A Few Ways to Increase Your Fuel Economy

With today’s rising gas prices, fuel economy is becoming an increasingly important subject, especially when it comes down to teens who have to pay for their own gas. Here are 5 helpful tips that will help pay less at the pump:
#5: Use only the required octane of gas on your vehicle. In other words, use the cheapest grade of gas possible. Most vehicles only require regular unleaded fuel, and by using higher octane fuels you wouldn’t be making any difference towards your car’s fuel economy or performance. On the other hand however, if your vehicle says “premium unleaded fuel only”, be sure to use only premium grade fuel.
#4: Change your vehicle’s oil and oil filter every 3000 miles or 3-4 months, whichever comes first
#3: Change your vehicle’s air filter. If your car’s air filter is clogged up, then the engine has to work harder in order to suck more air through it, therefore reducing fuel economy.
#2: Take out all unnecessary items from the vehicle. Believe it or not, all the little things that you don’t need add up to create an unnecessary amount of weight to the car. In turn, an increased weight means that the car has to work harder in order to lag that extra stuff around.
#1: Avoid making rapid accelerations. For vehicles with a manual transmission, use the highest gear that your car can handle for cruising speeds (if your speed is constant and the vehicle is not accelerating). By doing hurried accelerations, your vehicle burns extra amounts of fuel in order to get the vehicle up to speed quickly. For manual transmissions, if you are using a lower gear, your engine is moving at a higher rpm (revolution per minute). This in turn translates to more fuel being burnt than necessary.