Auto Trends

Photo by Caribb

While the lefties would never admit it, a right CAN actually be better than a left when it comes to gas savings. One such instance happens to be the right hand turn lane, which you may or may not already know has been proven by the UPS to be the preferred choice of direction change by their delivery fleets.

In 2004, the UPS officially began their practice of incorporating right turns in their routes and low and behold they actually saved on both money and emission output of their vehicles. It was found to be quite effective. Soon after, the green community began reminding people that they can actually improve their own gas mileage by simply planning their route around right turns.

Their theory is quite simple really. When we wait in line at a left hand turn lane, we are faced with oncoming traffic, which can obviously slow things down significantly. Making a right turn is generally easier to do, quicker to maneuver, and involves the least amount of wait.

Of course, this theory is primary advised for those in the city where traffic can become quite a big hindrance during your daily jaunts. If you live in a small urban town where you could make a left turn with a blind fold on and still have a 98 percent chance of living, then this advice certainly doesn’t pertain to you.

But for those of us who do live within conjested urban trafic, such a small step of planning your routes around right turns can add up to reduced idling (gas savings), less emissions output (saving the world- well, a little bit), and getting where we were heading a lot quicker than the left turn alternative.

With all this said, we also find it our duty to remind you to get your tires rotated regularly if you follow such advice. You should rotate your tires every 5,000 to 10,000 regardless, but when you turn one direction more than another, you are actually wearing your tires unevenly, which will reduce the useful life of your tires if you do not compensate for this.

This helpful advice was brought to you by your helpful, friendly, government United Postal Service driver, who wears shorts, smiles occasionally, and is not disgruntled enough to be giving us bad advice…

Unless you have been sitting in your basement playing marbles for the past week, you should have no doubt noticed the ever decreasing price of gas at the pumps. Are the oil companies running scared from all the treehuggers and their electric lawn mower buggy’s… no! Did they win the lottery and are spreading their wealth to the rest of us poor gas starved folks… don’t think so!

Oil Surplus to the Rescue

Truth be told, for the first time in months, we actually have a bit of a surplus of gas, which has been slowly driving prices back down. The gulf coast oil refineries are back up and running full scale, and suddenly the world has become a better place to drive.

A place where a person can drop by their local convenient store and fill up their SUV or Winnebago without spending an arm and two legs… Today, it is more like just their two pinky fingers and their fifth born.

Winter Blends Roll in Price Drops

Yesterday saw but another price drop, as winter fuel blends have been officially brought in to replaced the summer blends. This meant that many areas saw gasoline within the $3.00 a gallon range or lower.

Despite the fact that people are always complaining about the poor quality of winter gasoline, it always seems to save us ever so slightly each year with at least a small price break. This year it looks like our Christmas has come early with the break we have received.

Summer vs. Winter blend

Compared to the summer blend gasoline, the winter blend does not contain the same extensive processing to remove certain volatile characteristics of the gas that make it more healthy for our ozone. The simpler processing makes the cost of gas production go down between $0.10 to $0.15 per gallon. This is where that savings can come in.

In addition to this, winter blend also must have at least 10 percent ethanol added to its mixture, in what has otherwise become known as E10, E20 (20 percent ethanol), and E30 (30 percent ethanol). This ethanol helps oxygenate the fuel, which improves the quality of the octane, boosts the combustion process, and decreases carbon monoxide output.

Gas Prices Predicted to Drop Lower

The experts are telling us that this isn’t the lowest that we are going to see gas drop this year, as many are predicting the possibility of $2.50 a gallon by the time winter rolls around in full swing. What are people going to do, now that they no longer have a good excuse to blow off Aunt Matilda’s Holiday party and fruit cake casserole!

That $2.50 won’t last forever however, so eat an extra large helping of that casserole and give your Aunt an extra tight hug when you leave, because come next year around this time, there is no telling what gas prices may be!

Photo by Boezak

The thermometer drops along with your gas mileage, your coat closet empties along with your gas tank… yup, you know that winter must be on its way here. We all hate that crappy gas mileage we get in the winter. Truth be told, winter is just plain and simply hard on our vehicles, and there is not much that we can do about such factors as the extra cold causing our engines to run below their preferred temperature, the necessity to use 4-wheel drive more often, the increased wind drag due to the thickening of the air, and the necessity to use our vehicle more… since it isn’t exactly bike riding weather out there.

With this said, there are a few things that you can do to improve your gas mileage during winter and we will kick these five tips off with a big one, excess idling.

Excess Idling-

Yes, one reason for bad fuel economy in the winter is excess idling to warm up your engine, seats, interior, and defrost your windows. This can all be easily taken care of by parking in your garage. It may not be real warm in your garage, but you shouldn’t have frost conditions in there unless you have one heck of an air gap somewhere. The other thought is to blanket your windows if you have to keep your vehicle outside, this will discourage the formation of frost. You also should realize that most newer vehicles do not need to warm up before they can be driven. They were designed to warm-up as they are being driven.

Added Weight-

Do you really need to drive around with sand bags in your vehicle ALL winter? Well, for some regions you do, but if you are not in a particularly bad area, you can save a lot on weight by only using the sand when you really need it. Also don’t forget to take the excess snow off your vehicle after a heavy down poor. This especially goes for you truck owners who can end up hauling around quite a heavy load of ice and snow in their bed because they never take the time to brush it out. Every little pound counts.

Low Resistance Winter Tires-

While many people will be putting winter tires on their vehicle for the next couple months, don’t forget that you can save up to 4.5% in efficiency with low resistance tires. These are often more costly in the long run (although not always), but they often pay for themselves by the time the tire is at the end of its useful life.

Check Tire Pressure Often-

Yeah, yeah, we have said that proper tire inflation saves fuel along with enough other auto sites to make you want to puke, but the opening of winter is the biggest culprit for under inflated tires. For every 5 degrees Celsius the temperature drops, the pressure in your tire will drop one pound per square foot. This is why you will want to keep tabs on your tires throughout these next few winter months until the very most bitter cold days hit.

The Question of Winter Fuel Blends-

Many regions switch over to a winter fuel blend once the cold settles in. There is E10 (10 percent ethanol), E20, and E30. The general consensus is the more ethanol, the worst your mpg will be. Not a whole lot, but by a few percentage points. On the other hand, the more ethanol, the more mileage you can expect for your dollar. It probably all comes out in the wash, but this is certainly something to consider if you live in an area that offers you choices of winter fuel blends.

There you have it… now go make yourself a nice tall mug of hot chocolate. That always seems to make your bad gas mileage go down smoother!