jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

According to an article by the Family Handyman, you should not use your car's air conditioner if you want to save gas. Really?! Want to save money on gas? Lose weight - you and the car. Remove the spare tire, jack, and anything that isn't essential to the car's operation. Don't use anything electrical in the car, which means never driving at night. Drive slowly. Coast through stop signs. Inflate the tires to the maximum allowed

Here are more tips to save money in general. Don't heat your house in the winter. Don't wash your clothes. Don't vacuum your floors. Don't mow the lawn.

GM and Mythbusters did controlled tests, and both found that driving with the windows open uses less gas. How much less? I don't care! When I'm too warm in the car, I turn on the A/C. My gas mileage varies with every fill-up, but unless I did a very controlled study, I would not be able to tell the difference. Forgetting about the temperature, driving with the windows open is very noisy.

Being calm and comfortable makes for a safer drive. Eliminating just one unnecessary trip to the store could save more gas than keeping the windows open.

You know what's awful about this article? With record temperatures throughout the country, some poor old woman is going to suffer with the A/C off to save a nickel a day.

Rich2236 Loc: E. Hampstead, New Hampshire

You are so right, Jerry...I know some people that will even drive 10 miles to a gas station just to save a few cents on a gallon of gas. It's not worth the effort! If you don't get stuck one way "they" get you another way. You can't escape forever.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I read a post on a car forum in which a guy said he doesn't use the car's heater in the winter because he doesn't want the engine to get cool and burn more gas. There's not much going on inside his head.

Rich2236 Loc: E. Hampstead, New Hampshire

And they breed and multiply!!!!!!!

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Really want to save gas?
Lay off the accelerator!

I "drive ahead", watching what traffic is doing, backing off and coasting.
Saves brakes also.

None of this "gas, brake, gas, brake, gas....".

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Boy! Is that good advice! You must look ahead. Absolutely nothing is happening where you are at the moment. Everything will happen up ahead. I see people with their brake lights on so much that I wonder how they can get anywhere. I take my foot off the gas as often as I can, and I avoid using the brakes. I learned a lot from taking motorcycle-riding courses. Looking at the exit of a long, curvy turn will automatically make you use the correct amount of steering input.

Even as a kid, I liked reading about how to drive. I've always been interested in cars.

sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD

Had to take a driver training course when driving a company car. One thing they emphasized was looking ahead and anticipating whether the light was going to stay green or was"stale" and would probably turn soon. And stay off the brakes as much as possible. By adhering to this advice I did not have to renew my brakes for at least 70K miles.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

When stuck in slow moving traffic on the interstate I hardly have to use the brakes... idle speed + plus a skosh as required.
Not like one can step on the gas and go anywhere!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I recently learned that if you to speed up to get through the intersection when the light is yellow, that's considered a violation. The idea is that maintaining the same speed would have seen you going through a red light.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Yes, many places!

aphelps Loc: Central Ohio

And they vote!

aphelps Loc: Central Ohio

And they vote!

therwol Loc: USA

You can "brake" by downshifting through the gears. I know someone who used to do that with his manual transmission. The problem with that is that your the brake lights don't come on, so the person behind you gets no warning that you're slowing down. I'm pretty sure that this method wouldn't save gas, since the engine revs up with each downshift.

dbrugger25 Loc: Raleigh, NC

You don't need the brakes at all. Just let the vehicle in front of you cause you to stop.

fourlocks Loc: Londonderry, NH

Plus, cars are so much more efficient than they were 10 or 20 years ago. My Nissan sedan gets 40 mpg on the highway; something the smallest compact couldn’t achieve in the 90’s. I tried AC turned on with windows open and windows closed on a 2 hour drive up and back to Maine. No difference in mileage that I could measure.

I could get slightly better mileage with cruise control turned off because I could anticipate a hill and slowly (and efficiently) speed up before the hill allowing acceleration to bleed off, going up the hill. Cruise control just kept pressing down on the accelerator to maintain speed going up the hill.