There are two factors at work in improving gas mileage, whatever kind of vehicle you drive.

How you drive your car and how you maintain it are the two factors. Of the two, maintenance is the easiest to address, but overall has less impact than your driving habits.

The three key aspects of keeping a car at it’s highest fuel efficiency are; tire inflation, the tuning and maintenance of your engine and using the proper motor oil.

A car that has failed it’s emission test will save you 4 percent on fuel usage once it has been tuned properly. When a problem like the mixture of fuel and air is corrected or the oxygen sensor replaced you could save as much as 40 percent on your fuel usage. A saving of 11 cents per gallon can be achieved if fuel costs $2.75 per gallon.

Tires are safer and last longer when they have the right air pressure. The air pressure that your tires need is usually in the driver’s side door jam, t is also in the car’s owner’s manual. Don’t follow the maximum pressure printed on the tires. Keeping your tires properly inflated can improve fuel economy up to 3 percent, saving you about 8 cents per gallon.

You can improve your mileage by one or two percent saving 3 to 6 cents per gallon at the gas pump all by just following instructions and using the correct motor oil.

All those mechanical savings add up to about 25 cents per gallon, and that’s nothing to sneeze at.

Fuel burns much quicker when you have bad driving habits, you can cost you more than $1.50 pr gallon. These habits are also harder to fix – you can’t pay someone to make them go away in a few hours.

The worst offender is aggressive driving – speeding, rapid acceleration and braking to maneuver through traffic. As much as a third of your gas mileage is gone by driving that way 10 mpg Driving like that lowers your mileage 5 percent around town and as much as 10 mpg on the highway, that’s 30 percent on the highway. That’s 91 cents extra per gallon ad very high indeed.

Speeding is the second greatest waste of fuel. Gas mileage decreases rapidly when speeds exceed 60 mph – costing you about 11 percent of your gas mileage for every 5 mph you speed. So if you only drive 10 mph faster than 60, you’re looking at a loss of about 50 cents per gallon.

It can cost you an extra 6 cents per gallon by idling too long and carrying extra weight, 6 cents is for 100 pounds alone. By using overdrive gears and cruise control you will improve your mileage because your engine slows but it’s speed is maintained.

Follow these steps and save money at the fuel pump, get into the good driving habits to help reduced the gas you are using and be sure that your car is mechanically sound.

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