How You Drive Affects Gas Mileage

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By By Herb Weisbaum

Summary

You can improve gas mileage 15-30 percent by driving a little easier on the gas and using cruise control.

Story Published: Sep 1, 2005 at 8:37 AM PDT

Story Updated: Aug 31, 2006 at 2:03 AM PDT

How You Drive Affects Gas Mileage
SEATTLE - Editor's Note: This piece was originally published on Sept. 1, 2005, but Herb thought with the rising gas prices, that this information was timely.

Does the way you drive really impact the mileage your car delivers? Yes.

That's the conclusion of a real-life road test conducted by the auto experts at Edmunds.com. For this test, they used a sleek coupe, a 2005 Mustang GT, and a boxy SUV, a 2005 Land Rover SE. Both have V-8 engines.

Using the cruise control resulted in "big-time savings." It boosted the Land Rover's mileage by almost 14 percent.

The Mustang had an improvement of 4.5 percent.

Driving style had a dramatic impact on mileage. Driving the Land Rover with a lead foot produced 14 miles per gallon, while the feather-footed driver got 19 miles per gallon.

That’s a fuel economy improvement of 35 percent.

The savings were also impressive with the Mustang; the mileage was 27 percent better with feather-footed driving.

So, the way you drive can help you squeeze more miles out of every gallon. As the Edmunds.com testers put it, “Stop driving like a maniac and use that cruise control."

For More Information:

Read the full Edmunds.com article -- www.Edmunds.com
Read Herb’s other tip of saving gasoline -- komonews.com
Read Herb’s Tip on Worthless Gas Saving Devices -- www.komonews.com
10 Tips for Improving Your Fuel Economy -- www.edmunds.com.