Comments on: Four Gas Saving Tips You’ll Ignore, Five You Won’t

By: Nobodyknowsnothing

Nobodyknowsnothing — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:11:54 +0000

Uncle B
You should write a science fiction novel so we can all see what our futures look like. Why are humans so araid of change.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 05:58:52 +0000

Of the tips you’ll actually use:
1, 3, and 5 are all pretty good ideas and will work however, I have to disagree on 2 and 4.

In most cases, my understanding is that using a higher octane is bunk.

And, concerning the changing of your oil, it actually depends primarily on the type of oil that you are using. For instance, most of my driving is highway miles due to my sales position. As a result, I use a high mileage synthetic oil everytime (which costs much more than a basic cheapo oil). Since I do this, I can go 10k miles between changes and could probably stretch it even more than that.

My point here is just that it depends. The greater moral to the story is that you should learn how to check the status and quality of your car’s oil and check it regularly if you know that your car burns through it quickly. This will keep your car running more efficiently.

By: uncle B

uncle B — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:27:45 +0000

Sad as it seems for the people, and as good as it is for the environment, soon enough, Americans won’t have jobs, and will not be able to pay for gasoline, their drug of choice, at all! The (GRD) great republican depression, “revolution” is at hand! Soon, food supplies will shrink, to fit falling demands, after all, the suppliers and shippers of food in America are corporations, not charities, and keep supply and demand in check to maximize profits and prices! As this happens, huge factory farms will cut back, lessening green-house gases as they do, and waistlines will shrink, making for a healthier more vegetarian population! This will prepare the American physique for the new smaller eco-box cars from China, now waiting for export on the docks of Shanghai! Next, these smaller more energetic people will want realistic houses with payable mortgages! The birth of the “Zero upkeep, Zero running cost” high tech, GRD survival shelter will be heralded in as a modern Obama-Miracle, greenhouse, Swedish dry toilet, composter, solar cells, super hi-tech insulation, windmills and all! The greatest achievement will be the plug-in, bio-diesel assisted, commuter car, a tandem seat, carbon fiber and advanced polymer composite affair, ultra-light, 100 mpg+, made in China, but to American specs, cheap and long lasting, durable enough to make car payments and mortgage payments, work in part-time service industries and still have money for food on the table and still drive to work daily, instead of using buses. What stupendous changes are upon us! How greatly the American Dream will be altered! When will all this happen? It is happening now! and it is happening because we are BROKE! and cannot demand more! Our dollar is losing value as we speak, the former “economy” cannot be restored because the world simply does not have the resources left to support our former lifestyle! The days of cheap oil are OVER! The OPEC countries and the Saudis are running out! at any price! and the Iraqis and Iran will sell what is left in their fields, at premium prices to the Chinese, and anyone else crazy enough to tool up to use a dwindling resource.

By: Anything but the Bus

Anything but the Bus — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 06:57:59 +0000

We could probably set up a system for carpoolers, sign-up a service perhaps to share/ride with people….to think about it… maybe not, too much of a hassle, security issues, privacy concerns, soon enough, it would be like riding the bus (yikes). Ohh….the things I’d do to not ride a bus. That could be a list all by itself.

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 17:23:16 +0000

I do occasionally drive 55, but I tend to do it only when I’m really low on gas and know that I’m not likely to stop for gas anytime soon, just because it’s not convenient from where I am.

You are right that the coordination makes carpooling really difficult.

By: MoneyNing

MoneyNing — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 22:59:18 +0000

I think all the new car manuals says 3000 miles now. It doesn’t hurt the dealership and it gives them another chance to sell you other stuff!!

By: Jon @ The Money Mythos

Jon @ The Money Mythos — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 14:07:42 +0000

Great post. Far too often people throw out ideas for frugality that make little to no common sense, so it was great to read a straightforward approach to saving gas mileage.

By: Foobarista

Foobarista — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 03:52:09 +0000

And your wife gets to show off her Smug Cloud, while you enjoy the full glory of hardcore CO2 emissions - Vroooom....

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 03:05:26 +0000

Foobarista, Totally agreed with your point 3, I have a similar situation here, and that’s why my wife gets to drive our Prius, and I take the Maserati. I have got to show her your post, cuz she never understands this simple money-saving logic.

By: Foobarista

Foobarista — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 21:01:41 +0000

Some others in the “tips you won’t use” category:

1. Move closer to work. Sounds nice, but relocating costs a minimum of $100s for renters and $1000s and up for homeowners. May work over a long period of time, but few people have the resources to make this worthwhile in the short run. Also, many work areas are in the high-cost “business” parts of the city, where apartments and houses are small and expensive…

2. Ride the Bus! Sounds great until you have a homeless person with odor issues sitting next to you. Bonus points if they have mental issues as well. That, together with the too-loud teenagers chattering for 47 stops will quickly drive you back into the personal cocoon provided by your car…

3. Ride the Train! Better than the bus, but often has a “last mile” problem: it always seems to stop about a mile too far from where I need to go. I ride it when I’m feeling ambitious exercise-wise. It actually is the most promising option, especially if I ever work somewhere where there’s a shuttle.

Some I do use:

1. Work from home. My job allows me to telecommute 2-3 days per week, so I do. Saves about $7/day and I get more work done than at the office.

2. Combine errands and walk to places nearby. We do lots of neighborhood walks for exercise, and if we can get some errands done while we’re at it, why not?

3. If you have two drivers in your household, the person with the longest drive should use the car with the best mileage. My wife does a lot of driving in her business, so she drives our Toyota that gets about 30MPG. I just drive to work and back, so I use our 23MPG small SUV.

By: Curtis

Curtis — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 18:44:29 +0000

You forgot my method of saving gas! I take the bus to work and sold one of our 2 cars. Dropped our gas expense almost in half (the remaining car isn’t as fuel efficient and it gets extra miles from doing a few more trips than normal).

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 14:32:58 +0000

Yes, I ignore rule number for sure, but only because the speed limits are higher than that.

For your air filter, you can also consider purchasing a performance air filter (such as K&N) which not only provides a better source of cold air (which can increase horsepower), you can also reuse the filters. All you have to do is clean them at regular intervals. The upfront cost is a little more than a regular filter, but if you keep your car long enough, you should more than break even and may even get better performance.

Great tips.