Jeremy Clarkson once said on an episode of Top Gear that it doesn’t matter what you drive; it’s how you drive it. That profound statement came after an interesting test where two drivers would drive around the Top Gear test track; the leading car would be a Prius, and the following car would be a BMW. The concept of the test is easy enough: the Prius would try to drive as fast as possible, and the BMW just had to keep up. At the end of the test, the cars would be filled up, and whoever had the best MPG at the end was declared the winner.
The results of the test weren’t what you’d expect: the BMW came out on top because while the Prius was working hard, the BMW just didn’t work as hard. There are plenty of ways to boost your mileage, let’s go over them!
What is MPG and What Affects It
![MPG tracker on my dash](https://totalapexentertainment.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/IMG_4419.png)
In short, miles per gallon, or MPG, is how far your vehicle will travel with one gallon of gas. You can figure out your total range by knowing how many gallons of gas your tank will hold. You can calculate your MPG, provided your vehicle doesn’t do it for you, by dividing the miles you accumulated between filling up and how many gallons you bought. This is a good way to know if your car is running correctly, and it should be checked periodically; it can also tell you a lot about your driving habits.
As far as what determines your MPG? That’s a more complicated question. MPG rating can be affected by anything and everything. Colder temperatures can help boost your mileage by having colder, denser airflow into your air intake. Weight plays a big factor in how high your MPG can get. If you have a lighter car the engine doesn’t have to work as hard to accelerate. If you keep a lot of things in your car, or your car is just heavy, you tend to use more gas.
Other Factors That Play into MPG
Other factors that come into play when it comes down to your MPG also have a lot to do with your location. The higher up you are in elevation, the less air your engine will have to work with. This lack of air takes a toll on how efficiently your engine produces power, and you might find yourself accelerating harder for longer. How your car is set up matters, too! Rear-wheel and all-wheel drive cars use more gas. This is because your engine has to overcome additional static friction, things like drivetrains and differentials that want to remain at rest.
We’ll cover these in more detail, but one more thing I want to point out is that how you drive is the biggest factor in your MPG. Fast Driver? Lower MPG. Do you use your terrain to your advantage? If so, you’ll see a massive improvement. More dangerous techniques exist, like drafting semis, and while I don’t recommend you try them yourself, they will improve your MPG. Albeit, these are drastic and sometimes extreme choices to make.
MPG Saving tip: Maintenance
Having a well-maintained vehicle is not only responsible but can also save you money in the long run in terms of gas and repair. Routine things like changing your oil and air filter may not increase your MPG, but they will ensure it doesn’t decrease prematurely. Making sure your engine can get enough clean air will go a long way to keeping your mileage as high as possible.
Regular Oil Change
Changing your oil in regular intervals also plays a large part. Oil is essential in your engine as it lubricates the intricate and precise machined engine internals to make sure friction is kept to a minimum. Friction will be the biggest killer for your mileage; it will also be the biggest killer of your car. Proper maintenance is meant to extend the life of your engine, but soon enough, the realities of friction will always win out.
Changing your oil regularly will also prevent the build-up of engine sludge; something that can be determinantal to your performance and MPG. Engine oil isn’t the only thing: don’t forget about the oil in your transmission and differential. These parts don’t need this maintenance often, but they shouldn’t be forgotten as draining the old oil will get rid of small metal shaving as well as refresh the viscosity of the oil.
Changing your oil regularly is essential because as you drive, the viscosity of your oil is changed. When this changes, the oil doesn’t lubricate the parts as well as expected and will lead to a rougher running engine. Friction builds up, which makes it harder for the engine to operate. Your engine will also start to get very hot and start to burn oil. All I can say is that this isn’t ideal.
Efficient Cooling
You also need to stay on top of your coolant. Making sure your engine is cooling efficiently will go a long way to making sure it’s operating normally. A hot engine doesn’t perform as efficiently, both in terms of performance and mileage.
MPG Saving Tip: Weight
It should not come as a surprise that the lighter something is, the easier it is to move. The scientist in me is begging to say that the less mass something has, the less friction and inertia that has to be overcome. I could just say, “The lighter your car, the easier it is for the engine to move it”, and you would probably say, “Well, yeah. Lighter objects are easier to move. Thanks for that.” I feel I should explain why that is the case.
The Laws of Inertia and its Relation to Cars
It all comes down to the laws of inertia. Here’s a quick refresher if it’s been a moment. The three laws state that an object in motion or rest wants to stay in that state unless acted upon by another force. In cars, this means overcoming friction and gravity. When a vehicle is at rest, and the pedal is pressed, the engine has to rev up to spin the internals, flywheel, clutch, transmission, driveshaft (if you have one), and differential to finally spin your tires. Your tires also have rolling friction to overcome as they are at rest.
How to Efficiently Reduce Weight
Compounded with the fact that the engine also has to worry about the mass of the vehicle itself, it’s amazing that anything moves at all. While we can never completely eliminate friction, we can control how much mass we’re trying to move. For most people, this is your sign to clean out your car. In fact, I need to after I’m done writing this. While a couple of empty McDonald’s bags are negligible, they can pile up along with books, mail, those papers in your glovebox, and that box of stuff from last week’s camping trip in your trunk; it can really add up.
You can go extreme with this, too! While I’m not going to recommend taking out extra seats, carpets, inside paneling, doors, hood, trunk, and all the other stuff the car doesn’t need to run. Modifying your car can be fun and expensive, but you can see some benefits to it. Choosing lighter parts will reduce the inertia the engine needs to overcome; it’s also going to reduce the car’s overall mass. A lightened driveshaft and flywheel will help improve your acceleration; it can also save you at least 30 lbs in weight.
Carbon fiber body parts can save a ton of weight as well. While the weight saving seems low, it all really adds up. Depending on what you drive you can save a massive amount of weight. I could lighten my car by about 500 lbs, which would put the total mass at around 2200 lbs.
MPG Saving Tip: Driving
This is the most impactful and cheapest thing you can do. How you drive and how smartly you plan can have a massive impact. In my last job, I was averaging about 28.2 MPG driving 30 miles round trip. After that, I left for the next job driving 44 miles round trip; what do you think I averaged? If you have guessed 33 to 36, I applaud you, but how did I do it? Well, This was all made possible by knowing my route and having good braking habits.
Knowing Your Route
Knowing your route can help you use the terrain to your advantage. By accelerating downhill, you use gravity to assist your engine to accelerate. If you’re able to chain a downhill acceleration into a coasting uphill, you will see a dramatic improvement in your MPG. By understanding your route, you can identify spots that are disadvantageous allowing you to possibly find another, more advantageous route.
Good Braking Habits
Good braking habits can help you out, too. Good braking is what can really separate a good driver from a bad driver, and it can help improve your MPG by reducing the amount of speed you lose. Not only that, but it can be safer as well; let me explain. Your tires are pretty good at gripping, and the more weight you apply to your tires, the more grip you have. However, adding too much weight will overcome the amount of grip your tire has to offer. This is what generally causes slides and skids.
The only thing touching the ground in your car is your tires, and how you act determines how much weight each tire has to handle. By accelerating, your vehicle’s nose points up because of physics; this action also puts more weight on your back tires. Braking shifts the weight to the front. Turing shifts your weight to the outside tires. If you add bad breaking habits in the middle of a turn, most of your weight will go to the front outside tire. This will cause the car to skid in a straight line; that’s called understeer. Accelerating in this instance may cause oversteering, which will cause the rear tires to kick to the outside.
By knowing your route and having a good plan, you can reduce the number of disadvantageous accelerating and braking. Now, I’m not saying you need to take a turn that is recommended at 45 MPH at 80, but if you see a gentle bend, you can absolutely coast through it at the speed limit. The goal here is to use the terrain in a safe manner to help you save money at the pump or at least stretch what you have.
Additional MPG Saving Tips
One more thing I have to point out is hypermiling. This is the practice of extreme MPG boosting without modification. One specific technique that I’ve used is drafting behind semis. While I do not recommend trying this to the degree I did, I was in a spot where I didn’t have a choice. The closer you follow a vehicle, the more “dirty air” you experience. This helps MPG by reducing the friction from air resistance. By following close to a semi, these big vehicles can greatly reduce drag.
Again, don’t tailgate people, as it is rude and dangerous. However, in extreme circumstances, if you have to do this, make sure you choose a semi as they take a long time to stop, much longer than personal vehicles. Again, it’s dangerous, rude, and possibly even illegal. All these useful tips were about two years’ worth of testing out of necessity, so I hope you’ve found something useful.
About the Author
Phillip is an avid gamer and loves football. He loves all types of games ranging from video games, TTRPGs, and board games, and loves to learn about coding and game design. During the football season, he can be found cheering for his favorite football teams, usually with an elevated heart rate and a jersey on. His social media handle is Phillip Bentle on Facebook.
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