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The Guide to Saving on Gas

by Colette Smith April 19th,2008

The never ending headlines cast doom and gloom when it comes to gas prices and where they are headed. Gas prices are so high that the economy may be brought to a sudden a decisive halt they say. It happened once oil broke the less imaginary and more real line of $100 a barrel. Now to common folks $100 a barrel means not a whole lot, but ask the everyday driver about the price of gas and he/she may wince.

To speculators in the industry it is the difference between being rich and just another bystander. As gas prices go up, those who actually speculated on oil find themselves ending up being very rich. The equation is pretty simple: people who invest in oil futures are seeing future prices for oil go up by the day. There is no limit to the amount of money they can make. As more investors enter in to oil and as demand rises, gas prices will not decline they will only go further higher and faster. How does this apply to you? In this Thriftychick Shopping guide we look at a variety of ways to keep your car and home gas bills low.

The Obvious Answer: Alternative Fuels

We can start with this. Electric cars, hybrid/electric cars and E85 cars are all good options. Don’t get fooled into thinking they are the magic wand that will keep you from going to the pumps often. Driving an electric car or importantly hybrid electric cars tend to expend gas just like any normal car…that is, on the highway. In the city these types of cars can’t be beat. The electric motor kicks in during stop and go traffic and the car’s usage of gasoline is decreased dramatically. Conversely, regular gas engines take up a lot more gas in stop and go traffic. So the savings are quite apparent once you start driving in the city.

On the highway as you build up speed, the gas engine is used more in a hybrid electric vehicle. Since the power of the engine in the vehicles is low (usually less than 100 horsepower), the engines tend to be more efficient than a traditional gas engine car.

You may want to stay away from e85 cars. These are cars that use a combination of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. Though they promise to be cleaner than regular gas engine cars and there’s a certain degree of truth to this, the cars consume a lot of the e85 which already tends to be as expensive if not more so expensive than gas engines.

Money Saving with Gas Engines

The easiest way to save money with a car that has a traditional gas engine is to purchase a car with a high revised EPA, miles per gallon ratio. Cars like that tend to have 4 cylinder engines and can go nearly a week and a half without having to refill (with moderate driving. ) Inline 6 engines (i-6) work almost as well as the 4 cylinder engines because they are built with efficiency in mind. V-6 engines are less so in terms of efficiency. The higher you go the worse you get. V-8 is less efficient in comparison to v-6, and we won’t even get into the v-12 engines that power 500,000 sports cars.

Little known tips.

If you take great care of your car you will have a much lower gas bill in the long run.

a. Fill the tires: filling the tires means less drag on the car. When the tires are full, you can go where you are going faster and with less drag on the car.

b. Believe it or not actually using the AC on a long trip is the wisest thing to do. When the Windows on your car are up the engine doesn’t work as hard and the car generates less wind drag and it ends up saving you money.

c. Get the tune-up and change your oil. Keep your car running in tip-top shape and you will get maximum fuel efficiency.

Regular vs Mid-Grade vs Premium

In one sentence, the answer is simple: use regular at all times unless your car specifically states to use premium. If you car says that you need to use premium and it’s not a luxury car or has a high performance engine, chances are you are completely safe using regular. Most gas stations and companies use the same to similar blends. Trust me; you are not hurting your car by going to Mobile as opposed to BP. Let your wallet be the judge. Go for the cheaper gas when necessary. Don’t mix grades. If you put regular in your car, don’t use another grade until you basically your gas tank is on empty.
Remove the weight
Excess weight on the car, freight in the back, stuff that you have not removed from the car in awhile that may be dragging it down is causing the engine to work harder than necessary. the solution: get all of that excess weight out of the car. You will immediately notice a cost benefit savings when you use the car with less stuff in the back.
There’s no rhyme or reason to the extensive amount that you will have to pay for gas. But with these tips you will definitely save money. Incidentally, you may want to breathe a sigh of relief you are not living in Europe where the average price of gas is about $10 a gallon!

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