Daily Fuel Economy Tip

Improve Your Gas Mileage in 3 Simple Steps

Increasing your vehicle’s gas mileage is one of the easiest things you can do. The reason why I can say that with complete confidence is because, in many cases, YOU decide whether or not not your vehicle is achieving it’s maximum fuel economy.

This is both good and bad news. It’s good news because it means you don’t have to go out and spend lots of money of fuel additives or engine “add ons” in order to get significantly better gas mileage. However, it’s bad news because most of us have become very set in our ways regarding our driving habits, which makes it very difficult to follow through on our better driving habits.

That being said, the three tips I’m going to talk about here are so easy to implement that I’m willing to guess that if you take just two or three weeks to consciously follow them as you’re driving, you’ll never go back to your hard driving habits again. Plus, I think following these three tips will help you to enjoy driving again!

So, without further ado, here are the three steps that, if you follow, will drastically improve your vehicle’s gas mileage:

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Posted in Driving Habits | 2 Comments »

Fuel Economy Tip - Follow the “3 Second Rule”

Here’s a tip that will not only help you increase your vehicle’s fuel economy, but will also help you become a much safer driver:

Follow the “3 Second Rule”

As you are driving down the road - particularly at highway speeds - make sure that you give keep plenty of space between your car, truck, SUV, etc. and the vehicle in front of you. In most cases, you are giving proper spacing if you are traveling three seconds behind the car in front of you, however, you will likely need to give more time and space if you’re driving in bad weather.

For those of you who don’t know how to tell how close you are traveling to the car in front of you, pick a set object up a head - an exit sign, a light pole, etc. - and once the bumper of the car you’re following crosses the designated object, begin counting and don’t stop until the hood of your car passes the same object.

Following the “3 Second Rule” will help keep you from constantly tapping your brakes and accelerator every time the car in front of you slows down and speeds up. By avoiding tap dancing on your brake and accelerator pedals, you can significantly increase your fuel economy. Here’s why:

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Posted in Driving Habits | 28 Comments »

What Have you Cut Back on to Offset Higher Gasoline Prices?

With the price of gasoline only ten percent below its record high, there’s no question that our pain at the pump has caused many of us to make several “lifestyle” changes in order to make ends meet.

Even with the recent month-long decline in the price of gasoline - now down 43 cents from its peak - we’re still paying about a third more than we were at the same point last year.  This extra strain, in addition to higher food prices, falling real estate values and a slumping job market, has significantly hurt many families’ financial situations.

To see where people have been cutting back their expenses to deal with soaring fuel costs, I recently had a poll on Daily Fuel Economy Tip which asked, “What have you cut back on the most to offset higher gasoline prices?”

Here’s a breakdown of the responses:

• Transportation - 38%
• Nothing - 23%
• Entertainment (movies, music, sports, etc.) - 18%
• Dining Out - 15%
• Vices (drinking, smoking, lotto, etc.) - 6%

Obviously, cutting back on driving is the easiest way to reduce the impact of higher gasoline prices.  After all, if you’re using less gas, higher prices aren’t going to hurt you as much.

For many of us who can’t reduce our driving enough to make a sizable dent in gasoline costs, we need to look to cut costs elsewhere.  Whether it’s not going out to the movies as much, making more of an effort to eat in, or cutting back on a pack-a-day habit, making small concessions can really go a long way towards easing the financial strain of higher gasoline prices.

I was pretty surprised to see that nearly a quarter of respondents stated they hadn’t cut back on anything in an effort to try and offset higher fuel costs.  I’m not sure if it’s because they can afford the higher prices, or if they don’t feel like making any changes in their lifestyle, or something else.

For the rest of us, making even slight concessions might help to make our financial situations a little bit better.

Posted in Car Maintenance | 1 Comment »

Drivers Using Less Gasoline, Yet Inventories Fell. Huh?

The price of crude oil climbed slightly higher today - up 45 cents to end the trading day at $114.98 - based largely on a U.S. government report which showed a larger than expected weekly drop in gasoline stockpiles.

According to an article published on CNNMoney.com, gasoline inventories fell by over 6.2 million barrels last week, putting the inventory level below what is average for this time of year. This data, in and of itself, wouldn’t usually pique my interest, and would be a sufficient reason to see the price of oil jump slightly.

However, in reading the CNNMoney article a little more closely, this inventory drop didn’t seem to make much sense. According to the same inventories report:

“Consumers are still driving less than they did at this time last year. Over the last four weeks, gasoline demand has averaged about 9.5 million barrels per day, which is 1.6% lower than the same period last year.”

OK, that certainly seems to be conflicting data coming out of the same report. On one hand you’ve got data showing increased gasoline consumption - i.e. falling inventories - but on the other hand you’ve got data showing continued decreased demand for gasoline.

Granted, I realize the decrease in gasoline inventories was measured over the prior week, while the gasoline demand was measured over previous four weeks. That being said, the gasoline inventory drop - which was more than double what economists were expecting - seems a bit odd considering demand for gasoline has been falling the past four weeks.

Am I the only one that doesn’t get this? Let me know your thoughts.

Posted in Gas Prices | 3 Comments »

Gas Saving Products - What’s Your Experience?

Having spent the last couple years running what I would like to think is a semi-successful site dedicated to fuel economy, I have received a ton of emails from individuals and businesses asking me to shill their “revolutionary” gas saving products.

Some ask if I will write about their product for free, while others offer money for sort of a paid review.  (It seems odd to me to write a review about a product I’ve never seen, touched or used, but I digress.)  I have resisted, so far, simply because I do not trust the claims being made by these individuals and businesses that their products not only won’t harm your vehicle, but will reduce your gasoline consumption by up to 40 percent.

I’ve received requests to write about products ranging from special magnets, to fuel additives, even to ways to run your car using regular tap water.  I just can’t get myself to buy into the claims.

I can’t help but think that if these products worked as well as their claims say they will, then they would already be in our cars or in the gasoline we buy.  I’m not a big consipracy theory guy, so I don’t think “Big Oil” is in bed with car manufacturers, forcing inefficient vehicles to the market.

I may be incredibly naive and/or overly trusting, but I just don’t think these companies - or the government for that matter - are out to get us.

However, in an attempt to try and be a little more open minded, I was wondering if any of you, the readers of Daily Fuel Economy Tip, have ever actually used any of these products, and if so, what sort of results you’ve been able to get.

Please post your comments below, and let me and everyone else know if there is in fact something out there that works as well as it claims.  However, keep in mind, if you post anything that appears to be spam - i.e. with tons of links or just a link with a short sentence saying “this product is great!” - then I will delete the comment.

Posted in Gas Saving Innovations | 6 Comments »