The Garage
Got Gas
STEVE SILVA
It seems like all everyone ever complains about these days are high prices at the pumps. This is all despite the fact that gas is still one of the cheapest liquids around when compared by the litre to other liquids, and is not much more expensive than in the past when adjusted for inflation. Don’t get me wrong though, I’m not defending big oil at all. In fact, screw those oil companies man, screw them all! However, before a bunch of you snap at the perceived gas gouging, I have a few gassaving tips you might want to try. These are a few simple steps you can take to reduce your gas consumption before you lose it, grab your hockey sticks, and prepare for combat in the Middle East.
The first step is keeping your speeding in check. On a windy day, (40km/h cross wind or higher), you might want to keep your car under 100 km/h. Under those wind speeds, every 10 km/h that you go over the speed limit will cost you three percent or more in fuel economy on your average sub-compact due to increased drag.
This next bit of advice should go without saying, but I’m going to remind you anyway: regularly maintaining you car will increase your mileage. Under- or over- inflated tires cause unnecessary drag, which in turn causes your motor to work harder. Replacing a dirty air filter also helps. Having a dirty filter in your car is like trying to run with a sock in your mouth — no fun, is it? A filthy filter prevents your car from breathing properly. The result? You guessed it, low mileage!
This next tip is for all of you truck guys out there. When you are driving on the highway, open up your tailgate and lay it flat (assuming
you don’t have anything crashing around in there. If you do, please leave it up!). Leaving your tailgate up acts like a giant parachute, which in turn slows you down and wastes a ton of crude.
Speaking of highway driving, using the cruise control function when applicable will save you gas yet again. The computer holds the speed steady for you, so you’re not accelerating or decelerating and revving your engine unnecessarily.
For those of you with a manual transmission: slam on the gas! I know this seems counter-intuitive, but I assure you it works. Punching the gas pedal and getting to top gear as fast as you can reduces pumping losses. Just make sure you are shifting around 2,000 RPM or this gas-saving tip won’t work. You automatictransmission guys are out of luck though; this tip won’t work on your car. The computer will just downshift and rev your engine. Also, this trick won’t work if your car is equipped with a turbo. If you try to mash the gas with a turbo-equipped ride, you are just going to get into boost and spool up the turbo under full throttle. Translation: you no save gas money.
As Winnipeggers, we all like driving around with our jumper cables in the middle of July (after all you never know, eh?). Dumping as much crap out of your car as possible will make it lighter — your winter blankets, unnecessary amenities, deadbeat roommates and so forth. A lighter car takes less power to move and your engine doesn’t have to work as hard, thereby saving gas!
I hope that these tips helped. They should keep the gas pains away until you build a car of your own that runs on your own sense of self-satisfaction, or at least until you discover oil in your backyard. Keep digging and poking holes in your soil — you never know when you might come across something. Just ignore your parents’ belligerence, cries of woe, and accusations of drug use (“Jiiim! Timmy’s on the pot again!”). Besides, if you’re just sitting around lazily reading this, it’s not like you’re doing anything productive anyway.
