Want to get better gas mileage? How to hypermile

With gas prices on the rise, one thing that is at the front of everyone's minds is how to get better gas mileage. Hypermiling is the solution to squeezing that extra bit of fuel economy out of your vehicle. Hypermiling is actually fairly simple - it mostly requires a little bit of responsibility and patience.

How to hypermile

1. Don't drive. When you can avoid driving, ride a bike or walk. It is more satisfying anyway, and you will lose weight by burning more calories - also important in hypermiling (read on).
   
2. Ease up on that lead foot. That lead foot will get you in trouble both with the fuzz and with your gas mileage. Gradual acceleration and braking can save you up to 60% on your gas bill (although this is probably extreme). Engines generally are not at peak efficiency at full or high acceleration, and more energy is lost through heat with aggressive braking.
3. Time lights and traffic to avoid slowing down. As mentioned in #2, braking causes loss of energy (stored as momentum) in the form of heat. Also, once you are stopped or slowed, having to re-accelerate expends more fuel.
4. Make sure your tires are aired up. Under inflated tires can cost you up to 5% fuel economy. When looking for your car's correct tire pressure, don't look on the tire itself - that is the maximum pressure for the tire. The correct tire pressure is indicated either in the car's manual, the driver's door pillar, the glove compartment door, or the gas tank door. Keeping your tires aired up will also extend their life.
5. Get rid of unnecessary weight. Are you hauling around your entire wardrobe, your rock collection, a keg of beer, your bike, and school books from classes you dropped last semester? Remember, for each 100 pounds of stuff you haul around, you lose about 2% gas mileage. Going back to the end of #1, losing some pounds yourself could save you some green. Also, if possible, only fill up the tank enough to get the job done - carrying around the extra fuel adds considerable weight to your ride.
   
6. Don't let your car idle excessively. Idling obviously will get you zero miles per gallon, so it doesn't make much sense to do.
   
7. Coast down long mountains, hills, and downhill roads. I don't recommend turning your engine off, but coasting will save fuel by idling rather than keeping the engine revved, and moving close to the same speed. Do be aware though that it is sometimes more safe to keep your vehicle in gear while descending a steep road. Safety comes before hipermiling!
8. Turn the air conditioner off (you pansy). The air conditioner compressor sucks a lot of power out of your engine. You will feel a noticeable drag when the air conditioner is turned on while driving. That means you are nerfing your fuel economy.
9. Do scheduled car maintenance. Changing your spark plugs, spark plug wires, distributor cap/rotor (if you have one), fuel filter, changing your oil, oil filter, and changing the air filter (along with the other things I missed) will all help you get better gas mileage.
10. Aerodynamics. If you can fit your stuff in the back, leave the top carrier at home. Also, try to find a bike carrier for the back of your vehicle rather than putting them on top. If you have a truck, leaving the bed gate up actually will save you more gas than putting it down - mythbusters even verified this. A bed cover will get you even better mileage.
11. Find the best deals on gas. Go to gasbuddy.com to find the cheapest stations in your area. Also, wal-mart and sams club have discounts if you use a gift card to pay for gas. Additionally, you can save even more with certain credit cards, some offering 5% back on fuel purchases. This is definitely worth doing your due diligence on. Don't, however, be an idiot and drive 50 miles to get gas that is 5 cents cheaper per gallon.
    
12. Drafting behind semis. Despite the naysayers, and a quite retarded post at treehugger, drafting does safe fuel (think Tour de France). They even admit so in their article, quoting mythbusters results: a 20% increase in gas mileage at a distance of 100 feet. At 10 feet, a 45% increase can be achieved, but that isn't really a safe distance to follow an 18 wheeler. I verified that this works by saving almost exactly 1/4 of a tank of gas from my house to Dallas, Texas, where it normally takes about a full tank for the trip (one way). At $60 per tank, I can save up to $30 round trip. That's like 300 packs of ramen noodles. Note: make sure and be extremely alert for the truck braking so you can brake safely and get out of the way if necessary.
    

Happy hipermiling!