Improve Gas Mileage Of Your Car : GF Radio

Get better gas mileage with your existing car with these simple tips. Dan of MPGomatic tells us how to increase the MPG of the car you own now, which is easier than going out and buying a new one.

The biggest takeaway from our talk, which I was not aware of, is how the car's tires have an effect on MPG. And this isn't talking tire pressure - there is a new kind of gas saving tire that have low rolling resistance. These fuel efficient tires used to have a bad name, only showing up on hybrid cars like the Prius, but now these gas saving tires are on Corvettes and sporty Subarus. Dan is buying Continental Pure Contact Ecoplus tires for his test car. (Amazon affiliate link)

Here is an article on the NY Times site on better fuel efficiency with car tires. Dan offers a free guide The Roadmap To Better Gas Mileage, sign up for his email newsletter here, to receive a copy.

The other way to improve gas mileage is to use synthetic oil, which i had not idea would make a difference. Dan suggests if you change your own oil to buy synthetic oil in bulk, you can buy it in 5 quart containers. Look for it on sale and then buy a bunch, put it on the shelf for the next few oil changes. You have to recycle your used oil, and you can recycle synthetic oil the same way to recycle regular motor oil, take it to a auto shop or your town garage for recycling.

Another neat one is how hubcaps affect gas mileage, the smoother or flatter the hubcap, you will get an improvement in gas saving. Dan tells us about the Moon hubcaps that the high speed cars for breaking speed records use to minimize drag on their car. Truck fleets are now looking into these smooth hubcaps.

The number one way to save gas is to improve your driving. Drive with a light foot. Buy an instant MPG Fuel Gauge (Amazon link here) that plugs into the code reader port under your dashboard. This display sits on your dashboard and gives you instant feedback on how your driving is affecting how much gas you are using. There are some smartphone apps avail for this. Dan uses an app called DashCommand that can do data logging. You can also get high tech with bluetooth wireless rigs to connect to your car's data.

Dan and Eric talk about the need for people to drive trucks, and Eric talks about the Instant MPG feedback readout of the Ford F150 Limited he drove last month.

Is ethanol gas good? Dan tells us about the pros and cons of using ethanol and E85 gas, and the best place to buy a used car at auction.

photo by dhester - morguefile.com