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There has been a lot of news lately about how gas prices are going to reach $4.00/gallon this summer.  So I thought it would be appropriate to talk about how your driving style can directly impact the fuel consumption of your car. When a car manufacturer publishes the fuel economy (like say 35 MPG), this is achieved under closer to ideal conditions, and driving style (along with road condition) can change the actual MPG achieved.  I believe that there are essentially 3 types of drivers: 1. Aggressive, 2. PITAs, and 3. Easy Going.

Aggressive drivers waste a lot of fuel.  The real quick speeding up to get around someone or just to take off at a light really uses gas unnecessarily.  Do you really need to get in front of the next car to make it to your destination 5 seconds sooner?  The last minute breaking is also wasteful.  Aggressive drivers use full amounts of fuel until the last minute when they hit their breaks, when they could be slowing down sooner and use a lot less gas.

Pain In The A** (PITA) drivers also waste fuel.  Let me explain my term for a PITA driver.  This is the person that drives insanely slow, takes forever to make a turn, and sits at light long after it has turned green.  Some people might ask, if they are driving so slowly, how could they be wasting gas?  Think of it this way, accelerating takes more gas than just cruising.  If I accelerate at a normal pace for say 1 minute, yes more gas is consumed than if I accelerate at a slower speed for 1 minute.  But it will take much longer for a PITA driver to get up to cruising speed; therefore they are using more gas for the trip they are making.  (Yes, there is a sweet spot for this, but I think that is where the calm, easy going driving fits in.)

The easy going, calm driver fits in in-between the previous two driving styles.  Easy acceleration, but not too slow.  Takes the foot off the gas pedal and just coasts on an exit ramp when they know they need to stop.  This style of driving can achieve close to peak fuel efficiency for the vehicle they are driving.

So I’ve been watching how I drive the past couple weeks and try to be a much more calm driver.  With the instant fuel efficiency indicator that I have in my car, I can really watch how I drive impacts the fuel economy. Here is a short list of things that I’ve been watching myself do to get better fuel efficiency:

1. Take my foot off the pedal on exit ramps and just coast
2. Let myself speed up on the downhill to store up momentum (no speeding tickets from this yet)
3. Let the car slow down a bit while going uphill (what goes up must come down, see #2)
4. Don’t just “take off” from a red light, ease into it
5. Anticipate the traffic  in front of me, so that I can change lanes before reaching a car that I would have to slow down for and then speed up again after the lane change

Even with all of these changes, it doesn’t change how long it takes me to get to my destination either.  So what kind of driving style do you currently have?

Remember to perform basic maintenance on your car to also help with fuel efficiency.