These tips and tricks will help you save on gas

We don’t all have the cash for a Tesla or the calves for a herculean bicycle commute through a blizzard.

For many, filling the car up with gas is an unavoidable necessity.

But with prices at the pumps spiking to record levels in recent weeks, drivers are looking for any edge possible to save a few bucks.

There are plenty of tips and tricks online, but what really works? Were parents geniuses when they slipped the car into neutral at a red light? Does rattling the nozzle to squeeze out those last few precious drops of liquid gold actually make sense?

We reached out to the CAA’s automotive services manager, Ryan Peterson, to answer some of those questions.

Here are his suggestions when it comes to maximizing fuel efficiency.

Slower speeds are the way to go for lower gas consumption

Peterson said one of the easiest and safest ways to save cash on gas is to simply slow down.

“The difference between driving 100 km/h versus 120 km/h is huge,” he said.

“Most cars, that’s about a 20 per cent increase in fuel costs just for that 20 km/h. So slow down, it’s the best thing that anyone can do.”

He also advised against fast accelerations.

“The more that foot is on the gas, the more fuel you’re using, so accelerate gently. No harsh, aggressive accelerations,” Peterson said.

The CAA’s website cited a recent study that found quick “jackrabbit” stops and starts increased fuel consumption by 39 per cent.

Idle time…

This one is good for the environment and good for your cash flow.

“Your car uses about the same amount of fuel to start the car as it does to idle for 10 seconds,” Peterson said.

“It will vary a bit from car to car, (but) if you’re going to be sitting there longer than 10, 15 second, turn the car off.”

Too cold? Put errands on hold!

If you check out our astonishingly accurate seven-day forecast and see a few warm days on the horizon, that’s the ideal time to run your errands, Peterson stressed.

“The colder the air is, the denser it is, so that causes a huge drag on the aerodynamics of the car,” he said.

“In this time of year where (it might be) 19 degrees one day, that’s a good day to go do your errands because your engine doesn’t have to warm up as much, and there’s less aerodynamic drag on the car.”

He also suggested doing all your errands in succession, if possible.

“Every time you start your car when it’s cold, the car is going to use more fuel to warm up the engine faster. So if you’re going to do a bunch of errands, you want to do them all in one shot so the engine never cools off.”

Don’t be a drag

Wind resistance is a big gas guzzler, Peterson said, so streamlining your vehicle is a sure way to save some money.

“You see people that have the roof racks on or leave the bike racks on all year long, all that stuff drags and that will have a drastic impact on your fuel economy. Any kind of wind drag, get it off the car.”

Embrace inflation

“Take a good look at your tires,” Peterson advised.

“You need to keep them properly inflated. An under-inflated tire will use more fuel, so make sure they’re properly inflated and if the tires are worn down this is a good time to change them over. The higher the quality of tire, typically, the better the fuel economy.”

Peterson was also adamant that winter tires be switched as soon as the weather permits.

“Winter tires typically do not get as good fuel economy as summer tires do. So usually you want to change your tires when it’s regularly around seven degrees,” he said.

“As soon as we hit that temperature, don’t delay getting them off. Some people wait months to change them. Summer tires have less rolling resistance than the winter tires do. Get them off as soon as you can when it’s safe to do so.”

Lose some weight

Peterson made it clear that there’s a direct correlation between fuel efficiency and weight.

“Make sure you strip the car out from any type of weight you do not need,” he suggested.

“Don’t be driving around with sandbags in the back of the car, or half your house back there because you haven’t unloaded it yet. Keep the car as light as possible because weight just adds to fuel consumption.”

Gas gone wild on spring brakes

After a long winter, your spring brakes may be suffering. And if your brakes are suffering, you’re burning excess fuel.

“The road salt and brine that they use on our roads are very corrosive and they get all over our brakes in the wintertime, and what can happen is the brakes begin to seize up and create extra rolling distance so you’re burning through a bunch more gas,” Peterson said.

“Make sure your tune-ups are on schedule, your oil changes are done, and make sure your brakes are checked and not causing any unnecessary drag.”

Use cruise control

“I always tell people to use cruise control whenever possible, just not in hilly areas,” Peterson said.

“You don’t want to use it in hilly areas, it will suck the gas pretty hard. But if you’re on the highway cruising along, put that cruise control on. It will maintain the speed, it will use the least amount of fuel possible and will stop us from accidentally speeding up.”

Don’t max out the AC

You don’t have to swelter to get a handle on gas consumption, you just have to dial it down a bit.

“I’ll never go without air conditioning,” Peterson said.

“But if you take the dial and just take it off max and go down one or two clicks that will stop the AC compressor from continually running.

“When you put that AC to max that AC compressor, which draws a lot of horsepower from the engine, is constantly coming on. If you turn it down a couple of degrees it will come on much less and nine times out of 10 you won’t feel the difference in temperature just by one or two clicks.”

Peterson said the same advice isn’t necessary when it comes to heating.

“(Heat) doesn’t change the load on the engine where the AC compressor has to kick on and off to move the Freon to the evaporator chords, so heat doesn’t have that much effect.”

Window open or closed?

Does it matter?

“It does matter,” Peterson contended.

“There’s a big debate whether the air conditioner uses more gas or the windows open uses more gas.

“It depends a lot on the vehicle and how efficient the vehicle was built for the air conditioning system, so it’s going to vary from car to car to car. But in my wife’s little Honda Civic, I’m much better off to have the windows up and the AC on, just not on max, and I’ll get much better fuel economy than I would having the windows open because with the windows open it just creates a giant air dam that just sucks the car right down.

Foolish fuel tips

Neutral eyes: So apparently throwing your car in neutral when waiting for a red light to turn green probably isn’t worth your while, Peterson said.

“If there is a difference it’s going to be extremely minimal,” he said.

“I don’t think you can really quantify it because when you take the car into neutral, it takes the load off the engine, so our engine RPM jumps up. So you’re using a bit more gas to increase the RPMs and it still uses fuel as well because it’s under load, so if there’s any difference there, it’s going to be very, very minimal.”

Nozzle jiggle: When gas is so expensive, you want to juice every last drop. But Peterson said you’re better off not jiggling the nozzle once the pump stops.

“Actually on some cars you can cause damage to the car doing that,” he explained.

“There’s actually a vent tube that comes off the tank to vent the fuel because the fuel vapours are toxic for the environment, so it has to go through a system that basically purges those fuel vapours. You can actually backfill that vent system and cause damage to them which can end up an unnecessary repair.

“When it kicks off, just stop.”