Fuel Saving Tips

Medium Acceleration, shift early, plan ahead

This applies mainly to cars with manual transmission, or automatics with manual shift-option (eg. pedal-shifter). Medium Acceleration & Shift early: - Overly dragging out the acceleration process may actually use more gas. As a rule of thumb, depressing the pedal by 1/4 to 1/3 is fine. - Do NOT rev the engine past ~2500rpm in standard situations! Look look for the lowest RPM point to shift gear which will still allow you to tap into torque once you shifted. You will consume more gas if you shift too early and have to push the pedal harder in the next gear to reach RPMs where the engine feels fine again. Rule of thumb: For 4cyl. gas engines, try not to land under 1500rpm after the shift. This number may be lower for 6cyl, or 8cyl engines (more low-end torque). Plan Ahead: - In city and rural areas, do not over-accelerate, only build up the speed you need to overcome the next obstacle ahead with no / minimal braking (bend, traffic lights, closing gap to traffic ahead). - Chances are your daily commute counts for the most miles driven. It should be easy to build a profile for this. Learn traffic light cycles, keep your speed steady, take advantage the terrain if possible. - Engine break. This makes most sense for newer engines which will cut the fuel supply and use even less gas than letting them idle. Contra: Rev-matching may use more gas but make your clutch last longer. I coast as long as possible within the current gear.