Guest Author - Lana R. Mixon

It seems that as gas prices soar, myths surrounding gasoline saving measures also soar.

I live in Louisiana where subways, metro systems and good city transportation systems don’t exist. Sidewalk systems are also non-existent. Cars and gasoline are basically a necessity for those of us that work away from home every day. A lot of people that live in Lafayette, LA came here, as I did, in the late 1960’s due to the oil boom. My father worked in the oilfield and he followed oil companies to Lafayette in 1969. He knew that he would be able to support his family by working in the oilfield and eventually as an oilfield consultant. And, for many years oil companies were based in Lafayette…oil and money flowed freely …until the early 1980’s when everything crashed. Oil companies and people left Lafayette faster than they had arrived in 1969. Lafayette was a bit of a “ghost town”. My father didn’t work for almost 2 years, but luckily my parents had saved a good bit of money during the “good times”. Lafayette slowly regrouped and recovered. It was a hard lesson for all that have remained here during the “boom and bust”.

I decided to do some research and debunk some of these gasoline myths. These have been researched by various companies or organizations such as Consumer Reports, Edmunds and EPA:

1) Do products (fuel-saving devices) that claim to increase gas mileage really work? NO
2) Does turning your air conditioner off increase gas mileage? NO
3) Do you save gas by idling instead of turning your car off then back on? NO, turn your car off.
4) Does a higher octane gas increase gas mileage? Not, necessarily. Use the octane that is listed in your car owner’s manual.
5) Do overinflated tires increase gas mileage? No, and this is dangerous.
6) Does a clean air filter increase gas mileage? No.
7) Does a gallon of cold gas have more gas molecules than a gallon of warmer gas? No.
8) Should you remove excess items from your car to lessen the weight to improve gas mileage? YES
9) Should you use cruise control (if you have it) l when appropriate? YES

These myths are quotes from the Drive Smarter website: (http://drivesmarterchallenge.org/money-saving-tips/myths.aspx)

Myth: You should warm up your vehicle in the morning before driving.
Myth: Fill your tank when it is half full in order to minimize gas evaporation and loss.
Myth: Buying premium gasoline improves mileage



Sometimes it is difficult to discern the facts from the myths!



http://money.cnn.com/2007/05/09/pf/gas_myths/index.htm
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-consumer1-2008jun01,0,3802231.story?page=2