cepheid

As cak144 has said, the Citi Dividend Platinum card gives you a flat 5% cash-back on gas purchases, with no tiers. If you max your Discover 5% tier, use the Citi card.

ALSO, regarding the Discover card:
I should point out that the "Get More, Get Out There" 5% cash-back bonus is separate and ON TOP OF your regular 5% cash-back. That means you can get 10% cash-back on gas until the end of the promo.

(I have the Home Improvement Discover card, and during the Home Improvement promo 3 months ago, I was earning 10% at Home Depot. Unless they have "fixed" this, the bonuses should add as before.)

Heh, quite right. But, you can still save gas by choosing your cooling method wisely. At city speeds, rolling the windows down is better than A/C. At highway speeds, A/C is actually more fuel-efficient. Of course, try to set the A/C as warm as is still comfortable, so the compressor operates for shorter periods (and therefore puts less strain on the motor and therefore burns less gas).

For #1, slight overinflation will actually save gas since it reduces the contact patch and therefore reduces rolling resistance. However, it also reduces handling and makes for uneven wear on the tires, so this may not be your best option... but if used properly, this can reduce mileage without significant negative impact in the other areas.

Regarding #2 and #3, you may wish to consider that the cost of this service (even if you are not doing it yourself, since parts still cost money) will likely outweigh the few-percent savings in gas mileage (and hence gas costs). Also keep in mind that lighter-weight oil (e.g. 5w vs. 10w) isn't as protective at high temperatures as the more viscous stuff, so if you're doing a lot of high-temp driving (e.g. the desert), you should ask your mechanic before switching oils.

As for #9, it's definitely a good idea. I don't think the extra floormats will make much of a difference, given that they weigh much less than 1% of the total curb weight of the car, but hey, why not. You could even remove the spare tire and the jack, but having those around is probably worth the extra weight.

A few additional items:
10. Diet WITH your car... not only is it healthy for you, but you'll save on gas!
11. Run fuel-injector/fuel-system cleaner through your engine (in one of those tanks of gas), to remove deposits.
12. Much more extreme, but: switch to lightweight rims and tires. Reducing weight on those items will save more gas, pound for pound, than reducing the same weight elsewhere, because it reduces the amount of torque required to turn the wheels, and therefore the amount of gas burned. Obviously, this option will be much more expensive than the gas savings, but you asked!

IceTrojan

Time to dust off those 10" wheels...

SAT Lawyer

Especially if you live in Las Vegas, Phoenix, El Paso, etc . . .

Bonus tip: Following #6 at home can really save you money off your electricity bill as well.

dhflies

Saw a sign at my local Shell station that you save 3c a gallon on regular on Thursdays and I think 8c on premium a different day. I'll try and get a better look at the sign the next time I drive by.

I also have been trying to telecommute to my client's office at least 2x a week. In addition to the daily $ave on gas, it also saves in buying lunch costs.

IceTrojan

Oooh... you reminded me. There's a car wash place that offers 20c off/gal with the purchase of a car wash (which is $8 for a car).

Basically, a free full service car wash with fill up. With my truck, it's "and then some"

Gotta maximize what you pay for!

cepheid

I know you're being facetious, but...

There's a limit to how small you can go and still save on gas. The smaller your wheel diameter (rim + tire), the faster the wheel has to spin to get you to the same linear speed (i.e. at any given road speed of X mph, a wheel that's [e.g] 18" in overall diameter [rim+tire] will spin 10% faster than a wheel that's 20" in overall diameter). If the wheel spins faster, you get increased frictional heating in the bearings, and the grease won't protect as much, leading to increased friction, etc. At some point, the extra torque required to overcome the extra friction will essentially negate the "savings" in torque due to the smaller wheel. (Not to mention that if you spin TOO fast, your bearings will give out.) There is an optimum wheel size that will properly balance the spin friction with the wheel's moment of intertia to minimize the required torque and hence maximize gas mileage. If one has faith in the designer of the car, one would think that the stock wheel size (stock rim + stock tire) should be near optimal. Thus it is likely better to go with lighter rims/tires that are the same size as stock (e.g. by using alloy rather than steel, or with more intelligent spoke design), rather than simply going to a smaller diameter.

party_boy

I thought that you can move up in size and still realize the savings as long as the weight is reduced and diameter remains unchanged. If you move down, just make sure that the tire doesn't weigh more than the rim itself.

pqflyer

Saw this when I filled up at my local Mobil station:

For new Speedpass customers
Get a new Speedpass™ any time between June 1 and August 31, 2005, and you'll receive a 5¢ per gallon discount on fuel purchases made with your new Speedpass device in most states.*
Just activate your new Speedpass device by August 31, 2005, and for 90 days after your activation date, every time you fill up, you can save towards the $20 maximum per account. The credit or check card you link to Speedpass will automatically be credited with the amount you saved.


Not a huge savings (and has to be activated by August 31st), but no down side--especially if you were thinking about signing up for a speedpass anyway.

Information: www.speedpass.com

ClassCAir

That is golden stuff! Thanks. I will try and sign up for the speedpass thing then here pretty quick. Mobil does seem to be the cheapest station in some states!

cepheid- Thanks for the information! If it works, that is wonderful, but I thought that Discover told me that with the specialty cards (gas, home improvement, & restaurant) you do not get the Get More Promotions. I understood it as that was the major difference between reward programs. I sure hope you are correct though! Did anyone try it on the gas promotion for a full 10% plus the redemption bonus which could mean a possible 20% savings! Whew! Pretty soon we'll have gas back to where it should be with all of these discounts!

bhatnasx

Any differences in the quality of gas?

Do most people shop at one set of stations (I usually go with Exxon, Mobil, Sunoco, BP, or Shell, depending on which is cheaper) - or will they go with any no name or "cheaper" gas (like Citgo/7-11 or Hess or other smaller branded products like Gas King - which is an independent gas station thats about 3 cents cheaper per gallon)? I realize that the gas all essentially the same - but are some better than others in the long term?

adamak

I saw on Nightly News that gas are sometimes cheaper at night, on weekdays; and more expensive on weekends.

MetairieTraveler

Basically, gasoline is the same everywhere, various combinations of carbon and hydrogen atoms. The difference between brands is the additives. Each company has its ideas of what will keep the fuel injectors clean and other such ancillary benefits. There are also the EPA mandated additives.

The discount stations may only have the EPA minimums and no advertising overhead while the majors have the extra additives to differentiate its product.

GoingAway

Wow - great info in this thread. So I have to dust off my Discover card (find it, actually) and get a new Speedpass account ^ since I drive a gas guzzler, every little bit helps.

Robt760

Here's something I've been using for the last 4 years. Seems to work out nicely at times, but if you're traveling with no way of web surfing, it probably won't work out. Hopefully this is something everybody can use...you just need to look up your state and local metro area, and you can get a good base of info from it. I've found that Costco DOESN'T always have the best gas prices, and Sam's Club has so few locations (at least in OC/LA/SD Counties) that it's not worth it. Have a look:




Gas Buddy

coachflyer

Once summer, while driving through the rural areas (Amish neighborhood) in Ohio, I got gasoline for about 10-15 cents cheaper as those blends had less restrictive EPA requirements.

Ethanol blended gasolines (such as Sunoco- about 10% alcohols) are normally cheaper but the heating values are less than crude derived blends, thus you could consume more fuel for the same travel and could end up with no savings.