How to Save Money on Gas

Two Methods:Buy a different carDrive smarter

Gas prices keep going up, and the money in our wallet keeps evaporating more quickly. There are many ways you can spend less money on gas and reduce your overall fuel consumption. But, you must think it through and begin formulating new plans! One technique that has been around for a while but has drawn more attention recently is hypermiling. However, use your head because some hypermiling techniques are illegal and extremely dangerous.


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    Change those spark plugs often! Platinum spark plugs may claim to last 100,000 miles (160,000 km), but they have been known to foul up at just 75,000 miles (121,000 km).[citation needed] Spark plugs are relatively inexpensive and (depending on the vehicle) easy to replace. If you're not that handy or mechanically inclined, read some auto repair books or be-friend a mechanic.
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    Limit your driving. This article includes ideas such as carpooling, combining trips and taking the first parking spot you find.
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    Find good gas prices. This article offers tips about making sure you are paying a competitive price for the gas you do buy. Be sure to recognize the value of the gas you spend to go out of your way.
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    Fill up efficiently. This involves three things:
    • Consider whether to fill your tank up full or halfway. Filling up your tank halfway will reduce your car's weight, increasing your mileage slightly. However, if your nearest gas station is significantly out of the way of your daily route, make sure to take into account the gas spent driving to the station and the value of your time.[1]
    • Don't top up your tank between fills. It is wasted money and bad for the environment because it invariably forces liquid fuel into the evaporative emissions system, where it overwhelms circuits that route fuel tank vapors to the engine.[citation needed]
    • Wait until you have a quarter tank, but don't push this any further. Doing this can extend your gas mileage because you are hauling a lighter fuel load. It also gives you the opportunity to buy more gas if you run across a bargain. However, in cold weather, you run an increased risk of condensation in the fuel tank. Running a car with less than a quarter tank can shorten the life of the electric fuel pump, and running on empty will often destroy the pump.
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    • In California, gas station operators are required to offer free air to customers who purchase fuel.[2]
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Method 1
Buy a different car

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    Buy a diesel. Some diesel cars offer mileage comparable to popular hybrids. Getting a diesel car also allows for use of bio-diesel or even waste vegetable oil (WVO/SVO) fuel. Though diesel pricing can vary widely from traditional petrol.
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    Pay more attention to the torque specification than horsepower when evaluating a vehicle for purchase. Many engines produce maximum torque at a rarely used RPM. An engine that produces maximum torque in the range of 2200 to 3000 RPM will yield usable power. An engine operating at its torque peak will be more efficient.
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    Buy a motorcycle or scooter instead of a car. They are cheaper and often get 70 MPG or more. Riding gear is available for most weather conditions. A good example is the Kawasaki EX250, which costs about $3,000, gets 60-70 MPG at highway speeds, and can go 0–60 mph (96.6 km/h) in under 6 seconds!

Method 2
Drive smarter

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    Plan your trips in advance. This can prevent wasting fuel and wasting time. Plan to use alternative routes. Often, back roads can prevent you from stopping at traffic lights and more importantly sitting in traffic jams. Try to schedule your trips and errands when traffic is lighter.
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    Use a global positioning system (GPS) to navigate and find the fastest and shortest distance to your destination. Avoiding hills and stops will increase your gas mileage.
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    Avoid using cruise control when driving on hilly highway roads. The cruise control will keep you at a constant speed, which means it will not anticipate a coming hill and accelerate to meet it. It will make the car idle downhill and then flaw it for the uphill sections. It is far more efficient to turn it off on these roads and maintain the flexibility of normal driving.
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    Avoid stops. If approaching a red light, see if you can slow down enough to avoid having to actually stop (because you reach the light after it is green). Speeding up from 5 or 10 mph (8.0 or 16.1 km/h) will be easier on the gas than starting from full stop.
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    Maintain a safe following distance. Don't stick to the bumper of the car directly in front of you. You will brake more and accelerate more to keep that unnecessary and dangerous narrow gap. This also gives you a lot more room to play with when you are timing traffic signals. Likewise, ignore tailgaters. They will tailgate you whether you go the speed limit, or 100 mph (160 km/h) over the speed limit. Allow them pass when it's convenient.
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    Slow down. Air resistance goes up as the square of velocity. The power consumed to overcome that air resistance goes up as the cube of the velocity. Rolling resistance is the dominant force below about 40 mph (64 km/h). Above that, every mph costs you mileage. Go as slow as traffic and your schedule will allow. Drive under 60-65 since air grows exponentially denser, in the aerodynamic sense, the faster we drive. To be precise, the most efficient speed is your car's minimum speed in it's highest gear, since this provides the best "speed per RPM" ratio. This is usually about 45 to 55 mph (72 to 89 km/h).
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    Take off slowly from a full stop. This is one adjustment that will have dramatic effects on your gas mileage[citation needed]; don't tear off from a stoplight or stop sign!
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    Use A/C only on the highway. At lower speeds, open the windows. This increased the drag and reduces fuel efficiency, but not as much as the AC at low speeds (35-40 mph)[citation needed]. Even better, at any speed, turn on the vent when it is cool outside or open windows just a few inches. The air con - when used a lot - is known to use up about 8% of the fuel you put into your car.[citation needed]
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    Shift into neutral if you are not comfortable with downshifting. Standard transmission vehicles may save gas by shifting into neutral when going down hills steep enough to maintain speed[citation needed] (although engine braking is safer on steeper declines). Do not do this in a Hybrid car, they use this "regenerative engine braking" to generate electricity and charge the batteries. NOTE: This strategy will result in more wear and tear on your brakes. Neither of these strategies is recommended for normal automatic cars.
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  • Learn how to coast between traffic lights, applying power only as needed to keep the car rolling (more or less) with traffic. Learn to judge terrain and use engine braking to its full potential to keep the car moving 'for free', and save more gas over time.
  • Most car modifications do not improve mileage. Extra wings add drag. Power improvements often hurt mileage. However, if your car is turbocharged, chiptuning may result in a mileage boost. The mileage boost will be canceled out if you drive more aggressively due to power improvements.
  • Every MPH faster yields you less advantage than the last one. Going 10 mph (16 km/h) is a big difference over 5 mph (8.0 km/h), but there is very little difference between 55 mph (89 km/h) and 60 mph (97 km/h), unless you are on a very long trip. Many people mindlessly speed wherever they go, and gain absolutely nothing but a heftier fuel bill. Assuming everything goes perfectly (and when does it?) going 5 mph (8.0 km/h), even 15 mph (24 km/h) faster on a highway for a short trip will yield nothing but aggravation as you keep catching up to slower traffic.
  • Get a smartphone app that helps to find the cheapest gas.


  • Keeping tires at the correct air pressure can go a long ways towards saving more money on gasoline cost.

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