How to Get the Best MPG Out of Your Vehicle

The less time to spend on either pedal, the better! Hard acceleration, acceleration up until braking, and speeding all increase fuel usage. Obviously, hard acceleration and speeding burn fuel rapidly. But acceleration up until braking, and hard braking, are indicators of driving hard and not taking advantage of coasting. Coasting requires a lot less fuel usage. If you judge the flow of traffic and go with the flow, and take advantage of coasting and the ability to slowly and steadily accelerate instead of hopping on the gas, you will burn less fuel! Learn how to drive smoothly, and you’ll save gas – not to mention, it might make your driving more enjoyable.

Every pound in your vehicle is a pound that has to be moved. The more your vehicle weighs, the more fuel will be burned to move it – and everything in it.

Now don’t go removing the important parts. Keep your emergency kit, some bottles of water, and your spare tire right where they are. But clean out your car! Get rid of trash, cargo, or anything that isn’t necessary to be in your vehicle. Take off extraneous cargo carriers, bike racks, ski racks, canoe racks – not only do these add weight, they also add small amounts of wind resistance. If you’re not using it on the trip, it’s just useless, efficiency-reducing weight. Weigh less, use less!

You can even go to the extreme and not fully fill your tank every visit to the pumps. Gasoline weighs roughly 6.1 pounds per gallon, so depending on the size of your tank, you could be saving 60-100 pounds by driving with a partially-full tank. We’re not recommending driving your tank too low, because running low or running out of fuel is a big danger that can cause other issues, but consider keeping your car between three-quarter and one-quarter of a tank, instead of filling it completely.

Your car operates on a number of sensors, filters, and other systems that are optimized for the best performance. Failing to maintain any of these – whether your filters get clogged up, your sensors malfunction, or your oil is old and not lubricating properly – will reduce the efficiency of your vehicle’s performance. In order to make up for that efficiency loss, your vehicle will need to burn more fuel, reducing your miles per gallon. Make sure you follow the maintenance recommendations for your vehicle as outlined in your manual, and you’ll continue to see great fuel economy from your car.

Inflate Your Tires, Not Your Gas Bill

Possibly the best way to get the best MPG out of your vehicle is also one of the easiest. Simply check your tires regularly and make sure they are properly inflated. Underinflated tires cause rolling resistance. Proper tire inflation is important for a number of reasons, but the effect on fuel efficiency is drastic. Even one pound of pressure under the recommended inflation can carve off a few miles every time you fill up!

You can get better MPG simply by paying attention to the MPG you’re getting! Both instant mileage as shown on your vehicle’s gauges and displays as well as tank-by-tank mileage you get by tracking the miles per gallon at each fill up can help you to adjust behavior. Sometimes seeing that fuel usage will make you drive in a more fuel-efficient manner. It’s just like seeing a warning sign along the roadside – when you see your driving at a rate that creates poor MPG, you’ll immediately want to correct yourself.

Seasonal Savings

Heating and air conditioning both use up power, which requires burning extra fuel to provide. It’s not worth spending a whole drive shivering or sweating, but reducing or eliminating climate control usage as much as possible will help you to trim some fuel usage.

The better fuel efficiency you get out of your vehicle, the less you spend at the pump. And we all like spending less, right? So take care and use these tips in your daily driving, and you should get better MPG than ever before!

Find great fuel efficient vehicles at Jack Giambalvo Buick GMC, or take a look at our inventory online.