Gasoline is at an all time high right now in terms of price. In fact, Indiana is in the top 5 of the most expensive fuel in the country. Trying to get the best fuel economy with your driving habits might be easier than you think. The following tips from yahoo.com should help you even though some of these tips fly in the face of conventional wisdom with regard to things like acceleration.

Tip #1: Coast to a stop

You have to use your brakes, but braking hard ruins your fuel economy which is why you should anticipate a red light and begin slowing ahead of time and ease off the gas. The less you brake, the more fuel you will save.

Tip#2: Avoid slowly crawling up to speed

This definitely goes against what you have learned in terms of accelerating quickly. You want to avoid 'jackrabbit' starts, but accelerating too slowly will lower your mpg. Acceleration rates vary with the vehicle.

Tip#3: Close windows and use A/C at high speeds

This has been an ongoing debate for years about whether opening your windows and turning off the A/C really helps. Turns out using the A/C at speeds of 55 mph and above is better because for every one window opened at that speed, you lose an average 1 mpg per window.

Tip#4: Cruise at a lower speed

You always want to obey speed limit signs on any given highway, but slower is better without going too slow and creating a hazard by going much slower than the flow of traffic. Accelerating from 40 mph to 60 mph uses less fuel than jumping from 60 to 80 mph. Going 80 mph or anything way above the posted speed limit will drain the tank much faster.

Tip#5: Climb slowly (when safe)

The best thing to do here is to turn off the cruise control and forget about maintaining a constant speed up and down the hill. On your way up, back off the accelerator and let your speed decay just slightly and you will make it up on the down side of the hill, getting better gas mileage on the way down.

Tip#6: When coasting downhill, leave the car in gear

Many people think going down a hill in neutral is a gas saver. This is not true. In fact, coasting downhill in neutral is illegal in most states and creates all kinds of safety concerns like, not being able to accelerate quickly if need be and if the engine stalls, you have no power steering or vacuum boost for the brakes.

Also, monitor tire pressure and warm up the engine before you start out no matter how warm it is outside. Happy driving this summer and be safe, there is no substitute for using a little old fashioned common sense.

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