Proper ways on saving gas money - Page 2

work2bfree · 08-05-2008, 03:40 AM

I had the same thing happen to me. I used to drive from Atlanta Georgia to Cleveland Ohio to see my family every holiday. I would leave around 3:00 in the morning. Often during that period, you have either snow or rain or both. I can tell you many stories of my drives and battles with driving behind or alongside a semi.

In Atlanta Georgia, semis were not allowed on Hwy 85. They were required to drive around Hwy 285 which went around the city, but you would often see a semi trying to sneak through the city by driving on 85. Of course, there were those who got caught and were pulled over by the cops. I believe too there was the incident where a semi carrying some type of chemical exploded on one of the overpasses and did a lot of damage on the highway.

gradyp · 08-05-2008, 07:23 AM

One thing that might can save a lot on gas that people might not realize is that if you see a light changing up ahead a ways or traffic slowing down or stopped a ways in front of you, take your foot off the accelerator and "coast" as along as you can before you apply the breaks. In the car I had before the one I have now, I had a guage that showed the MPG I was getting at a particular time. I found, through some experimenting, that you could really push this up, especially coming off of freeways, simply by coasting. It may not save a lot for a particular time you do it, but if you do it consistently, you just might find you go slightly longer between fill ups.

One thing I noticed with the guage is that once you start breaking or accelerating, it drove down the MPG you get.

Another benefit? Particularly at night when there is little traffic, if you time this right with the traffic lights (without running a red light, of course), you just might find that you can coast until the light changes. Because your vehicle is moving, rather than stopped, you can get back up to speed faster, thus using less gas in accelerating.

Might only save a few "cents" here and there, but it can add up.

Grady

Sweetestmiracle · 08-05-2008, 06:15 PM

WOW work2bfree!! I am so thankful that I do not live in an area that gets to much snow. A heck of a lot of rain, but not much snow. I normally make my husband dirve in the snow. He use to do a little racing back in his time and knows how to handle the car better than I. I start to panic when the car tends to slide. I should not be behind the wheel if I am like that. To jumpy!

Grady- When I use to have a stick shift I use to coast all the time. Loved it. I even taught my daughter how to do this since she was paying for her own gas. She pretty much has the lights down pac throughout town. But you are only able to do this during certain times of the day and since she goes to work at 5:50am, its perfect.

Take care

work2bfree · 08-06-2008, 02:05 AM

I grew up in California, not much snow there except if I would go to the mountains to go skiing. When my family moved back to Ohio, my father's family is from there, I remember driving to work in the snow. I had just graduated from college and the only car I could afford (I am probably going to show my age here) was a Yugo. Do you remember those little toy cars. They looked like they used peddles and no engined. Anyway, the back-end of the car used to slip and slide often when I would drive. This is why during bad snow weather, I would just take the bus.

To be honest Grady, I am awful at saving gas. I am always in a hurry. I have a real estate investment business and I am currently working on getting my triplex with tenants. I also have a home business. So, between work, my real estate and my home business, I am always rushing here and rushing there. Luckily, I don't have to drive too much and too far everyday. It only takes me only 8 minutes to get to work.

allisonpolk · 08-14-2008, 04:18 PM

Be careful! Anything with a large load, like timber trucks, can also slide off and hit your windshield.

work2bfree · 08-16-2008, 03:46 AM

A friend of mine had a truck dump a bunch rocks onto her brand new car. She had just driven off the car dealership when it happened. She had to turn the car back around and drive it into the dealership to have repairs made.

We can laugh about it now, but I am sure at the time I am sure it was not so funny.