Conserve Momentum, Brake Hard
It sounds like a contradiction, but there are rare times when braking hard can save fuel compared to coasting or light braking: it’s a “damage control” technique when faced with an unpredictable/unanticipated stop or slow down ahead and not a lot of space.
An example: approaching a fresh red traffic light that had no other indicators to predict the change (no pedestrian signal and no cars waiting on the cross street). If you brake lightly/moderately, you will cover the entire distance to the intersection and have no option but coming to a full stop.
But if you brake quite hard initially, you can potentially scrub enough speed and buy enough time to coast the remaining distance to the intersection at a low speed. With judgment and some luck, you’ll arrive at a fresh green light and avoid a full stop.
Obviously, rapid deceleration isn’t a safe option if there is following traffic.
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DIY Lexan Headlight Cover For Increased MPG
I made some Lexan headlight covers and am going to tell how to do it. These will help FE for us with the older style “bucket” headlights, with a lower cost than replacement composite headlights.
You will first have to make a template of your surround. I used poster board and made the template by laying it over the surround and cutting to the outside edge of surround.
Once you have the template take to a plastic company in your area. A sign/graphics place is a good place to start, or glass shop’s normally carry it also.
The lexan I used is roughly 1/16 inch thick you don’t want any thicker or it will not bend to form.
You will need to heat the lexan with a heatgun (not a hair-dryer) to give it a bowl shape first.(This enables the lexan to curve away from headlight not suck in towards it) Do this by heating the front outside face in the center, while holding by one edge. You will see it deform into a bowl shape. Do this very slowly while moving heatgun in large circles. Do not sit in one area move fast, or it WILL warp the material. You don’t need alot of curve only a little. Like a foam Dixie plate. Only takes a few seconds to accomplish this. The curve will go away when cool, but remains in the plastics “memory” so make sure you make the outside somehow like using a piece of masking tape.
Some more steps are explained in pictures.
Here are some pics enjoy. 
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Driving With Daytime Running Lights Off To Save Gas
Although the balance between fuel economy and safety should always be examined, in some situations it makes no difference. If you’re on a divided highway on a sunny day I don’t think you need to worry about your running lights. Some vehicles use as much as 100 watts of electricity to power these bad boys, and that ultimately comes straight from your gas tank. Don’t use them if you don’t need them to be safe!
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Gas Saving Products - What’s Your Experience?
Having spent the last couple years running what I would like to think is a semi-successful site dedicated to fuel economy, I have received a ton of emails from individuals and businesses asking me to shill their “revolutionary” gas saving products.
Some ask if I will write about their product for free, while others offer [...]
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Avoid Excessive Idling
- A few good ways to avoid excessive idling are your shopping stops. Don’t sacrifice fuel for convenience. Drive through banks, atms, fast food, etc. all lead to wasted gas. Get out of your car, its really not that difficult. When you’re going to get gas try to do it at off peak times, waiting in line in your car either means stopping and starting or idling, neither are good.
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Nissan Steps It Up With the Infinity G35 Hybrid
The days of hybrid adolescence are far behind us….now every automaker has hybrid offerings that range from daily commuters to trucks and SUV’s. Hybrids were once the prized possession of mundane everyday commuters. Now that GREEN is the new cool….yuppies have jumped at any Hybrid Luxury offering available!
Those offerings are few and far between though! Lexus has had the Hybrid Luxury market cornered for a while now. The Lexus RX 400h starts at k and averages 25.5 MPG! The Lexus GS 450h costs a pretty hefty k and averages 23 MPG….yuck! And then there is the Lexus 600hL…but for 1k we won’t even go there.
So how come it has taken so long for other companies to branch out into the Luxury hybrid market? Who knows…seems like common sense to me! But now Infinity has stepped up to the plate with a G35 hybrid. The G35 is an enormously popular car in the past…and now with the hybrid available…..it should plant itself as the definition of affordable hybrid luxury!
This Infinity/Nissan will be faster, cleaner, and net better gas mileage than the current G35. Of course it will cost a couple of thousand more but the plus side is this hybrid will net 40% better MPG than the current all-gas powered car…..34 MPG! Take that Lexus….of course we will have to wait for real world testing to authenticate that number! Oh and this car is slated for release in the year 2010. Come on Nissan and get with it….we want this car now!
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com/media/roadtests/firstdrive/2008/infiniti.g35.
Tell the Judge to KissMYTicket by enrolling in the Cheap Los Angeles Traffic School!
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Talk To Knowledgeable People About Increasing Gas Mileage
The internet is your friend. You may know people in real life that have good experience in various things, but finding a ton of people all together with good experience in one specific thing is a unique trait of the internet. Check out some forums where you can learn about increasing your gas mileage, ask questions, get help, and improve your knowledge base. I recently discovered ecomodder forums and love it! Give it a shot.
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Winter Tires vs All Season
Are you ready for the slippery slopes? When the snow is falling you want snow tires! Makes sense right? Truth is many people think All-Season tires will do just as well. Well for areas with significant snowfall that just isn’t the case. All seasons are meant to be used year round so they need to work in a variety of situations therefore compromising their ability to work extremely well in any one season. Whereas winter tires are made just for winter. They are created with better tread to grip into the snow, as well as a different tire compound material to provide a softer tire. The tread can even be designed so that it may throw the snow, for example when turning. All this will greatly improve your handling in snow weather. Finding a snow tire with the snow symbol printed on the sidewall indicates that the tire will perform better than an All-season tire. How many tires should be changed? All four tires will provide best stability and handling. Remember though to remove the snow tires for summer and spring as the tread will wear faster due to its softer compound the tire is made of.
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Buying New over Used? Why?
Used vs New
People complain all the time about having no money, being broke, and always having bills to pay. Chances are that person also owns a new car. I’m not sure how broad a range this “new car syndrome” extends, but I have seen it a lot. This is not just geared towards young people, many older people do the same thing. Why I’ll never know.
Here’s my take on it. Everybody wants to drive something nice, whether its to be respected or look cool or some other arbitrary reason. Why do people want new vehicles?: To show-off, to seem well-off, they believe they will have less maintenance, or problems, or they just plain like the vehicle that no other will suffice.
Vehicles depreciate fast, and their biggest drop is when you drive it off the lot. BAMMM you just lost 00-000. Still like that new car? If your leasing you have the monthly payments to make and the buyout at the end of the lease to pay, its just so much money. All that could have been used elsewhere.
What really get me is when someone buys a new crappy car. Really come on. Why not use the money to buy a used car of nicer make. Used cars can look just as good as old, and grab just the same amount of attention. Buying used you pay once your done. You can afford to get the brand you want, but say a couple of years older, but with a lot lower price. Or cars you could never afford new, why not by a older used version? How is that a loss. Cars usually keep their design for at least a couple of years so no one can tell the difference anyway. Is that at 08′? No, its a 06′.
To me if you aren’t Mr. Moneybags buying used makes more sense to me anyway. People may say what about all the breakdowns, maintenance on older vehicles? Well i say this. You most likely bought too old or didn’t completely check out the car before buying. Cars are becoming more reliable as the years progress, so they will last longer without the extra repairs. I for one will never buy a new car, unless i can pay for it in full with cash. I’d advise most people to think the same way for their financial future.
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Time Traffic Lights And Save Gas
Traffic lights in most intersections are tripped by a sensor, so when a car is coming they get ready to switch to green when its that light’s turn. If there’s a car in front of you to trip the sensor then slow down and make a gentle rolling approach. Chances are the light will change before you get there and you will not have to come to a complete stop.
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