Archive for June, 2008

Double Your Gas Mileage

A few weeks ago when I was interviewed on the radio the guys asked me how to get twice the gas mileage out of your car, and I told them it wasn’t possible. Well, as it turns out I was wrong. And no, in this case you don’t need to use any funny additives or devices in your vehicle.

Instead, you do what has been coined “hypermiling.” The best hypermilers are able to double the gas mileage that their cars are supposed to get by driving quite conservatively most of the time.

CNN just ran a news story on this very topic and you can watch a video with the person who “invented” hypermiling, Wayne Gerdes. This guy manages to get up over 50mpg from a Honda Accord – not a hybrid – just a regular old Accord.

And he does it by taking a lot of the gas saving advice you’ll find on this site and taking it to extremes. For example, Wayne hates to use the brake peddle and only uses it if he absolutely. Otherwise, you’ll find him slowly coasting up to stoplights, timing them just perfectly so he doesn’t need to apply the brake. And while he’s coasting he also shuts off the engine to conserve fuel. He parks at the top of hills and doesn’t use his air conditioner (and he also keeps his windows up most of the time). It’s a pretty extreme way of driving but if you’re serious about saving money on gas, then I’d definitely recommend you give it a try. Remember, you don’t need to be nearly as extreme as Wayne to start saving money on gas.

You can learn more about Wayne Gerdis and hypermiling by visiting what I think is his website – Hypermiling.com.

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Need an easy way to start saving money on gas right now? I recommend you get a gas card. They’re free, and the savings can really add up. Check out my gas cards page to find out which ones are recommended and which ones aren’t worth the plastic they’re printed on.

Have you signed up to get my free money saving report, “62 ways to save money on gas” yet? If not, click here to get it absolutely FREE!

Is it time to buy a diesel?

Whenever I tell anyone that I hope my next vehicle is a VW Jetta TDI, they all ask me two questions – 1) what the is it and 2) why would you want to drive a diesel when diesel prices are ridiculous.

Let’s start number one. The VW Jetta TDI is simply a diesel powered Volkswagon Jetta that gets more than 50mpg with a diesel engine – no complicated hybrid technology involved.

And for number 2… with diesel prices reaching $5/gallon why in the heck would anyone want to buy a diesel powered vehicle anymore? Well, first of all, it’s twice the gas mileage that most vehicles get and is even better mileage than the Toyota Prius gets. Also, diesel vehicles have proven that they tend to last a long time, typically easily reaching 200,000 – 300,000 miles. And if anything ever needs servicing on diesel vehicle it’s certainly going to cost less since most mechanics are quite familiar with diesel technology – the same can’t be said for hybrid technology.

Of course, the coolest thing about diesels is their ability to run on far cheaper fuel – vegetable oil. Instead of paying $4 or $5/gallon you can actually get your costs down to as low 46 cents per gallon for fuel.

Filling up the tank for less than $10? You can count me in. Now can you see why I want one?

And this can make getting that diesel powered truck a far more attractive option. Yesterday I was talking about how SUV and truck sales have plummeted with diesel trucks dropping $5000 in value or more. To me that screams opportunity. I could get myself a diesel truck (which always get better gas mileage than their conventional gasoline counterparts anyway) for far less than I could have a few months ago and start running the vehicle on vegetable oil and still pay far less in fuel costs than those Prius owners. Not only that, I wouldn’t be burning any fossil fuels so it’s far more enviromentally friendly.

So have I piqued your interest yet?

Well, if you think it’s worth a try, here’s what I’d recommend you do. You don’t need to go out and do a complicated biodiesel conversion to get started. Instead, you can get this really cool product called the “Diesel Secret” which is a fuel additive you add to the oil you’re going to use as fuel. You don’t need to perform any conversions on your vehicle. You just put in the fuel additive and run the oil through a filter and you’re all set. When it’s all said and done it takes just a little more time than normal to fill up your vehicle, but you end up only paying $.46/gallon or so and many people have reported that it actually makes their diesel engine run better than it did on regular diesel they purchased at the pump.

You can learn more about the Diesel Secret fuel additive here. If you are thinking about buying a diesel or you already own one, I’d definitely recommend taking a look at it.

SUV Sales Plummeting – Trade In Values Falling

For years SUVs have been the cash cow of American car companies like GM, Ford, and Chrysler. However, with gas prices hitting $4/gallon nobody wants to pay the $100/tank or more to fill up their large gas guzzling SUVs anymore. These inefficient beasts have seen sales drop significantly in the last few months and trade in values are dropping thousands of dollars each month.

Some are calling this the death of the SUV. GM is even considering selling off its Hummer line of vehicles.

It’s really a lose lose for SUV owners. If they want to sell their large SUV in favor of a smaller, more fuel efficient car they’re going to find that their SUV no longer sells for what it would have just a few months ago. Let’s take a full size SUV, a Chevy Tahoe, as an example. According to Kelley Blue Book a 2005 Tahoe sold forr about $19,750 last September but now the vehicle sells for $16,400, a $3,350 drop in value, or 17%. Even with gas at $4/gallon, the three grand the SUV owner has lost in value on their vehicle would still put a lot of gas in one of those vehicles.

Diesel powered vehicles have seen an even more dramatic drop with and with diesel prices nearing $5/gallon it’s no surprise. Many models of diesel powered trucks have seen their values drop by $5,000 or more in the last few months.

Nearly all auto manufacturers have seen sales fall but America’s Big 3 have taken the biggest hits due to their dependence on truck and SUV sales. GM has taken the biggest with a 28% drop in sales which has promoted the company to close four truck plants and cut about 10,000 jobs.

And Ford no longer has the best selling vehicle in the U.S. For the past 17 years the Ford F-150 pickup truck has held that title but now that title belongs to the far more fuel efficient and less expensive Honda Civic.

It’ll be interesting to see if American auto manufacturers can recover fast enough from this blow or if it’s already too late.

Did you enjoy this post? If so, why not subscribe to my RSS feed and be notified every time I make a new blog post.

Need an easy way to start saving money on gas right now? I recommend you get a gas card. They’re free, and the savings can really add up. Check out my gas cards page to find out which ones are recommended and which ones aren’t worth the plastic they’re printed on.

Have you signed up to get my free money saving report, “62 ways to save money on gas” yet? If not, click here to get it absolutely FREE!

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