These are my nine easy, low-hanging fruit suggestions that work to improve gas mileage. They work because physics works. But they won’t work for you; I’ve already given up on that.
Why? Because behavior change is hard. You’d sooner eat raw kale and floss daily than take the lead out of your right foot. These are boring things, and they might just take the fun out of driving. In a world that demands adulting, we all cling to our few opportunities to cut loose.
Your car is you. Even if you didn’t pick your car. Even if you’re destined for a Ferrari but stuck in a Focus. Even if you don’t “mod” anything, your car is an extension of you. It can be the way you drive, the people inside, even the desiccated Popeye’s spicy chicken tender between the seat rails.
So, you’re unique, and so is your car. And that means there’s hope that, for some, these suggestions to improve your fuel economy aren’t hard at all.
Time to find out — is it actually easy being green?
9 Ways to Make Your Gas Car Greener
1. Make Friends
Carpooling, the obvious choice that multiplies passenger-miles-traveled per gallon. But do you really like your neighbors and/or work colleagues enough to spend another hour with them each day?
This is America. Your car is your freedom and your sanctuary, and no one else needs to know how weak your falsetto is when you rock out to The Darkness’s “I Believe in a Thing Called Love.”
2. Slow Down!
What if I told you I could reduce your fuel bill by 25-30% and change nothing about your car? Interested?
Your car is roughly 30% less efficient at 80 mph as it is at 55 mph. Why? Physics — drag in particular. At high speeds, aerodynamic resistance is governed by the equation:
Cd (coefficient of drag) and A (frontal area) are defined by your car; p is constant. That only leaves v (velocity), and the drag force changes with velocity squared.
That’s why it becomes prohibitively expensive to drive the faster you go. This is truer still if you have a large vehicle with lots of frontal area — which leads to my next point.
3. Take All That Stuff Off Your Roof
It’s perfectly kitted; the shiny axe, the jerry cans stacked neatly in a row next to your Zarge cases. Your overland rig is a work of organizational and practical rolling art. When you park at the field on Saturday, everyone at the kids’ soccer practice will instantly know you’re not compensating for anything.
Sorry if this hurts your “game,” but anything you can take off the outside of your car when you’re not using it will reduce the “A” (area) in the drag equation, saving you and the planet.
My esteemed editor Bryon Dorr took the time to remind me that I used to roll around Portland in my first-gen Tacoma with a James Baroud XXL rooftop tent that was so outlandishly big it looked like the truck might take flight — and it sounded like it would too from the engine strain.
Worse still, square boxes and jerry cans make for dirty airflow, increasing the “Cd” and hurting you further.
But hey, this is rolling art we’re talking about here. How can you place a value on that?
4. Remove Junk From the Trunk
Weight is your next cause of drag, pushing your tires down onto the pavement and increasing your rolling resistance. You can save yourself the tire wear and the gas by thinning out your personal gear.
That includes the aforementioned junk on your roof! But hey, you never know when the zombie apocalypse might strike, so best to keep a machete and 3 months of rations in the boot just in case.
5. Draft
You could draft a semi truck! It totally works by the same laws of physics. But no one does this because it’s a truly bad idea for your health and safety, not to mention illegal.
To actually get close enough to make a difference, you’ll have to be within just a few feet of the leading vehicle. When it hits the brakes, you’ll have zero reaction time.
Turning your Fiero into a fireball does not reduce carbon emissions. And more importantly, GearJunkie readership numbers just can’t take that hit — please never draft another vehicle.
6. Keep It Low
Why do F1 cars hug the tarmac so tightly that you see sparks fly? The higher your car, the more aero drag — simple as that.
So it’s time to get behind the “slammed” look and give up the lift. Yes, that might mean you can’t rock the same truck nuts without chafing.
And besides, many lifts — especially those done improperly — change handling and could result in increased drag and tire wear. But, since you can’t fit 35s on your stock Fiesta, lift away!
7. Big Tires Are a Big Drag
You probably knew where this was leading. Those honkin’ 35s slow you down in a myriad of other ways.
First is the friction — increased rolling resistance.
Second is mass, and it’s worse than the static mass inside the car. Any driveline component that rotates (rotational mass) requires more energy to accelerate and decelerate because it’s both linear and rotational motion.
Bigger, heavier tires often require stronger, heavier rims. And then you might add fender flares because of the track width, which tacks on more aerodynamic penalty.
Between road friction, aero friction, and rotational mass, your big tires are costing you.
8. Low Rolling Resistance Tires
If your automotive appetite appreciates speed, you’re likely prioritizing aerodynamics and paying a premium for lightweight parts. You’re probably also paying for premium rubber — traction is everything. Traction also means friction, and sticky rubber increases your rolling resistance.
Even if you’re not going to track days, traction means control and safety. The Bridgestone Ectopia tires my VW e-Golf shipped with were downright dangerous in rainy weather, as they couldn’t manage the torquey electric motor.
“Eco” tires have come a long way, and modern compounds balance performance and traction very well. They can pay off in the long run, but those premium rubber compounds increase up-front costs. That, coupled with bland aesthetic, means that few drivers will choose the path of least resistance.
9. Turn Off the A/C
No one wants to smell your funk when you get to the party. And in any case, for most modern cars, you’re sacrificing less than 1 mpg to cool your cabin.
Keep that A/C on for everyone else’s sake, too — comfortable drivers are alert drivers. No sense in nodding off when the heat goes to your head!
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