Step-by-Step Playbook
Mastering Efficient Driving Habits
1. Eliminate aggressive driving maneuvers. Rapid acceleration and hard braking are the most common culprits behind poor fuel economy. When you stomp on the gas pedal when a traffic light turns green, your engine dumps excess fuel into the combustion chamber to generate immediate power. Conversely, slamming on the brakes wastes the forward momentum you just paid to build. Adopting an eco-driving style—which means accelerating smoothly, anticipating traffic flow, and coasting to a stop—can improve your highway fuel economy by 15 to 30 percent and your city mileage by 10 to 40 percent. This behavioral change costs absolutely nothing to implement and requires zero extra time on your commute. Maintaining a safe following distance and reading the traffic ahead will also make your daily drive less stressful while reducing wear on your brake pads.
2. Reduce your highway cruising speed. Aerodynamic drag—the resistance your vehicle faces as it pushes through the air—increases exponentially the faster you drive. Most modern vehicles reach their peak fuel efficiency between 50 and 60 miles per hour. As you push your speedometer from 65 to 75 miles per hour, your engine has to work significantly harder to overcome wind resistance, dropping your fuel economy by as much as 15 percent. A good rule of thumb is that every five miles per hour you drive over 50 is equivalent to paying an extra 20 to 30 cents per gallon for gas. Leaving your house five minutes earlier allows you to drive at a highly efficient, relaxed pace.
3. Put an end to excessive idling. Many drivers mistakenly believe that restarting a car uses more fuel than letting it run. In reality, modern fuel-injected engines require very little gas to start. If you are going to be stopped for more than ten seconds—whether waiting at a long railroad crossing, picking up a child from school, or sitting in a fast-food drive-through—turning off your engine will save money on gas. Idling can burn a quarter to a half-gallon of fuel per hour depending on engine size and air conditioning use. Limit the use of remote car starters in the winter; modern engines warm up much faster when they are being driven gently than when they are left idling in a driveway.
4. Engage cruise control on flat highways. Maintaining a perfectly consistent speed manually is nearly impossible for most drivers, resulting in micro-accelerations that quietly consume extra fuel. Using your vehicle’s cruise control system eliminates these fluctuations and keeps your engine operating at a steady, efficient pace. However, you should disable cruise control when driving through mountainous or highly hilly terrain. In those environments, cruise control will aggressively downshift and rev the engine to maintain speed on steep inclines, which burns far more fuel than allowing your car to naturally lose a few miles per hour on the way up and regain it on the way down.
Strategic Trip Management
5. Consolidate your daily errands. Your vehicle consumes significantly more fuel when the engine is cold because the engine control unit enriches the fuel mixture to keep the motor running smoothly until it reaches optimal operating temperature. Making several short trips throughout the week forces your car to operate in this inefficient cold-start mode repeatedly. Instead, practice trip chaining. Plan to tackle your grocery shopping, post office visit, and hardware store run in a single, continuous outing. Once your engine is fully warmed up after the first stop, it operates at peak efficiency for the remainder of the journey, directly reducing your overall fuel costs.
6. Optimize your route planning. The shortest distance between two points is not always the most fuel-efficient route. A route that requires you to navigate heavy stop-and-go traffic, idle at numerous red lights, or make difficult left-hand turns across busy intersections will destroy your gas mileage. Major delivery companies utilize routing software designed specifically to minimize left turns, which reduces idling time waiting for oncoming traffic to clear. Use a GPS navigation application before you leave the house to check for accidents or road construction, and choose routes with steady traffic flow and fewer stop signs, even if it adds an extra mile to the journey.
7. Coordinate trips with neighbors and colleagues. Carpooling remains one of the most effective ways to slash your commuting costs immediately. Sharing the drive to the office with just one coworker instantly cuts your weekday fuel expenses in half and dramatically reduces the mileage and depreciation on your personal vehicle. You can apply this same logic to weekend errands. If you and a neighbor both make regular Saturday morning runs to the local home improvement store or the municipal recycling center, alternating who drives each week keeps more money in both of your pockets.
Vehicle Maintenance for Peak Performance
8. Maintain optimal tire pressure. Under-inflated tires increase rolling resistance—the friction between your tires and the road—which means your engine has to work harder to keep the car moving. You can improve your gas mileage by up to 3 percent simply by keeping your tires inflated to the proper pressure. Check your tire pressure at least once a month using a reliable digital gauge. Always refer to the sticker located on the driver-side door jamb for the correct pressure specification rather than using the maximum pressure molded into the sidewall of the tire itself.
9. Remove unnecessary weight and aerodynamic drag. Every extra 100 pounds you carry in your trunk or backseat reduces your fuel economy by roughly 1 percent. Take ten minutes this weekend to clear out golf clubs, heavy tools, bags of salt, or donations you have been meaning to drop off. Furthermore, exterior accessories like roof racks, cargo boxes, and bicycle carriers severely disrupt your vehicle’s aerodynamics. A bulky rooftop cargo box can reduce highway fuel economy by 10 to 25 percent. If you are not actively using these accessories, unbolt them and store them in your garage.
10. Use the manufacturer-recommended motor oil. Motor oil lubricates your engine’s moving parts, reducing internal friction. Using the wrong viscosity grade—such as pouring 10W-30 into an engine designed for 5W-20—forces the oil pump to work harder and increases friction, which lowers your gas mileage by 1 to 2 percent. When purchasing oil for your next change, look for the American Petroleum Institute (API) performance symbol specifying that the oil is “Resource Conserving.” These specific formulations contain friction-reducing additives designed to maximize your driving savings.
11. Replace dirty engine air filters. While modern fuel-injected engines use computers to precisely adjust the air-to-fuel ratio, a severely clogged air filter can still restrict airflow enough to impact your vehicle’s acceleration and overall performance. In older carbureted vehicles, a dirty air filter directly tanks fuel economy. Replacing an engine air filter is a simple task that requires no special tools and takes less than five minutes. Spending $20 on a clean filter ensures your engine breathes properly, operates smoothly, and burns fuel as efficiently as possible.
12. Manage your air conditioning efficiently. Running your vehicle’s air conditioning compressor places a mechanical load on the engine, which can reduce fuel economy by up to 25 percent on exceptionally hot days. However, driving with your windows down creates aerodynamic drag. To optimize your gas budget, roll down your windows when driving at lower city speeds where drag is minimal. Once you merge onto the highway and exceed 45 miles per hour, roll the windows up and turn on the air conditioning. The fuel penalty from the compressor is far less than the severe aerodynamic drag caused by open windows at highway speeds.
Optimizing How You Pay at the Pump
13. Leverage fuel pricing applications. Gas prices can vary by as much as 30 to 40 cents per gallon within a relatively small geographic area. Unit prices fluctuate based on real estate costs, local taxes, and proximity to major highways. Download a free crowdsourced application like GasBuddy to check prices along your route before you leave the house. A simple two-minute check can help you identify a station selling fuel 20 cents cheaper per gallon. On a 15-gallon fill-up, that yields $3 in instant savings. Just be careful not to drive far out of your way to secure a lower price, which defeats the purpose.
14. Stack grocery rewards and optimal payment methods. Most major supermarket chains offer loyalty programs that tie your grocery spending directly to fuel discounts. You earn points on items you were going to buy anyway, which eventually translate into direct discounts at the pump. You can amplify these savings by using a cash-back credit card designed for everyday essentials. If a station offers a 10-cent per gallon discount for paying in cash, do the math first. If gas is $4.00 a gallon, a 10-cent cash discount saves you 2.5 percent. If your credit card offers 5 percent cash back on gas, paying with plastic actually yields a better financial return.
