You fill up your tank once a week, sigh as the numbers mount on the gas pump display and lament how fast that tank of gas seems to vanish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The issue isn’t always your car. It’s most likely how you drive it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The vast majority of drivers waste fuel day in and day out without even knowing it! Little missteps can turn into hundreds of wasted dollars each year. The good news? Those mistakes are easily correctable once you identify them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You don’t need a new car \u2014 or costly modifications. If nothing else, a few relatively small changes in the way you drive and manage your car can improve your fuel economy by 10% to 40%. That’s money you have back in your pocket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ready to stop wasting gas? Here are the ten biggest fuel-saving driving mistakes and how to avoid them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not much you can do behind the wheel will burn fuel more quickly than driving aggressively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When you open up the throttle, your engine drinks fuel to produce that surge of power. Street racing off from a red light puts your engine to work at its least efficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A 15 to 30 percent reduction of fuel economy on the highway, research shows. In stop-and-go traffic, the waste spikes to 40 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each time you brake to a stop, you waste all the fuel it just took to speed up. You are literally turning gas into brake dust and heat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most drivers do that all day long, this speeding up and slamming the brakes. And every cycle siphons a little more fuel away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Accelerate smoothly and gradually. Act like there’s an egg beneath the gas pedal that you don’t want to break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anticipate traffic ahead. When you see brake lights up ahead, or a red light in the distance, take your foot off the gas and coast. Instead of accelerating just to brake, let your car’s momentum propel you forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And this type of easy driving can improve your city gas mileage by 3 to 5 miles per gallon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In other words: Your car uses fuel while it sits in place, engine running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One-quarter to one-half gallon of fuel is the average rate of consumption an engine uses per hour at idle. It may not seem like a lot, but it all adds up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you idle for a mere 10 minutes a day, that’s over 60 hours per year. Half a gallon an hour, when you’re emitting 30 gallons of gas without moving once a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When most people would be idling their cars:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cold weather or not, new engines shouldn’t require more than 30 seconds of warm-up to get going. Start your car and drive gently for the first few minutes. You warm the engine up more quickly driving than when idling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stop your engine if you expect to be stuck for more than a minute. Re-starting consumes less fuel in terms of the time spent idling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A lot of new cars have automatic start-stop systems that do this for you. If your vehicle has it, do not deactivate this feature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
| Daily Idle Time<\/th> | Gallons Wasted Yearly<\/th> | Annual Cost at $3.50\/gallon<\/th><\/tr><\/thead> | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 minutes<\/td> | 15 gallons<\/td> | $52.50<\/td><\/tr> | |||||||||||||||
| 10 minutes<\/td> | 30 gallons<\/td> | $105.00<\/td><\/tr> | |||||||||||||||
| 15 minutes<\/td> | 45 gallons<\/td> | $157.50<\/td><\/tr> | |||||||||||||||
| 30 minutes<\/td> | 91 gallons<\/td> | $318.50<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Mistake #3: Racing on the Expressway<\/h2>\n\n\n\nMany people assume that faster speeds yield better fuel economy. The opposite is true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Sweet Spot of Energy Efficiency<\/h3>\n\n\n\nYour car is most efficient between 45 and 60 mph. On any speed above 60 mph, however, aerodynamic drag rises to the power of two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At 65 mph, you’ll squeeze out maybe 30 miles per gallon. Bump that up to 75 mph and your mileage can fall to 24 mpg. At 80 mph, you may be down to only 20 mpg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why Speed Kills Your Mileage<\/h3>\n\n\n\nThe faster you drive, air resistance is your greatest enemy. Your engine has to fight a lot harder to cut through an ever thickening wall of air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This resistance grows with the square of your speed. The effect isn’t linear; doubling your speed from 40 to 80 miles per hour doesn’t double the resistance \u2014 it quadruples it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Smart Approach<\/h3>\n\n\n\nDrive the speed limit or just under it. For every 5 mph you drive over 50 mph, it’s like paying an additional $0.27 per gallon for gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Use highway cruise control. It does a better job holding a steady speed than your foot can. This most basic device can save you 7% to 14% on your highway fuel economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Forget about cruise control on hilly terrain, though. It can squander fuel by stomping on the gas up hills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Mistake #4: Hauling Unnecessary Weight<\/h2>\n\n\n\nAltogether it’s extra weight, which makes your engine work harder on every journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Weight Penalty<\/h3>\n\n\n\nEvery extra 100 pounds reduces your fuel economy by approximately 1% to 2%. It may not seem like much, but it adds up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have an extra 200 pounds of junk in your trunk, you could be wiping out 2 percent to 4 percent of your fuel economy. That can cost real money over a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What People Carry Around<\/h3>\n\n\n\nNow go check your trunk, or back end. You’ll probably find:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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