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♪ Got to sort of tell 'em ♪ Two destinations, one loyalty card. Visit yamava.com/palms to discover more. Do you listen to me while you're driving? Or do you drive? If so, today's show could save you some cash. I'm going to give you 109 driving tips and techniques for how to improve your efficiency behind the wheel, pay less money in fuel costs, and then depending on timing, I may or may not get into some simple vehicle modifications you can make as well.

♪ Welcome to the Radical Personal Finance Podcast. My name is Joshua Sheets, and I'm your host. Today, episode 195 of the show, you've got to drive, you've already got a car. Could you improve the efficiency of your car on the road by as much as four times what you're currently accustomed to?

How much money would that save you every year if you implemented it? ♪ Been wanting to do this show for a little while. It's going to be very practical, kind of just a tip-based show, and so if you're into that kind of thing, stay tuned. After my introduction, I'll mention the article that I'm working from, and this would be a good show if you are easily able to read and you're looking just--and you prefer to read, feel free just to read.

For those of you who like the audio only because you're driving, something like that, don't have a lot of time to read, then I'm going to walk through a bunch of tips, a bunch of which I think you could integrate into your life to save some money. And kind of the impetus for this show is I bought a car.

I'll tell you all the details of that maybe in a future show. I've been wanting to do a show on business savings for cars and all that. But in essence, I bought a cheap car. I found a deal on a 1998 Toyota Corolla. The car is in good mechanical shape, and it was in pretty rough cosmetic shape.

I had to do a lot of work to clean it up a little bit, and also got a few cosmetic things that need to be fixed, a couple of things in the instrument panel that aren't working. But mechanically, the car is in good shape, and I paid $500 for it.

So pretty proud of that deal. It was one of those scenarios of exactly like I talk about, having – well, I think $500 isn't a lot of money. But I mean just having money on hand is nice to see the deal. Little old lady and she wanted the car.

She wanted out of it as quickly. I could offer her cash, and she said I can – she could obviously get more money from retailing it and taking time, but she just wanted the problem gone. I was able to help her get rid of her problem, and it benefited her and it benefited me.

I was thinking about putting in a bunch of numbers as far as the tax savings. Why am I doing it as far as – it's a real value to drive a cheap car. From a business mileage perspective, you can create a tiny little – it's not going to make a huge difference, but you can create a tiny little tax shelter when there's a difference between what the IRS will give you at $0.575 per mile versus what it actually costs you to run a cheap car.

This is one of the purposes that I have. Well, in essence, the major benefit is it's a little bit more efficient. I calculated that if I move about 3,000 miles per year over onto that car instead of my driving my minivan, then I'll save about $500 a year of total costs from doing that.

But the other benefit is I can – in addition to saving the $500 of straight costs, I can also create a little bit more of a tax arbitrage scenario. I think it will cost me about $0.20 a mile all in to drive this car, depending on how many miles I drive.

If I drive more, it would be less. If I drive fewer miles, it would be a little bit more because insurance costs are a fixed cost. I don't tend to drive it all that much. But the IRS will give me a $0.575 deduction for every mile that I drive.

So if I drive 4,000 miles and I put 4,000 miles over onto this car, then I get a – basically a $2,300 tax deduction. And if my estimates are correct that it costs me $0.20 per mile to drive the car, then I wind up with – that would be $800 per year of actual costs.

I wind up with a difference there of $1,500 of basically an artificial shelter of $1,500 of income. What does that save me? The tax would be on $1,500. In my case, self-employed, that would be first the 15.3% self-employment tax. So if we take $1,500 and multiply it times 15.3, that would be a savings of $230 per year on self-employment tax.

And then depending on what total tax rate – let's see. If it were 15% total effective tax rate, it would be another $230. If it were 20% more, whatever, I wind up with – let's call it $500 to $600 of tax savings. And that's an artificial tax shelter which is just pure savings.

It's because of the arbitrage between 57.5 cents per mile of the IRS allowable per mile, business deduction and the lower cost of operating a vehicle. I point this out just simply to some of you, not all – very few of you will this actually apply to. Some of you who drive a lot for business, I learned by – purely by accident in my first couple years in the financial business when I was driving a very cheap car that was pretty cheap at a per mileage basis to run.

And I was driving a lot. I learned just how beneficial that little tax shelter could be. And so in my case, it's not really that big of a deal just simply because I don't drive that much and I'm not going to go out and drive just to create – just to try to create this tiny little tax shelter.

But it does make these numbers work a little bit better where I can save $500 of tax with $0 out of my pocket and save money on the other comparison of all my personal miles, putting some of the personal miles over from the car that I had to the new car that I have now which is more efficient to drive, just kind of a win-win deal.

And the major reason why this type of thing works is because of a low-priced car. With most vehicles, the biggest cost that you have is the cost of depreciation. And so if you can get rid of the cost of depreciation, in my case, getting a car at $500 basically wipes out any possibility of depreciation.

As scrap, as pure non-functioning scrap, you can always sell a car for $300, $350 in my market. And I could resell the car as soon as I fix this – the speedometer doesn't work. As soon as I fix the speedometer, then I could resell the car for $1,000 probably.

I've cleaned it up. I put a lot of sweat into getting the thing cleaned up and getting a little bit shinier than what it was. So I don't have to deal with depreciation. So that changes all the numbers. Now, for those of you who drive a lot, you also have to question and ask yourself the question of, "Is it worth my – when I spend this much time in the car, is it worth my having a cheap car?" I actually don't recommend this car as a very good long-term comfortable vehicle.

It's just a quick around-town runabout that I've been keeping my eyes open for and adds a little bit more convenience to my life for – and I get to save money on it. I wasn't willing to pay money – a lot of money for the convenience. But when I can save money and get a little convenience, it was a win-win.

So that's the story on my new car. But that brought me to the point of wanting to do this show on fuel mileage because one of the things that I'm excited about with this little car is I don't – it's just going to be a fun little project of mine.

I'm interested to see if I can apply some of the techniques of more efficient driving and possibly some of the car modification ideas that I'm aware of to improve my miles per gallon and to become a more efficient, better hyper miler. I like to drive efficiently with my van.

But the problem is I focus a lot on just simply the comfort of family. Most of the time when we're out as a family, we've got babies. I leave the car on a lot, running the AC in the hot Florida summer. So it's not a very efficiently used car.

It's efficiently used for the needs of my family. It's not efficiently used on a per-mile basis. And my obsessive streak, I enjoy the idea of saying, "What can I do to rest the maximum value out of a car?" And so this little cheap – it's a cheap standard transmission four-cylinder car is kind of a fun opportunity to see if I can apply some of the ideas.

Just to give you a incentive, an incentive to apply some of these techniques, let me tell you a quick story. And I'll link to this in the show notes from – there's a poster on this forum. It goes by the name of Diesel Dave. And Diesel Dave has a 2007 Dodge Ram three-quarter ton pickup truck, two-wheel drive quad cab.

And Diesel Dave was able to get 2,009.6 miles from his standard stock 35-gallon fuel tank, achieving a total measured MPG of just under 60 miles per gallon, actually 57.42 actual measured – his calculated measured mileage. 57.42 miles per gallon from this big old pickup truck. Better than most of us get when driving a Prius.

Pretty amazing, huh? That comes out to be about four times the average normal EPA estimate of that same vehicle. And primarily this is done with driving techniques. Now, it would drive me nuts to try to drive like Diesel Dave. I'm not nearly as patient. It's using some advanced techniques.

I'll link to the forum thread. If you're not familiar with hypermiling techniques, I'll – you can check it out and I'll link to the forum thread and you can see. But the amazing thing is think about the savings of four times the efficiency. Now, more practical real world, he did that in his commute on a standard course that he knows every day, his daily commute.

So he knows all the places to apply this technique and apply that technique and coast here and change there. So that's not an – that's not a typical – obviously not a typical type of approach. That's probably a world record as far as the most miles driven on a stock tank.

But if he could just simply double his standard mileage and I think that's a very doable thing for guys like him. If he can just double his standard mileage, think of the savings. And so you can do that with simple driving techniques and you can do more vehicle modifications.

But both – but that's a little bit more difficult. You got to get into and decide what am I going to do. There are some easy ones. There are some harder ones. But let's start with driving techniques. The hypermiling community has really done an amazing job of practicing and proving many of these techniques and then compiling them for those of us who are on the outside to look in and learn from.

And if you take just a few of these techniques and start applying them and start measuring your miles per gallon, you'll find that you can make a substantial difference just by a little bit of focus. So I'm going to go through this comprehensive list of techniques for you. Obviously, it's up to you what you choose to implement and what you don't choose to implement.

And again, if you are the type of person who enjoys reading, you can feel free just to read the techniques. It will be a little bit more efficient for you as far as the use of your time to read this list. I'm going to be adding a little bit of commentary but I'm primarily just going to be going through this list.

But if you're the kind of person who listens to me while you're driving and this is more efficient for you to simply listen to because you don't have a lot of time or aren't making a lot of time to read, that would be fine as well. It is a lengthy list.

But it's a list that will save you money. Think about this. 10,000 miles per year, let's say that you can take – go from 15 miles per gallon. I'll use Diesel Dave as an example. Go from 15 miles per gallon to 30 miles per gallon. So 10,000 miles divided by 15, that comes out to be 666 gallons of fuel saved on an annual basis by saving 15 mpg.

So 666 gallons times – let's call it 350 per gallon of fuel. That comes out to $2,333 per year of annual fuel savings. Let's put that in and give ourselves some incentive to pay attention. So let's put that in as our payment. Let's do that over – let's call it a 30-year period.

I won't go too aggressive here. Let's put in 10% per year starting with nothing and just from these fuel savings if you were commuting, that would be an extra $422,201 in your account at the end of 30 years of saving and investing. Your mileage may vary, pun intended, but there's a reason to pay attention to these because with simple driving techniques and a few simple vehicle modifications, you could go from 15 to 30 or from 15 to 25 or from – even better, from 40 to 80.

There are people that routinely will get 100 plus miles per gallon out of a Prius with their driving techniques. All right, 109 hypermiling and eco-driving tips from the experts at Ecomotor.com. Number one, if you want to save money on gas, start by driving less. Best way to reduce fuel cost is obviously drive less.

So live closer to work, carpool with other people, ride a bicycle, walk, take public transportation. All of those things are going to save you money. Consider that. Number two, park and ride a bicycle. So if you can't bike the full way to work, then consider driving partway and then biking the rest of the way or consider driving partway by yourself and then carpooling the rest of the way or driving to a convenient public transport connection and then taking public transportation.

You don't have to do one or the other. You can combine techniques. Run the numbers, factor in the cost of your time and factor in the benefits either way and see what comes out ahead for you. Number three, attend a driving clinic. So there are many owners groups, especially hybrid owners groups that are popping up and they welcome people to come to a regular meeting.

And sometimes you can get a clinic on fuel-efficient driving techniques. It will be worth checking out. So attend a driving clinic. Number four, take the junk from your trunk. Any additional weight that you carry in your vehicle costs you money. So one of the key places to start if you'd like to save money is take out unnecessary items from your vehicle.

Do this in a manner that's appropriate for your situation. If I lived out in the country, I'm going to carry a few more tools and a few more backup items and I'm going to carry a toe strap to get me out of the ditch a little bit more than living where I live in the middle of a city.

But I would choose to carry a toe strap instead of a bunch of chains because every pound you carry around costs you money to move. So keep your car cleaned out and keep it as light as possible. Number five, let the most efficient driver drive. If you have more than one licensed driver that's traveling, then try to let the more efficient driver drive.

My caveat here is if you can stand to drive with them because the problem here is that the most efficient MPG techniques to get the highest mileage are often maddening to the passengers. So if you want to save money, though, consider letting the most efficient driver drive. Number six, consider joining a fuel economy forum, learning ways to increase your fuel economy and share with others who share your enthusiasm and goals.

I really love the EcoModder forum. I don't participate as a poster because I am probably not worthy to share because I'm kind of in this middle ground. I'm not hardcore enough. Maybe with the new car, well, maybe at some point I'll start a thread and talk about some of my modifications to it and kind of share my stories because it's kind of fun to join a forum and talk with other people.

But at least go and check it out and just be inspired by people taking their art form to a higher level. Number seven, remove unused roof racks. So anything you can remove from your car, for example, a roof rack or a bike rack or anything like that, will improve your mileage because it reduces the aerodynamic drag.

That one is a big deal. Anything off your car that doesn't need to be there, that will make it more efficient, make the airflow around and over it more smoothly. Number eight, we've heard this in every single article on this topic, check your tire inflation regularly. So make sure to set the pressures at least to the manufacturer specifications and don't run them too low.

And the higher the pressure, the less rolling resistance. So I'm in the habit of running my tires at the highest sidewall pressure and the tire people yell at me at the shop every time that that's not good. But their primary motivation for that is a little bit having to do with tread wear.

But mine wear evenly. I keep an eye on it. They wear evenly at the maximum sidewall pressure. And also ride comfort. For me, I don't notice the ride comfort and it saves a substantial amount of over time of gasoline. So you've got to choose. Do you want ride comfort or do you want better mileage?

And just taking your tires from 32 pounds per square inch up to 40 pounds per square inch can make a big difference in your fuel mileage over time. Number nine, check track your fuel consumption. Simple step to actually saving money on fuel is be aware of what you're spending on it.

So each time you fill up your tank, then run a calculation and figure out what your mileage per gallon was for the last tank. So track the total miles, divide into that the number of gallons of fuel, and you'll start to get an idea of how different techniques will impact your total cost of fuel.

Which takes us to number ten, the even better, more fun way to do it. Use a fuel consumption display. Getting immediate real-time feedback is very valuable to adjust and change your driving habits. It's kind of tough to go an entire tank at a time and calculate and wait a week or two to know the impact that your driving techniques are having on your mileage.

So you can do it, but it's better if you can get real-time feedback. Some of you, your cars have that display. Most of you, especially if your car – I think it's after 1998, cars newer than 1998 are mandated by law to come with what they call an OBD2 port.

And there's a little port – it's a diagnostic port. There's usually one under the engine and one underneath your dash. And you can plug a little computer into that. And that computer will read all of the different instruments from your engine that may or may not be displayed on your dash.

If you're familiar, you get into some luxury vehicles or you're into some, say, higher-end models of the XL, XLT, SLT, whatever the versions are for your manufacturer. Oftentimes, one of the differences between the low-end model and the higher-end model is you will have more displays, more instrumentation in the higher-end model.

And the higher-end model will have the computer up top that will scroll through all the information. Well, the key thing for you to know is your car is producing that information all the time. But on your lower-end model, it's just simply not displaying it. So if you can set up a display, you can have access to that information.

There are a number of commercially available gauges you can buy. A popular one is called a scan gauge. I own one called an UltraGauge. There's something called a PLX Kiwi. You can use an open-source version. There's one called MP Guino, SuperMID. You can basically take these little devices and plug them into your port and have them to display the information.

I have one. I'll look it up and try to find it. Maybe I'll set up an affiliate link or something. I'll look up the UltraGauge that I have, find an Amazon link for it, and put it in the show notes. I really love that thing. It's really nice to have it just mounted on the dash.

It will give me all kinds of real-time feedback for what my current MPGs are. Also, I have it set up with the different choices of data to show. I have it set up so that it tracks and shows me the total fuel consumed for every trip. So every time I turn the key on and off, it tracks the total fuel consumed for that, and then also for various trips that I will put in.

It's kind of nice because then I've got a good idea if I drive from this part of town to the other part of town. I live in Palm Beach County. It's a big county and we drive a lot because I've got friends and business all over the county. It's one of the bigger counties in the US.

So I put a lot of miles on a vehicle over time, but it's nice to have an idea and a sense of, "Okay, if I drive from here to my brother's house, that's going to cost me 1.3 gallons of fuel." Now, then I can decide, and at least I can decide consciously, "Yes, it's worth it for me," instead of being oblivious to the cost of driving.

So I like the UltraGauge. I thought it was fairly priced. You can display up to eight gauges at once. And another useful thing that I have found nice about it is that you can use the gauge to display your – if your check engine light comes on, you can use it to display the trouble codes.

And in today's world, it's pretty easy to take that trouble code and then pop open your computer and go online and do a quick web search for that trouble code. You'll find a forum where they're talking about it. And oftentimes, you can at least get an idea of what your problem might be if your car is displaying a check engine light.

That's helped me a lot at numerous times. And there are also some iPhone apps. There are some things that you can do as well. So check into that and get a fuel consumption display. And if you get one that shows it in real time, all of a sudden, you'll have some information for your car, which is useful.

You can know the efficiency of your car at 60 miles per hour versus 75 miles per hour, and you can make your decisions accordingly. Next tip, going into a section here on route selection and trip timing. Take the road less traveled. So generally speaking, if you can choose a more lightly traveled road over a busier one, then you have more flexibility because you can use some of the driving techniques that will lead you to higher fuel mileage than if you're trying to be focused on keeping pace with the flow of traffic or people being annoyed behind you.

So consider taking the road less traveled. Number 12, leave early and don't rush. Anytime you find yourself in a rush, you're going to be pressing the gas pedal down. Leave a little bit early, and that way you can drive a little slower and be a little bit more relaxed because that's ultimately one of the big things that leads to more efficiency.

Number 13, crosswind barrier. So headwinds aren't the only winds that can increase fuel consumption. Crosswinds can have a large negative effect as well. So if you're in a situation where you're facing crosswinds, try to choose a route that has a barrier, trees or buildings along the edge, versus driving out on a road that is in the middle of the prairie.

Number 14, the corridor effect. All else being equal, traveling at a constant speed on a freeway within a flow of traffic in the same direction is more efficient than going the same speed in isolation. The reason is aerodynamic. A flow of traffic generates a localized wind current in the direction of travel, and you'll benefit from this artificial breeze.

This one's a big one, and when you actually have a gauge on your car, you'll notice it. But you will just simply by driving on the highway within a corridor of vehicles, you'll notice a several miles per gallon increase over and above being out on a two-lane road by yourself.

It's kind of fascinating when you start measuring it. It's pretty noticeable. Number 15, note your transition points. If you regularly travel the same roads, make a conscious effort to note and memorize the points along the way where transitions occur that maximize efficiency. So, for example, you can memorize where you can start coasting just enough to make it to the next stop sign, or figure out what speed you can top a hill so you're traveling just fast enough for the next transition on the other side.

The key with saving money on gas is to push the gas pedal down less. So, on that basis, then you can look for and try to learn those times that you can get there based upon the inertia of your vehicle, and that's the point of transition point. Number 16, time your gas station trips.

Plan to refuel your car during off-peak times to avoid lines and excessive idling. Number 17, avoid drive-through windows. They lead to excessive idling. Number 18, choose the lane of least resistance to avoid unnecessary and unpredictable braking and changes in speed. So, don't drive in the right lane where people are pulling out and stopping, and you have to constantly brake and increase speed.

That's the key. Number 19, avoid stops at the bottoms of hills. So, avoid roads with stops at the bottom of hills, which force you to brake and waste all of the kinetic energy you just gained going downhill. Number 20, take advantage of the wind. If possible, time your trips to take advantage of strong tailwinds and avoid setting out into strong headwinds and crosswinds.

Number 21, choose smooth road surfaces. Anytime you can choose a route with a smooth paved concrete surface over gravel or rough broken roads, you're going to get higher efficiency versus rough roads. Number 22, avoid bad weather. If possible, rain, snow, slush are going to dramatically increase the rolling resistance of your tires and decrease your fuel mileage.

So, try to avoid bad weather. Number 23, avoid peak traffic. If you have the option, avoid traveling during peak traffic times. With the roads full of other drivers, you have fewer options for using driving techniques that usually are not very popular in crowded traffic. Things like driving at a slower speed or coasting to stop signs, etc.

24, drive when it's warm out. If you have the flexibility, time your trips to coincide with warm temperatures. For example, the middle of the day rather than cold in the night or early morning because cold tires and a cold drive train have higher rolling and mechanical resistance and a cold engine is less efficient.

Number 25, pick up cargo high and deliver low. Also, if possible, shop at stores that are higher in elevation than your home. That way, the extra weight you pick up shopping items is on board for the descending return leg where it's less of a penalty than it would be on the ascending return leg.

That one's pretty hardcore. For some of you, it could be important. I live in Florida and so I don't even think twice about that. It's flat for miles. Moving into the section here on suburban and urban driving, number 26, conserve momentum. So, do the stop sign, stop and crawl.

When multiple vehicles ahead of you are progressing through a stop sign or a right turn at a red light, then this represents a mini stop and crawl situation normally found in bumper to bumper traffic jam. Time your approach, if possible, to arrive at the stop sign as the last car ahead is departing.

27, conserve momentum by taking a shortcut. Sometimes there are options to go through a corner parking lot or side street or alleyway to get around having to come to a stop at an intersection or behind another vehicle. Obviously, be careful because there are risks and it may be illegal in some of those techniques.

So, be careful and follow the law. 28, combine errands and do the longest leg first. When combining multiple trips into one journey, go to your farthest destination first and work your way back. This ensures the vehicle is warmed up as much as possible before subjecting it to multiple starts and stops.

Number 29, minimize idling when stopped. If you're going to be stopped for more than a few seconds, shift to neutral and shut off your engine. That's one of the main reasons hybrid vehicles get such good fuel economy in urban driving. Obviously, your vehicle needs to start quickly and immediately when you need it to.

And also, be careful if you need to be in a situation where you need to watch out for somebody coming up behind you and you need to get out of the way quickly. Because obviously, if your engine is off, you wouldn't be able to do this. So, be careful with that.

Number 30, traffic light timing. In the absence of any other indication about how stale the light is, for example, if there's no pedestrian signal or waiting cross traffic, then assume that the green light ahead is about to change. Adjust your approach speed accordingly, if traffic permits, so that you don't hold anyone up to avoid a full-on brake application should the light change.

Number 31, combine errands. Avoid very short trips. If you have multiple stops, plan to do them all on the same trip. Number 32, traffic light timing or red lights with sensors. When approaching a red light, slow down early if there's a car in front of you that can trip the sensor, so you may not have to come to a complete stop.

Number 33, traffic light timing, if there's a stale green. When approaching an intersection with a green light, you can watch the pedestrian signal crossing light to help determine when it will turn yellow. And that will help you to figure out how not to stop at the red light. Highway driving.

Number 34, lights on for safety, lights off for MPG. In some driving environments and conditions, the use of daytime running lights or manually switched on headlights during the day increases safety. But depending on the vehicle, power demands of the lighting system range from a few watts to well over 100 watts, and that's all ultimately powered by gasoline.

So if you can switch off any lights, that will help you to save a tiny amount of fuel. Number 35, find and adopt a blocker for slower freeway speeds. Some people are uncomfortable driving at speeds less than the average flow of traffic on multi-lane freeways. So one solution is to find another large vehicle going the speed you want to travel.

If possible, a large conspicuous vehicle will work well, and drive either ahead of it or behind it. Not necessarily suggesting that you draft it, but just simply that people will see a big semi truck driving slowly ahead of you more than others. So if you're interested in saving miles per gallon, for example, one thing I'll do sometimes taking off at a traffic light, get behind the truck.

Most people want to get from behind the truck in order to speed on their way, which is totally fine. I'll often choose to drive behind the truck because then you can have a more efficient, more relaxed start. And you don't have to feel like there's a lot of pressure on you for being the slower person on the road.

Number 36, close the sunroof at higher speeds to get better aerodynamic efficiency. So number 37, drafting in crosswind. This one is interesting, and I've done this. In rare circumstances, it is possible to effectively draft a larger vehicle in crosswind conditions without following directly behind it. When crosswind conditions cause the low pressure area trailing the lead vehicle to extend into adjacent lanes, you can take advantage of reduced drag legally and with reduced risk.

That one is talking about if there's a wind coming across and you let a truck, for example, block the wind for you. That can help. The one I was referring to is where you drive what's called side-by-side driving, where you position yourself right about the rear corner of a vehicle.

And so in the same way that a flock of geese traveling through the air will set up in that V formation, in that situation, if you set up similar to that in a vehicle, you'll notice a substantial increase in your mileage. This again comes into where having a gauge can help.

I've seen on my minivan as much as 10 miles per gallon increase when finding that sweet spot on the back corner of a truck. That's not saying that you are drafting exactly behind a truck, although that's the next recommendation, which is drafting close behind. It's not recommended. But there's no doubt that you can drive immediately behind a large vehicle and that will dramatically reduce your fuel consumption.

I've tested it in the car by myself just because I was curious, and it's pretty amazing. I could get up to 40 to 50 miles per gallon displayed when driving close behind a large semi truck, but it's also very dangerous and it's dumb. So what I prefer is drive off the back corner and you get some effects of it, but it's much safer.

So consider, try it out. And again, this is the kind of thing you won't recognize unless you can measure it in real time. But if you can measure it in real time, check it out and see how you like it. Number 39, drive with your windows up at higher speeds to minimize aerodynamic drag and use flow through ventilation from your AC system if possible.

Number 40, drive without brakes. Anytime you can minimize the use of the brake pedal, that's a smart thing to do. Every time you press the brake pedal, you're converting gasoline into brake dust and heat. Number 41, reduce speed. Aerodynamic drag increases exponentially with speed, so reduce your highway cruising speed as much as is practical and safe.

Generally, a vehicle's most efficient speed is just after its highest gear has engaged. Test your own vehicle and then you can figure out what that sweet spot is. You might get better mileage at 55 miles per gallon, but it's maddeningly – excuse me, 55 miles per hour, but it's maddeningly slow.

Or you might find that 65 is just a little bit worse, but a more acceptable speed, but there's a big difference for your car between 65 and 75. So in my car, there is – so I'll often drive 65. It's a good – it's generally a good speed, 65 to 70.

Number 42, constant throttle position cruising. If you want to get hardcore with this, just pick a speed – excuse me, pick a throttle position and hold it. This is actually more efficient than using the cruise control, which wastes fuel by kicking up the speed, going up a hill, and changing the throttle again and again.

And it's less efficient than driving with a load or target driving where you're actually pulling back the throttle going up an incline. Number 43, use the cruise control if you're the type of driver whose speed creeps up higher and higher the longer you're on the road, but only primarily use it on flat roads because on hilly roads, cruise control is generally going to be pretty inefficient.

Next section is braking tips and very simple with regard to braking. Remember this. It costs you fuel to get up to speed. So the next time you brake, you are basically just killing fuel. So when you need to slow down, try to choose the best way to slow down, and here they are listed in best to worst.

The most efficient way to slow down is coasting in neutral with your engine off, just simply rolling to a stop. The next most efficient way is coasting in neutral with the engine idling. That's useful in, for example, one of the nice things about having a manual transmission versus an automatic transmission.

It's a little bit more – it's a little easier to just move it to neutral and coast more easily than with the automatic. Number three is regenerative coasting in hybrid vehicles is next most efficient. Number four is regenerative braking, less efficient than coasting but still better than these last two.

Number five is coasting in deceleration fuel cutoff mode. So, for example, some of your vehicles have engines that will go ahead and turn off some cylinders to save fuel. Number six, the least efficient method is conventional friction braking either in non-hybrids or hybrids. So obviously you have to figure out depending on your traffic conditions how to drive appropriately but try to minimize braking and slow down the most efficiently.

Number 46, conserve momentum by avoiding stopping. So anytime you can just simply avoid stopping legally and safely, then avoid stopping. And then number 47, even if you have a hybrid, still minimize regenerative braking. Some advanced techniques here for you. So we're getting even – if you thought those were hardcore, then we're getting even more hardcore.

48, drive shoeless. I do this one generally because I wear flip-flops all the time. It is nice though to be able to feel what's actually going on with the car. You can be more in tune with what's happening. Number 49, conserve momentum by braking hard. So there are times when actually braking hard can save fuel.

So, for example, you see a light turn red ahead of you and you can tell that it's going to be a while. Well, if you brake hard, then you can maybe scrub down your speed from, say, 50 miles per hour to 20 miles per hour, and then you can just wait and then by the time you arrive at the red light, you won't have to have had to stop.

So that one can be fun. Number 50, make fuel economy a game and challenge. So competing against yourself and others to get fuel economy can make you want to practice. And you can do this with just about anything and make anything a game. And you can find focus and enjoyment on just about anything as well.

I'm amazed at – in cars, if you want to get into Ferraris, you can get into Ferraris. If you want to get into the Ferrari of efficiency, you can create the Ferrari of efficiency and participate on a forum like EcoModder. We choose the things that we're into. So choose carefully.

And sometimes choosing something that's going to enhance the size of your bank account might be a wiser idea than choosing something that's going to diminish the size of your bank account. Number 51, use the racing line. That's the fastest route through a corner where basically you're taking the widest turn possible with the largest possible radius.

And that can help you to slow down less when you are going through a turn. So consider learning what the racing line is through a quarter. Number 52, encourage a pass by signaling a fake turn. So if you're driving super slow, conserving your mileage on the right side of the road, then maybe signal a turn and encourage the drivers behind you to go around you.

53, encourage a pass by hugging the right lane. Same concept. Sometimes if you want to get people to pass you, maybe just pull over to the right a little bit more. 54, hill tactic. Don't waste potential energy. So if you're facing a red traffic light or some other predictable stop and start situation at the bottom of a hill, then try to stop near the top before you've accelerated to full speed and try to time it so that you can make it through the green light at the bottom instead of having to stop for a red light.

55, engine off coasting. Engine off coasting is one of the largest contributors to increased efficiency of hybrid vehicles, many of which automatically shut down the engine when the accelerator is released and the vehicle is coasting. It can also be accomplished in non-hybrids by shifting to neutral and switching the key from run to accessory, being careful not to switch to off and cause the steering to lock.

As soon as your engine stops, return the key to the run position or else you will be in danger of locking out your steering and crashing. Also be careful not to steer at all while the key is off to prevent a lockup. This technique is best suited to cars with manual steering and manual transmissions.

Dramatically increased steering effort may be required in some cars with power assist. So you might consider doing some engine off coasting. 56, drive with load. So this is called basically target driving where you choose a target rate of fuel consumption and try to make sure that you don't fall below it.

So you back off the accelerator and lose speed as you climb a hill and then you get that speed back on the descent. It's far more efficient than pressing down the gas to get up the hill more quickly. And so if you live in a hilly environment, that can help you to dramatically improve your performance.

57, heavy traffic. Play the accordion. If faced with stop and crawl traffic conditions, leave as much space ahead of you as possible and continually accordion. Do your best to keep the vehicle moving at a near constant speed while the cars in front of you stop and start. That will aggravate some drivers and you need to factor that into your decision.

Number 58, pulse and glide. Use a pulse and glide technique rather than maintaining a constant speed where practical. This technique is basically instead of driving at a set rate of speed, let's say that you actually want to drive 55 miles an hour. Instead of just simply going 55 miles an hour and setting the cruise control, then you actually accelerate up to, say, 70 miles an hour.

And then you – well, the hyper milers would never go that fast. It would be very, very inefficient. You drive up a little bit faster than that and then you coast down. So you drive up to 70 and then you flip the engine off with the car in neutral and you let the car just steadily glide down to 50 miles an hour.

Then you go ahead and turn the car back on and go back up to 70. And this is very efficient in a hybrid. It's also very efficient in – you can do this easily – more easily in something like a manual transmission. Some drivers will install a kill switch where they're able to easily kill the – on their actual shifter where they're able to easily kill the engine when needed.

And so you just simply glide down and then you do a – you start the engine with dropping it into gear instead of – and that will refire the engine in a manual transmission, kind of like the way that you would do a push start if you needed to rather than having to use the starter motor to reengage the engine.

It's an efficient way to drive. Depending on circumstances, you may or may not be able to do it. And you may or may not be willing to do it. I haven't been willing to do it myself. That's – it's not that big of a deal to me. I try to drive efficiently but I don't want to do post and – pulse and glide.

But I might try it at some point with my new car now that I have a manual transmission. It might be fun. 59, push the car. So if you only have to move your car a short distance, consider rolling it rather than starting it up to move it. And then 60, if you're starting out on an incline, then try to get the car – give the car a shove and see if you can get it rolling before starting the engine.

Parking and departing, number 61, start up and wait for the opportunity to move. So don't start the engine until you can actually start driving. Maybe there's a gap in traffic. That's what you're waiting for. Then don't start the engine until you know you can go ahead and pull out.

Number 62, parking tactics, orbit to bleed momentum. If you find you have too much momentum after reaching your preferred parking spot because you're coasting in neutral, continue coasting further down the road or orbiting a spot until you roll to a stop in a position without touching your brakes. 63, parking tactics, use gravity assist.

So some slopes can be helpful as far as using gravity as your friend. If there's a maneuver where you can allow the car to go into the spot with gravity instead of driving, that will help you to save a little bit of fuel. 64, parking tactics, avoid parallel parking.

For on-street parking, the better spot is the one with enough room to pull in and out rather than multiple reverse and forward maneuvers. 65, parking tactics, reverse in. So if you have no pull-through spots to choose from, reverse in when arriving instead of driving in when warm, and backing out and turning around when the vehicle is cold and fuel economy is at its worst.

It's also safer because you don't have to back out with a poor field of view. 66, parking tactics, pick the periphery. Choosing a spot on the periphery of a busy lot will be more efficient than navigating the rows of traffic and pedestrians to get as close as possible to the building or destination.

67, parking tactics, choose a pull-through spot rather than a spot that requires reverse or forward maneuvering. 68, don't start up until you've adjusted the seatbelt and mirrors and all the passengers are settled in. 69, if you have multiple vehicles to drive, choose the one that's the most warm. It'll be more efficient.

Number 70, if you have multiple vehicles that have varying efficiencies, choose the most efficient vehicle in the fleet. And 71, when changing directions, use the brakes rather than the engine. Don't use the engine to stop the vehicle when you're going from drive to reverse or reverse to drive. Use the brakes.

72, automatic transmission. If you have an automatic transmission and we're moving into transmission tips, turn the key off and then park. Might save you a few drops of fuel. 73, with a manual transmission, cruise in the highest gear possible that you can get into without lugging the engine. 74, for an automatic transmission, use the highest gear and the lowest RPM for the speed that you can achieve.

So as an example, if the posted speed limit is 30 miles an hour, but your particular car doesn't shift up to third gear until 35 miles an hour, then try to get into third gear and then drop the speed back a little bit so that you can be in third gear at 30 miles per hour if possible.

75, automatic transmission, try to drive at the speed that allows the torque converter to lock up. That's often around 40 to 45 miles per hour, and speeds just above this will typically give you the highest fuel economy. 76, put the transmission in neutral when stopped on an automatic transmission.

If you're going to leave the engine on, that will -- if you keep the car in drive, it wastes fuel as the engine continues to try to press the car forward. 77, automatic transmission, some automatic transmissions can be coaxed to upshift sooner when accelerating by briefly releasing some throttle pressure, then reapplying it to continue accelerating.

Basically, for maximum efficiency, you want to drive in the highest gear possible at the lowest RPMs. So in an automatic transmission, you've got to kind of try to force the car to do it. Use overdrive if your car has it, and use economy mode if your car has it.

About winter and foul weather, number 80, wait for the snowplow. You'll get better fuel economy if you don't have to drive through a bunch of snow. 81, avoid wheel spin on ice and snow. 82, follow the leader in rain and snow. Drive in the tire tracks of the vehicle in front to reduce rolling resistance.

83, if you're in the winter, clean off snow and ice before driving so that you can reduce the energy-hungry accessories like defrosters and remove an aerodynamic penalty and reduce the weight of your car. 84, winter parking, clean out the garage so you can park it inside and have a warmer car.

That will give you better fuel economy. 85, use heated parking if possible because that will give you, again, a warmer engine and a warmer car. Potential downside is that it may increase the road of corrosion if you drive where roads are salted. 86, avoid the heater use until the engine has reached operating temperature.

Engines run rich until a minimum temperature threshold is reached. Running the heater blower before that has happened will slightly increase warm-up time and increase fuel consumption. Number 87, avoid warm-up idling. Anytime you idle your engine, you get zero miles per gallon. So, start to drive under light loads as soon as the engine is running smoothly, usually immediately.

It's a more efficient way to warm the engine and entire drivetrain, including tires. Hot weather, cycle the AC if you have to use it. If you have to use the air conditioning, set the air flow to recirculate and manually turn the AC on and off as needed. For greater efficiency, switch it on when under light loads or deceleration fuel cutoff and off when under moderate and heavy loads.

I did this one time on my car. I don't subject my family to this. But I was taking a trip across the state one time and I was able to play these games and I improved my mileage. I mean, the whole thing was pretty efficient, but I was – I improved my mileage substantially by doing this.

The AC pulls a lot of power. 89, summer, park in the shade. If you park in the shade, that will keep the inside of your vehicle cooler, which will help you minimize the use of air conditioning. Number 90, use a beaded seat cover like those old-fashioned ones from the '70s.

They work surprisingly well as an alternative to or to defer the use of air conditioning by letting air flow behind and beneath you. Number 91, minimize air conditioning use. So anytime you can use the AC less, you want to do that. At higher speeds, whether the AC is more or less efficient than opening the windows will depend on the speed, your vehicle's aerodynamic and the AC design.

92, trip timing, avoid the hottest times of day to reduce AC use. So try to drive when it's cooler. And 93, dress comfortably so that you can minimize the AC usage. Finally, some good driving tips. Number 94, maintaining a space cushion. Try to just have a cushion around you so that you have more time to react.

Good for safety. Also good so that you can improve your efficiency. 95, maintain an appropriate following distance. 96, be smooth. Driving smoothly would be more efficient. 97, use your horn defensively. So tap your horn if you need to. Be proactive so that you can minimize having to brake and stop.

98, the big one, look well ahead and anticipate. Look what's happening down the road so that you can anticipate. That'll help you to drive more efficiently. 99, drive the posted speed limit or the minimum allowed when safe to do so. Don't keep up with the Joneses. It's easy to be competitive when driving.

Try not to respond and react to other drivers' aggressive actions. Focus on your own driving style. Of course, consider safety and consider annoying everyone else when it's unnecessary. 101, minimize the use of low range. So four-wheel drive and all-wheel drive vehicles, drive as little as possible in low range.

102, minimize the use of four-wheel drive. 103, if you have to carry items outside the vehicle, carry them on the back of the vehicle instead of on the roof. So long, skinny items can even be carried beneath some vehicles if you have ample ground clearance, and that will save you money.

Minimize accessory loads. So minimize the use of electrical and mechanical accessory loads when safe or practical. So the lights, defroster, blower, electric heated seats, DVD players, et cetera. 105, use a block heater. Pre-warm your engine with an electric block heater. That'll help it to be more efficient. 106, drive like you ride a bike.

So if you ride a bicycle and you also drive, just simply drive like you ride a bike. Bicyclists will generally almost automatically make sure their tires are properly blown up. They'll brake smarter. They'll want to preserve their momentum. They'll drive with load, meaning they don't try to just hammer it up the hill to keep a certain speed.

Rather, they just relax and take it easy. And they'll reduce their speed because it takes less--there's less aerodynamic drag at lower speeds. 107, avoid towing if possible. It decreases your mileage. 108, listen to slower music. That will help you to slow down sometimes. And 109, use an E-ZPass so that you can--or whatever the version is near you so that you don't have to stop at toll booths and things like that.

So hopefully that's interesting to you to have a few techniques to apply. It's one thing to say drive efficiently. It's another thing to say here are some specific techniques that you can use. Check out the article that will be linked in the show notes to this list of techniques and read through them again to remind yourself and try driving them.

You can also check out the article that was also linked with over 65 efficiency modifications. There are a bunch of things that you can do to improve the efficiency of your vehicle which is always helpful. And some of them are easy and some of them are not and some of them are cheap and some of them are not.

But these efficiency modifications can help you but that's better done in a reading format. I thought this might work as a list of tips that would be useful to some of you to try it. And as always, take and choose what you want to do. I do some of these things and I enjoy it to kind of give a little bit of a game.

It appeals to me sometimes but I also don't subject my family to driving without the AC on and doing pulse and glide. But even just with paying attention to how much I push the gas pedal down, I can often improve my efficiency by as much as about five miles per gallon without any other major changes.

I think many people could make that kind of change. Even if you just use a few of these things and start practicing a few of them, it can – again, five miles per gallon adds up over time. Let's see. The average American I think drives about 14,000 miles per year.

Let's just say that you can go from what I've done in the past, say, from 20 miles per gallon. That would be 700 gallons of fuel to 25 miles per gallon. That would be 560 gallons of fuel. So that would be 140 gallons of fuel saved, which is a pretty easy accessible thing to do.

$3.50 a gallon, that saves you $490 over the course of the year. Now I don't know if you have things you'd rather do with $490 than spend it on gas. That will probably depend on where you are in your stage of life. At the beginning stage of life, you probably would benefit greatly from saving $500 a year on gas.

Later stages of life, maybe not so much. But if we put that in, $490 a year, put it in, say, over 20 years, 10% interest, starting with nothing, over 20 years, that could wind up being $30,000 extra savings. So that's the major point. I am convinced that becoming wealthy is rarely one big thing.

It's possible. Sometimes we stumble into a pretty cool business idea or we stumble into something that really is going to make a big difference. But many of us, we don't know how to predict that or how to control that. So it's hard to focus on one big thing. What you can do is do a lot of little things and pile up a lot of little things over time.

And a lot of little things over time can add up to be a lot. If I just drop exactly that same thing, all you do is you improve your efficiency by 5 miles per gallon. But I put that in at 40 years instead of 20 years so we have more time for compounding to work.

That's an extra $240,000 in 40 years' time. So choose carefully. Hope this is fun to you. I will be enjoying my new car if at some point I go ahead and start a thread with some of the modifications. The car that I bought is in perfectly fine mechanical condition.

It doesn't have great paint. I'm actually glad about that because then I won't feel bad about trying some of these efficiency things. Some of the actual car modifications that can be fun to do. We'll see. It will be my fun little project. I don't know how far I'll take it.

Whether I'll take it to extreme or just drive it around a little bit for fun. So I hope you have a great day and I hope this is useful to you. If it's been useful to you, feel free. I would come by radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron. If you're not a patron of the show, I would be thrilled if you would become a patron of the show.

If you find this information helpful or valuable to you, then I would be glad to have you as a patron. I would thank you for that. Working hard to deliver value to you each and every day. If you find value in this, come by radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron and contribute to the show.

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This show is intended to provide entertainment, education, and financial enlightenment. But your situation is unique and I cannot deliver any actionable advice without knowing anything about you. Please, develop a team of professional advisors who you find to be caring, competent, and trustworthy and consult them because they are the ones who can understand your specific needs, your specific goals, and provide specific answers to your questions.

I've done my absolute best to be clear and accurate in today's show, but I'm one person and I make mistakes. If you spot a mistake in something I've said, please come by the show page and comment so we can all learn together. Until tomorrow, thanks for being here. Big Boyz Comedy Kings is coming to Yamaha Resort and Casino Saturday, December 9th with D.L.

Hughley. That sweater so tight, it look like a snot between the legs. Cedric the Entertainer. Once we stop running, I'll find out what it was we was running about. And Paul Rodriguez. What is it about old Mexican men? They could be missing a leg, they still want to get into a fight.

Hosted by my man Eric Blake in a special performance by Mario. Big Boyz Comedy Kings, December 9th at Yamaha Resort and Casino. Tickets can be purchased at AXS.com. This is a 21 and over event.