Improve gas mileage with a warmed-up engine. Making short trips with a cold engine can dramatically decrease fuel efficiency.
Combine as many short trips into one long drive as possible. For example: shopping, getting car inspection, picking up prescriptions, and getting a haircut. List the destinations with the farthest first. Drive to the most distant destination first to allow your car’s engine to warm up fully, then the next farthest and so on. Driving in this fashion will take advantage of an engine that is at optimum operating temperature and be at its most fuel-efficient.
- If the engine is cold, idle for 30 seconds to 1 minute before driving away. Idling an engine to warm-up doesn’t help your fuel economy; it actually uses more fuel and creates more pollution.
- Don’t aggressively accelerate. Aggressive driving - speeding, rapid acceleration, braking – will lower mpg by as much as 33% at highway speeds and 5% in stop and go traffic.
- Observe the speed limit or drive slightly under the speed limit - each 5 miles per hour (mph) driven over 60 mph can reduce fuel economy by as much as 10%.
- A 20-mile trip at 60 mph is only 3.4 minutes longer than the same trip at 70 mph.
- Drive at a safe speed that doesn’t impede traffic. Use the right hand lane, it is supposed to be for slower driving.
Combine these tips along with: using cruise control, proper tire inflation, high flow air filters and regular engine maintenance to maximize gas mileage.
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