areas in the U.S., Gas Buddy is very simple to use. Upon opening the app, click "Find Gas Near Me," you then will see a list of the area's station as well as their current gas price. This app always offers additional fuel tracking features like a fuel logbook and odometer miles tracker, which allows user to record and keep track of their fuel purchases and usage.
