Fuel Saving Tips for Cars and Trucks

Car and truck fuel savings doesn’t have to be complicated. Many companies and salesmen try to hawk fuel saving devices as well as fuel saver additives. While some of these may marginally work, they are often expensive, complicated, and some may even damage your vehicle. Here are some fuel saving tips that can help you immediately, and won’t give you a headache in the process.

First and foremost, check your tire pressure. Although this is one of the most well-known fuel saving tips out there, it often goes unattended to. Simply airing up a few PSI (being careful not to go over the manufacturer’s limit) will save you several miles to the gallon per week, taking only 3 minutes to do the next time you hit a gas station.

Clean out your car! Ever notice how professional race cars strip a car absolutely bare, even removing the air conditioning system? Not only do even a few pounds of weight reduction heavily impact fuel savings, but you’ll notice your vehicle accelerate quickly without all the random junk in the back seat and trunk. Fuel economy style cars with weaker engines will see the most improvement in gas mileage. If you’d like to go even deeper, filling up your car halfway will save even more - A gallon weighs 8 pounds, and consequently a half tank will save over 50 pounds of weight in most vehicles. Seems kinda silly, but it makes sense.

A tip to consider the next time you get an oil change - Swap out the air filter. Dirty, old air filters restrict vital flow to the engine, which not only saps gas mileage but hinders performance. This can also be done on your own fairly easily with a few minutes of research.

When driving on the freeway, stick with larger vehicles like semi-trucks. They cruise at a consistent pace, and we all know fluttering the gas pedal to slow down and speed up with erratic traffic burns fuel quick. A more controversial approach is drafting trucks - or driving immediately behind one. This isn’t very safe, but it has been proving to effect fuel savings by up to a staggering 30-40%.

Google maps is your friend. Saving fuel by simply re-routing your frequent drives to be more efficient will pay off in the long run, and may also save you some time.

In closing, once again, be very careful when considering fuel saving devices. Not only are most of them gimmicks, but some fuel additives can erode the internals of your engine and hoses. If there was something cheap and proven to save on fuel economy, wouldn’t car manufacturers already have added it?