Matthews Toyota Shares Simple Tips to Improve Fuel Economy

Nov 19, 2012

With gas prices hurting most pocketbooks of today, it never hurts to learn a few easy tips to stretch the budget. Here are some recommendations from your Matthews Toyota dealership.

Keep Track of your Gas Mileage

Fill up your tank and reset your trip odometer to zero. When your tank reaches close to empty write down the mileage and the amount of gallons of your next fill up and calculate how many miles per gallon were driven. Do this a few times until you have an average.

Keep your eyes on the road up ahead.

When you are anticipating changes of speed in advance you will use less gas. Sudden braking will cause your car to downshift quickly resulting in using more gas.

If the truck is refilling the station, don’t refill your tank.

As new gas is being added to the station the older gas and sediment from the bottom of the tank is disturbed and could make its way into your tank. This could hurt your gas mileage.

Don’t drive too far to get cheaper gas.

When you know the mileage your vehicle uses, you can determine what each mile is costing you. If you are paying 25 cents per mile and you decide to drive 2 miles to the next station to save 2 cents a gallon, with a 15 gallon tank, you are actually losing 20 cents (50 cents for driving two miles minus the 30 cents you saved driving there). Not worth the hassle.