When fuel prices spike, lots of tips and tricks to save on gas get trotted out. Here are seven that don’t violate the laws of physics, compromise safety or insult your intelligence.
The average price of regular gasoline across the U.S. has risen above $4 per gallon for the first time since 2008. The AAA motor club said the price of regular gas went up by almost 41 cents during the past week. This comes in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The head of petroleum a…The price of gasoline today isn’t exceptional — well off the $3+ spikes seen in the early part of this decade.
Get the rack off the roof When they’re not worrying about the weight of their designs, auto engineers fuss over aerodynamics. Improvements to how your car cuts through the air bear fruit most at high speeds — highway miles. The most common way drivers hurt their aerodynamics, and thus mileage, is by putting items on the roof.
Shut that puppy off Americans continue to wildly overestimate how much fuel it takes to start an engine versus to keep it running. The reality is, once you’re stopped, your car is wasting fuel after about 7-10 seconds of idling. That’s why newer cars have a feature that shuts the engine off during stops when the brake is applied. The car’s still on, but the engine isn’t. Push the accelerator pedal and the engine snaps back on — off you go.
Don’t rely on the tire light All cars built since 2007 have tire-pressure monitoring systems. The hitch is this: The system might not alert you until a tire is 25% lower than the recommended pressure. And if you wait for that, you’re wasting money, as underinflated tires reduce your gas mileage by roughly 0.2% per pound that they’re low.