Drive a Stick and Do it Properly for Maximum Fuel Efficiency
Drive a stick shift. I truly believe if you’re not driving a manual transmission, your car is driving you. Most of the time an automatic transmission will make the right choices, but it can’t see everything you can. A torque converter, the device that transmits energy from the engine to the wheels in an automatic transmission, has an 10 to 20% efficiency loss under 40 miles per hour on most cars.
Shift slow and low. I shift from 3000 rpm to 2000 rpm on every gear, with a little variance for actual road conditions. I rarely go above 4000 except to get out of trouble on the road or on a very short exit ramp. Shifting at higher RPMs gives you more power and feels sexier, but shifting lower gives you more mileage. If you must drive an automatic, the car will do this for you if you accelerate slowly.
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