subject: Learn How Car Condition Affects Hypermiling & Your Family Budget [print this page] Learn How Car Condition Affects Hypermiling & Your Family Budget
The condition of your car, or pickup truck, can definitely help you get better gas mileage, and consequently help the status of your family and household budget. We're talking here about an element of hypermiling, which is all about how to save gas money and exceed your car's EPA MPG, or miles per gallon, rating.In considering vehicle condition, two aspects are critically important: 1. your vehicle's weight, and 2. its operating condition, or maintenance status. Working on both of these can help you improve your mileage.WHAT CAN YOU DO TO PUT YOUR CAR ON A DIET?The heavier your vehicle the more gas it will use, regardless at what speed you're driving. This is especially significant when accelerating, as every extra pound must be moved from a dead stop to cruising speed -- over and over again, every time you put your vehicle into motion. Every extra pound uses more gas -- it's as simple as that.While you cannot change the base weight of your vehicle, you can remove things from it to make it lighter. We talk, below, about some of the ways you can put your car on a diet. Let these be specific guidelines, but let them also serve to spark other ideas for further reducing your vehicle's weight. You will undoubtedly come up with other ways to trim vehicle poundage as you work on the ideas we list here.What do you constantly carrying around in your trunk? My wife loves to use our vehicle as a place to store stuff. She figures that keeps it out of the closets at home. Not good for mileage, though.Consider what you pile up in the back seat and on the floor. That is an ongoing challenge for me -- a lot of pure junk tends to accumulate in my back seat and on the floor behind the front seat. Get rid of anything you don't need with you in your car -- some emergency supplies would be an exception, of course.If you drive a pickup truck you need to look at what is in the pickup bed. Get rid of excess stuff and anything extra behind the seats in the cab as well.Most mini vans, and many SUVs, come with three rows of seats. When I had a mini-van I used the third row seat only once in three years. If the same applies to you, take the unused seats out. Store them in your garage or in a storage unit. You can put them back in for the occasional time you need them. These seats are extremely heavy (you'll appreciate this when you lift them out) and cost us dearly in reduced gas mileage if not used regularly.KEEP YOUR VEHICLE IN GOOD WORKING CONDITIONAn annual vehicle tune-up and inspection can be critically important in keeping your car or truck running as efficiently as possible. Many problems will surface at this time, before they become major and cost you more in wasted fuel.Have your oil changed regularly and keep your vehicle filled with all necessary fluids. Consider spending a little extra to use synthetic oil in your engine. It has been proven that synthetic oil reduces engine friction, which makes an engine run more easily while it protects even better than regular oil.An air filter typically costs no more than $15 to $20, maybe less. Yet a clean air filter can allow a fuel savings of as much as 10%. As a standard practice, you should check the air filter each time you change oil. Be sure to use the proper size filter for your vehicle. It is important to check the air pressure in your tires in addition to checking your tires on a regular basis to make sure they're wearing evenly and don't need replacing. Use a quality tire gauge, not the pencil style, as these are often not very accurate. Inflate your tires to the maximum pressure stamped onto the side of the tires -- the tire manufacturer has determined that this pressure is safe to maintain in your tires, and the higher tire pressure means less rolling resistance.Check the air in your tires as soon as possible after you start moving. Don't let your tires get hot from driving for twenty or thirty minutes before checking them. The tire sidewall pressures are "cold" pressures, not hot.As mentioned earlier, these are not the only vehicle condition elements that you can consider, but I hope they have put you on the right track to considering what you can do to increase your gas mileage, improve your personal finances and help to protect your precious family financial resources!
