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With growing gas costs, it is no wonder that more drivers are interested in getting good gas mileage out of their cars. There are several ways to go about getting solid gas mileage from your motor vehicle. You can buy a car with good gas mileage in the first place, or you can get better gas mileage from your car by driving it in a manner that is fuel efficient.
Let’s examine the first area. More critical than anything is the car you by. When you compare cars’ gas mileage, you generally look at their city mpg and their highway mpg. If you are like most shoppers and are looking at half a dozen or so possible cars, these numbers can often become so jumbled in your head it is hard to remember what was what.
One tip is to just focus on the highway mpg. Most of the your actual miles you put on your car is on the highway. While you may spend more time on city streets, most of the car’s gas is spent on the highway. So just compare the highway mpg between various cars. It’ll be easier on yourself, and it is also a better way of analyzing the differences between the cars.
Another tip is to look at Japanese brands of cars. While American manufacturers are starting to improve th gas mileage of their vehicles, Japanese car makers have traditionally focused their cars more on efficiency and reliability, whereas American manufacturers have focused more on style.
The final tip goes without saying: the more boring the car, the better the gas mileage generally. Want a hot sports car with a lot of horse power? Be prepared to get terrible gas mileage. If you want good gas mileage, go for the sedan with 130 hp, not the SUV with a V8 engine.
You can also increase your gas mileage by driving your car in an efficient manner. Here are a few tips:
1. Avoid high speeds on the freeway: While going 80 mph might be fun and get you to your location faster, it also is much more costly in terms of gas mileage (not to mention the potential speeding tickets!)
2. Avoid braking or accelerating quickly. Sudden jerks on the pedals are terrible for saving gas. When slowing down, do so gradually and softly, not a sudden stop. Likewise, accelerate gradually, not like you are trying to win a race.
3. Carry a light load. Do you really need to drag your 6 bowling balls everywhere? Doing so will lead to more trips to the pump. So drop your stuff off at your house or apartment instead of dragging everything around town in your car.
4. Roll down your window instead of using air conditioning. The AC eats up a lot of gas, so a good way to save gas is to simply not use the AC. While this is not practical in the dead heat of summer, there’s certainly nothing wrong with turning off the AC and rolling down the window and enjoying a nice breeze.
5. Get your friends to drive. Hey, what better way to save gas than not driving at all! Get your friends to pick you up and drive you places. They ought to be worth something after all right?
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