Most of the scabs from my road rash last week are falling off, finally. Pink skin and a reminder that 2-wheeled vehicles are meant to lie on their sides, possibly with you there too. Sad panda.
Buying a new car to get better fuel economy is often a bad move. A new car is new debt, in a time of uncertain fuel supplies and probably a future with rationing which might not be enough to cover your commute, leading to bankruptcy, eviction, and losing your car to repossession. So taking on debt just to save a little? Tough argument.
I already know that ugly little cars like the Geo Metro are the better deal for cost and fuel economy, if you can find one. They're around $1200 and get 45 mpg, no batteries, no weird electronics. They make the Prius look stupid and they're just as slow, and you'll have $24K more money to spend than owning a Prius. If the fuel runs out, the Metro isn't that big a loss. So yeah, go Metro before you waste on a Hybrid. They also have the advantage of a roof and seatbelts compared to the inevitable bicycle or scooter we'll all own eventually.
What can you do to keep your current car going? Well, oil changes help a lot. Reduces engine wear, reduces friction so the engine gets more from its gasoline, and its a small price to pay for not buying another car. Next is the air filter. The engine breathes. Dust clogs its lungs, making it less efficient. So change the air filter. Its hella easy. Lift the hood, find the latch, swap the filter, close the latch. Done. Its a 5 minute job. Takes longer to buy the filter than it does to change it. A car shop will charge you $100 in labor for that. Mechanics are often crooks. They like their steak. You can either pay for that or learn a little, get your hands a bit dirty.
Tire pressure controls your car's rolling resistance, how much energy it takes to keep going forward. Proper tire pressure is found with a $10 dial guage. Use a bicycle pump to add air, use your thumbnail to let some out. Easy, and very effective. A good driver should check this weekly. Few do. Every month is certainly possible and if you find the tires are lower than you expected, it will motivate you to check more often. Always check them in the morning, when they are cold and you haven't driven on them. This is the true tire pressure.
Weight. Your car works harder the more weight it is moving around. If your trunk is full of stuff, its wasting gasoline. You should have emergency first aid and tire change kit back there, not much else. Hypermilers pull out the back seat, since most people are solo drivers. If that's too much, clean out the trunk and under the seats. It will look nicer too. Books and rocks and trash are heavy and why are you carrying that? My ex used to have 60 pounds of books under the seats and in the trunk. After I cleaned that out, she got 3 mpg better mileage. Boy, was that embarassing.
Anger makes you accellerate harder and brake harder. The harder you accellerate, the more fuel you waste. Drive calm. Sometimes the solution to that is the right music, and clean your windows on the outside AND the inside, so you can see better. Clean glass makes the car feel cleaner, even if it isn't. Its a Jedi Mind Tricku. A happy driver won't be such a leadfoot and that's 5-10 mpg right there. Clean the mirrors too, even the rearview mirror. You'd be surprised how much greasy dirt sticks to that. Eventually get around to detailling the inside of the car, so the instruments are spotless, the dashboard and everything you see is clean. It makes the car feel nicer, which affects your happiness and self esteem, far better than lots of other things do. I have a dustbuster vaccuum which lets me get up the grit and dirt off the seats and carpets in the car. Little things add up.
You may as well enjoy your car fully before the fuel is gone. Yes, that's probably years away but its $4.10/gal at the cheapest station in town here, so paying more just hurts more. When you no longer have the option of a car for your commute, and have to do things the hard way, or even carpool, or worse public transit. The above labor is a few hours a month and yields a maximum benefit for cost. With any luck you won't have to buy a Prius or other Hybrid and your car can retire gracefully when the oil stops flowing. Cheers.
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