NPR: The Gas Reality: There's No Magic Solution

The Gas Reality: There's No Magic Solution

Compare prices to save big at the pump.

Everybody is trying to save money on fuel costs these days. In the spirit of frugality, a seemingly endless number of e-mails, blog posts and magazine articles have sprung up with tips on how to get the most gas for your green.

Information is power, and following many of the suggestions will indeed save you money. However, there is also a bevy of misinformation and gas-saving myths floating around out there. Who are we, the poor consumer, supposed to believe?

Let's keep it simple. Here are three sure-fire ways to save money and reduce the amount of gas you burn, as suggested by Black Voices:

1) Find the Best Deal on Gas. Period. Comparison shop. Be a proactive consumer. Shop around to find the most competitive price in town.
Online Resource: Visit http://gasprices.mapquest.com to compare prices in your area. You can find the best deal by zip code and street name, as well as check out prices by grade of gasoline.

2) Buy a Fuel-Efficient Vehicle
Consider buying a fuel-efficient vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, or an alternative-fuel vehicle. It could save you a lot at the gas pump, not to mention help the environment.
Online Resource: Visit http://FuelEconomy.gov for tips on buying a new fuel-efficient car or truck.

3) Slow Things Down
Gas mileage decreases rapidly at speeds above 60 mph, costing an additional 10 cents per gallon. Aggressive driving can lower gas mileage by as much as 33 percent on the highway and 5 percent on city streets, resulting in 7 cents to 49 cents per gallon. Don't get too emotional driving, put your car on cruise control and relax.

There you have it. In order to save money, you must become a more educated consumer. Of course, there are plenty of us out there who seek immediate gratification. We are eager to try anything to help ease our frustrations, which can lead to making costly mistakes or wasting valuable time.

Here are three common gas-saving myths that, according to CNN Money, are well worth avoiding:

1) Fill Your Tank in the Morning You may have heard that it's best to fill your gas tank in the early morning while the fuel is cold. The theory goes that fluids are more dense at lower temperatures, so a gallon of cold gas actually has more gas molecules than a gallon of warmer gas.
But the temperature of the gasoline as it comes out of the nozzle varies little during the course of the day, according to Consumer Reports, so there's little, if any, benefit, to getting up early to pump gas.

2) To A/C or Not A/C?
In around-town driving, using the A/C will drop fuel economy by about a mile a gallon.

Meanwhile, driving at higher speeds with the windows down greatly increases aerodynamic drag. As speed increases, drag becomes more of an issue, making A/C use the more efficient choice at high speeds.

The best choice -- if temperature and humidity allow -- is to keep the windows rolled up and to turn the A/C compressor off. You can keep the fans running to blow in air from the outside, but your car will be as aerodynamic as possible while still letting you breathe. You will save gas, but the fuel economy improvement will be slight.

3) Bolt-ons and Pour-ins
Before you buy a device that's supposed to make your car more fuel-efficient or pour in an allegedly gas-saving additive, ask yourself this: Don't you think oil and car companies aren't doing everything they can to beat their competitors?

If there really was an additive that made gas burn up more slowly, it wouldn't be sold over the Internet one bottle at a time. If General Motors could make its cars go significantly further on a gallon simply by putting a device into the fuel line, don't think for a second it wouldn't be doing that. GM's car sales would go through the roof.

Here are more online resources aimed at helping save you money:

My Gallons: Buy gas at today's prices and save your credits. If the price of gas increases, you still pay the original amount.
Gas Buddy: Another convenient tool to track down the best gas prices in your town.

Please share your tried and true methods of saving money at the pump with us below.

Geoffrey Gardner

Tags: fuel prices | gas prices | saving money on gas

4:14 PM ET | 07- 1-2008 | permalink

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Sent by thoughtful card sender | 10:46 PM ET | 07-01-2008

There is a solution, it's called buy a GERMAN DIESEL. Support a country that builds and has been using Mercedes hydrogen fuel cell buses since 2004. That's GERMANY.

The US is still incompetent when it comes to auto tech and it seems they'll never learn. So why keep supporting the bankrupt auto industry?

German diesels get over 50mpg, and the engines last over 500K miles, and can run off of cooking oil and other oils. Not to mention far superior safety ratings and gadgets to make driving a pleasure, like xenon headlights which use less power and are double the brightness.

Sent by John | 2:57 AM ET | 07-05-2008

John is right. 'The US is still incompetent when it comes to auto tech and it seems they'll never learn.'

Yes, and the handwriting has been on the wall for year not only for US car industry but for us Americans as well. We have ignored ALL the signs! Does anyone remember the gas shortage & long lines in the late 70's? If so why have we sat on this for 30yrs? Was that not the warning to get busy on more fuel efficient cars, alternative energy, more affordable & efficient mass transit & rail system, a redesigning of cities & neighborhoods, how & when we work & commute? All of the above require innovation & a changing of behavior and us Americans can't be inconvenienced so we just whine!

Fast forward and despite all of this there was an suv boom, bling boom, then a re-emerging of the 'muscle cars'. People moving further away from the cities forcing longer commutes, then wanting to move back into the city forcing an adjustment by those who couldn't afford to move originally to now move out of the city, away from jobs but not providing sufficient public transit as an alternative. Yes, this has been a failure with lots of repercussions and related domino effects.

Now we get many who pat themselves on the back for buying a Prius, nevermind that it takes more energy to produce a hummer than a Prius and you'd have to drive it 100,000 miles to recoup the savings, but the battery won't last that long so.....

The best recycling is to buy a used car but then one has to weight that against the desire to be vogue and green hip, which in the end overrides any concern for the environment.

So when we complain about high gas prices as though as Americans, we have a constitutional right to cheap gas it seems ridiculous.

Nothing will change until OUR BEHAVIOR & DEMANDS change. Once our behavior changes the market will reflect that. Otherwise it's just lip service.

Sent by Jon J | 2:05 PM ET | 07-07-2008

If I'm not mistaken Ford sells high mileage cars in foreign markets (China?) that aren't available in the US.

Sent by Jon J | 2:07 PM ET | 07-07-2008

It's probably because they don't think the US market will buy into ECONOMICAL cars. After all their US mindset is still stuck in the 70's.

If ALL of Europe can get by on compact/midsize cars and station wagons, then the US can too!! Most Europeans don't drive the autobahn in BMW 5 series with 400HP V8's. Even in Germany BMW costs a pretty penny. Instead they drive VW/Audi Passat and A4, and BMW 3 series with 4 and 6 cyl diesels which get to the same speeds, just takes a few seconds more. They get the stripped down versions that they refuse to give the US market. Here they only give you the fully loaded with leather, or nothing at all option, which pushes the prices to over $30-40K instead of the $20K Europeans get to pay. That's why Americans get the idea European cars are only for rich people. It's because they don't give you a choice.

I wish every state would hire a German engineering firm to build inner city and intra city rail systems. They need to be shown how it's done RIGHT. Don't leave it to US engineers; you know, the ones who put manhole covers in the middle of the freeway and city streets when they should be put on the SIDEWALK, so lanes of traffic don't have to be closed down.

Sent by John | 12:38 AM ET | 07-09-2008

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