Anybody who’s been following the US election news recently will have heard about McCain’s mocking of an answer Obama gave to a question in one of his campaign stops about saving fuel. Then he half-retracted it.

The truth of the discussion is that ensuring your tires (or tyres, for those English speakers outside the US) are correctly inflated does indeed help to maintain the efficiency. Having a handy little pressure gauge in your glove box and using it regularly will help keep your car running efficiently.

How Much Does This Save?
The estimated improvement in your fuel economy is 3%, but what does that mean? At today’s prices in the US (around $4.50/gallon here in California), it is around 10 cents a gallon saving. If you have to drive to work, then that’s a worthwhile saving for such a simple thing to check.

The US government estimates that 27% of the cars on the road in the US have a significantly under-inflated tire. So get out there and check your tire pressures (hint: if you don’t have a gauge already, and don’t want to buy one, most gas stations have one attached to the air compressor).

Anything Else We Can Do?
ABC News has the following hints in addition to tire pressure, derived from FuelEconomy.gov: keeping your car properly tuned can save you up to 4%, replacing your air filter when necessary will save you as much as 10% and using the correct motor oil in your engine will get you between 1% and 2% savings.

Even better though, how about using public transit, a bike or even just walking instead of driving at all? That saves you as much as 100% and gives you some time to read a book or newspaper, or perhaps catch up on email or your favourite blog(s).

If you can’t avoid the car, think about getting a hybrid (or even a pure electric) when you replace your current ride. And do you need the SUV, or would a smaller car suffice? If you only need the larger car occasionally, then money you save on fuel by switching to a smaller car would allow you rent something larger when you need it.

Tags: car, fuel economy, mccain, obama, tire

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