- "Using a higher grade of gasoline will give better fuel economy". Not true! Using higher octane fuel will only cost you more money. Unless your engine has been modified, use only what the manufacturer of your car recommends.
- "Pick up trucks will get better fuel economy with the tailgate down instead of up". It seems to make sense that a up tailgate provides more wind resistance, but scientific testing has proved the opposite is true.
MPG "improvement" products: Be very wary, as the cold, hard simple truth is that basically all of these miracle cures simply do not work. This includes the myriad of fuel and oil treatments, pills, magnets etc. with high prices and heavy advertising. There is even the possibility that their use can damage your engine.
Let us put it another way. If these schemes actually produced real results, don't you think the fuel and car manufacturers would use them? Why don't they? Click here and here for more information.
- "Let your engine idle for short stops like at a mini-market or other quick in and out task. You'll use more fuel turning off and starting the car back up than if you keep it running". This falsehood comes from the old days when car engines were equipped with carburetors instead of fuel injection systems as they are today. It may have been true in those days, but it isn't now.
- "Bigger tires will give me more MPG". Like so many other myths, this one does have traces of truth in it. Bigger tires effectively change the gear ratios in your transmission which can save fuel. The problem is that manufacturers, since the early 1980s, have been equipping cars with transmissions set up for optimum gas mileage and changing to larger tires will not improve it; it may actually cause lower MPG.
