There has been talk of properly inflated tires, a clean air filter and not using the A/C in the car. While it's true that these things create less stress on the engine all of these suggestion have been eliminated as a true gas saver. The best idea is the lack of A/C because it does put less stress on the engine however the aerodynamic drag on the car with the windows down makes up for any savings you may get.

I have done some testing of my own in a six speed manual shift car with decent results. I watch my tachometer to see what works best to lower the RPM's which is what turns the engine and burns gas. In a manual shift car you can make the car roll in neutral by shifting out of gear whenever possible which lowers the RPM's (Revolutions per minute). I also turn off the vehicle at known long red lights (30 seconds or more). The other thing I have experimented with is skip shifting. I start out in first gear, then second, and maybe third if I need to get up to highway speed then I skip all the way to 6th gear which is the equivalent of overdrive for an automatic shift vehicle. If I'm just strolling on city streets this can be done in 1,2,6 sequence. There is no inconvenience in all of this just an awareness and a little outside-the-box thinking. I don't know what the real numbers are but I know my tank of gas goes further than it used to.

In an automatic shift vehicle shifting to neutral will lower the RPM's. A few caveats to this is there won't be any engine braking as you are trying to slow down or rolling downhill so you'll have to make braking adjustments for this. Some have spoken of actually shifting to neutral and turning the vehicle off while on the highway. I don't recommend this as you'll lose all power steering and braking with the engine off making for very dangerous driving.
Other ways besides all of this shifting is driving no more than 60 MPH, and not taking off fast from a stop light.

So yes, there are ways of improving mileage, some good, some not so good. The day will come that we won't have to worry so much about driving green so to speak. It's a fact that America used to export oil in the early 1900's but then cars became available to the middle classes of America which eventually depleted on our own supply. Since then America, Britain and other developing countries never looked back and now we are dependent on imported oil.

It is hard for us to give up our luxuries because we have come to get used to them and cars are no different.

Learn more about this author, Rob Purifoy.
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