Car Talk

I don’t usually drive that much, but after filling up my Mini Cooper for a grand total of $46 over the long weekend, I started thinking about all of the people who really have to drive. These folks do not have public transportation readily available and must get in their cars daily to earn a living. A lot of them are not in a position to buy a new and/or more fuel efficient vehicle at this point, so here are some tips that I learned when Matt Stone, the executive editor of Motor Trend appeared with me on the same Fox Business News show yesterday.

There are the obvious pointers, like try to carpool with people as much as possible. When gasoline prices plummeted, the idea of sharing your commute with a neighbor or heaven-forbid, a total stranger, seemed onerous. But with the national average for a gallon of gas well over $4, necessity certainly makes for strange bedfellows, or car mates. I understand from friends who are long-time carpoolers that there are some unwritten rules that you may want to know. For example, there is no talking about politics, religion or gossip. In fact, in some cars, there is no talking at all. Additionally, the driver usually chooses the radio station, but most are tuning into news for traffic updates. One woman told me that I should underscore that “back-seat driving is absolutely, positively prohibited under any circumstances!”
Beyond carpooling, Matt Stone’s energy-saving list starts with an interesting tip: driving habits affects mileage more than anything else. He noted that those who tend to drive aggressively are by definition wasting gas because revving the throttle is wasteful. This is another reason to curse those who weave in and out of traffic or be upset with drivers who seems to accelerate and decelerate every 5 seconds. The converse is that those drivers who make smooth transitions on the road tend to be more energy efficient.

Maintaining your car also helps with mileage—that means keeping your tires properly inflated and that wheel balance and alignment are checked; making sure that your filters are fresh and fluids are clean; and that the engine is tuned up and firing on all cylinders. This may seem like a pain, but it requires a quick stop at your local station and may help you save a few bucks over the longer term.

Here is a tip that I will never follow: try to run your car without air conditioning. I will admit that my carbon footprint will never shrink significantly because I am in love with A/C, both in my home and in my car. But for those of you who say, “I don’t like air conditioning” or “we don’t need air conditioning because we’re so close to the ocean!” (You know who you are, you crazy New Englanders) this tip is an excellent rationale for why you are sitting on Route 95, sweltering in ridiculous humidity.

Finally, the last tip gives new meaning to the term “junk in the trunk.” Matt said that one way to improve efficiency is to empty out your vehicle’s trunk. The extra 50 or 100 pounds of junk requires more gas to lug around and frankly, isn’t it time to store the chains and shovels? There will be plenty of time to load it all up again.