Save Money Driving – Fuel Saving Tips 1 – 5

Gas pumpAre you driving to see family this holiday season? Taking a road trip to see the fam can be cheaper and more (or less) convenient than taking a flight.

If you haven’t noticed, in the past 10 days fuel prices have dropped 50 cents in many areas across the country. But don’t be deceived, they’re still a lot higher than they were just 5 years ago.

If you want to save money on driving, here’s our 5 site series on saving fuel. I’m posting across five websites, so make sure to check out all the tips!

Fuel Saving Driving Tips

Tips 1 – 5 Fearless Men

Tips 6 – 10 Fearless Dollar

Tips 11 – 15 AllThingsFinance.net

Tips 16 – 25 American Debt Project

Tips 25 – 30 Daily Tips Blog

1. Take it easy when accelerating

Edmunds.com recently conducted a series of road tests that including tracking how to save gas. They concluded this was the most important factor when wanting to save money while driving.

They found an average fuel savings of 31% when driving less aggressively. That is like getting $4.00 gas for $2.69 – it sounds like a no-brainer, but I admit I struggle to not drive like I just robbed a bank.

Edmunds says, “If you slowed your 0-to-60-mph acceleration time down from your current 10 seconds to a more normal city pace of 15 seconds, you’ll feel the savings immediately.”

2. Use cruise control

Rather than accelerating, then slowing down, and realizing you need to speed up again (accelerating consumes more gas than just about anything other than driving up a steep hill), simply use cruise control. Letting the car maintain a certain speed—and a fairly steady stream of fuel—will help you save money on gas.

Edmunds was surprised by the effectiveness of using this option. They got up to 14% savings on gas with an average savings of 7%, which is like saving 25 cents for every gallon. That would equate to about a 25 cent discount on each gallon.

3. Get your speed up before a hill

When you see a hill ahead, build up speed before you reach it, and then maintain your speed on the slope. Then coast down the other side.

4. Don’t waste fuel climbing that hill

I find it hard to avoid the urge to burn up fuel driving uphill. It uses a lot of gas. If your car has a display that shows your instantaneous gas mileage, try it out. You’ll see your mileage plummet — from 25 or 30 MPG… down to 6 MPG — or sometimes even as low as 2 or 3 MPG by not blowing through gas while climbing a hill.

5. Don’t weave in and out of traffic

Weaving through traffic makes you look like a douche—or an alcoholic. When driving, keep your steering wheel still. The more you weave back and forth—even within your own lane–the farther your car has to travel and the more gas is consumed.

Checkout gas saving tips 6 – 10 on Fearless Dollar!

[Featured image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmogle/]

Comments

  1. My biggest challenge is how I can save money or get cheap fuel.. But Anyway Thanks to this tips!

  2. I’ve always used the cruise control but on my new car, the dash shows real-time MPG use. I get better mileage when I don’t use the cruise control. I think it is because with cruise control, the car is going to stay at 70 MPH. So go uphill, the car will “accelerate” to keep up that set speed. When I now drive uphill, I don’t press harder on the gas. As I climb the hill, I slowly lose speed, but that is OK. I never slow down to be dangerous…most times my speed will drop from 70 to 65 and I’ll make that back up on a flat or downhill part of the road. Of course, if it’s a steep hill this trick doesn’t work.

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