The myths about Achieving Better Gas Mileage that Hamstring You

Americans really care about the price of their fuel. When the price of gas begins to creep close to four dollars a gallon, the news outlets just can't stop talking about it. And yet, you wouldn't, to look at the way, Americans make use of their gas, think that they cared all that much to understand how gas mileage works and how you squeeze as much out of it as possible.

America is making the transition towards government-mandated 50 mpg automobile technology. If every car in America could boast of those kinds of numbers, we would save ourselves as much oil as we have in the Gulf of Mexico. That's how big a deal high gas mileage is. Let's look at a few areas of misunderstanding that unfortunately hold Americans back from achieving the kind of gas mileage they could have.

Let's start with an all-time favorite - letting the engine idle at a stop signal instead of turning it off. Some people will actually leave their engine running for 15 min. rather than turn it off because they believe that turning it off and starting it again will use up more gas. Unless you're stuck in a traffic jam that isn't about to start moving again, unless you need the air conditioner working, turning off the engine would make for a very smart move. An idling engine works at nearly half the speed it would if it were drive the car at a steady speed. Idling uses up a half gallon of fuel every hour. There is no way that stopping and starting an engine can use more than that.

People believe that as a car grows older, that its fuel economy becomes worse and worse. Once they believe this, they set themselves up to expect less of their car. And this makes them grow careless with their driving habits. A car that's maintained properly will easily maintain like-new gas mileage. And for this, you don't need to constantly keep replacing your air filter or warm your engine up every morning. A clean air filter does nothing for you in a modern car with fuel injection.

People believe that using premium fuel can improve your gas mileage. They also believe that on top of using premium fuel, that there are certain miracle additives on the market that can give them dramatically improved efficiency. Both assumptions are wrong. Using fuel that's better specified than what your car manual asks for is just money down the drain. And the same goes for additives. Consumer Reports and the FTC have completely checked every popular additive out there and determined that they do absolutely nothing for your fuel efficiency. In some cases, they do help your car engine run smoother. But that's about it.