You want to save gas, but did you fall for the Siren’s song of the gas guzzlers the last time you bought an automobile? Low gas mileage on cars is now a major selling point, but improving gas mileage — if you bought a guzzler — is still possible. How?
Top Gas Guzzlers of 2012
The 2012 Chevy Corvette features a roaring 6.2 Liter, 430-hp LS3 V8 engine and an 18-gallon fuel tank. It gets 16 city- and 26 highway miles to the gallon. As gas mileage on cars goes, this is pretty low. If sports cars are not to your liking, take a look at the 2012 GMC Sierra 1500 4WD. A quintessential automotive workhorse, it only gets 15 city- and 22 highway miles to a gallon of gas.
The SUV driver hoping to save gas by driving German engineering wrapped in the luxurious guise of the Mercedes-Benz GL 550 will be sorely disappointed as well. While the 382-hp, 5.5 Liter V8 offers high performance, the 12 city- and 17 highway miles to the gallon are sure to cause tears at the gas pump. (Compare this to the gas-sipping 2012 Kia Soul, which gets 27 city- and 35 highway miles to the gallon, and you know what saving fuel should look like.)
Improving Gas Mileage
Allstate refers to the improvement of gas mileage — even on bad gas mileage cars — as “hypermiling.” There is no need to modify the vehicle in any way. Simple changes in driving behavior can “improve your gas mileage by as much as 55 percent.”
Maintaining your car and not missing out on the tune-ups alone can improve gas mileage on cars by approximately 19 percent. Model-appropriate tire inflation is another trick for keeping bad gas mileage at bay. Lighten the load of the car by emptying out the trunk and backseat; reducing the cargo by just 100 pounds can improve fuel economy by about 2 percent.
Just as important is the actual driving behavior. Cruise-control is not just for long distance road trips anymore; rely on it whenever you are on the freeway to cut down on the instances of speeding up and then braking. Turn off the engine when you are waiting for prolonged periods of time.
More Tips for Turning Gas Guzzlers into Fuel Sippers
Stay below 60 miles per hour. The FTC warns that every five miles per hour you go past 60 actually equates the payment of another $0.24 per gallon of gasoline. Overdrive gears are essential for improving gas mileage; taking off the roof rack also matters. The wind resistance created by these storage devices can decrease gas mileage by 5 percent.
Old Wives’ Tales Do Not Save Gas
Should you drive really close behind a huge truck in the hopes of being carried along in the tow? Should you take off your side mirrors to decrease wind resistance? No, of course not! So what about the additives that supposedly turn a bad gas mileage car into a fuel sipper? A 2006 FTC Fact Sheet names the products that the EPA has tested; some were found to result in measurable but minute gasoline savings. Others increased exhaust emissions, while still others would leave your vehicle in danger of being tagged for illegal tampering.