Gas Mileage: Do any of you have good methods...

[DRoseDARs]

...of improving your vehicle's miles-per-gallon (or kpg if you're so inclined) rating? I just recently figured out that my '92 Explorer is running at about 15.9 mpg (better than the <14 mpg I was fearing) and I'd like to see if there are reasonably-priced auto parts I could add to bump that mpg up. I'm not an auto buff (that's my stepdad's forte, being a former auto mehcanic and all), so try to be as clear as you can in what you're telling me.

[VetLegion]

Always try to catch wind in the back ...

Do you have a manual gear shifter or automatic?

[Eli]

Drive less, post on Poly more.

[VetLegion]

1. As a rule of thumb, the car will spend less fuel if the engine rotates less. So by adjusting your style to always drive at 2000rpm (don't be heavy on the gas, switch gears often) you could save fuel. Many people drive at 3500-4000 rpm which is quite unnecessary.

2. The problem with newer cars is that they have onboard computers, the fuel mix that goes into the engine (and thus consumption) is magically calculated from tens of parameters, so I don't know what you can do if you have such a car.

3. Air resistance rises with speed, if you drive on highways a lot, driving 130 km/h instead of 160 km/h will save you a lot of fuel. This is irrelevant for most city driving.

4. Turn off the engine if stuck in traffic.

5. Don't buy any of those magical liquids, lubricants and whatnot that supposedly make car run more efficient. They don't.

[chequita guevara]

I noticed when driving a rented Prius that the car had a sweet spot of 55mph, where it was getting 60 to 70 mpg. At highway speeds above that, it progressively dropped to 45mpg.