America is currently paying more per gallon of gas than ever before, so here are a few traditional and not-so-traditional ways to keep the cost at the pump as low as possible.

Drive a Fuel Efficient Car
Yes, this seems like a waste of a tip, but your gas mileage will only be as good as your car. A gas guzzling Hummer won’t get the same mileage as a Prius, no matter what you do in either car. But many people don’t realize the gas-sipping gems on the used market. I paid $900 for my used 1996 Saturn SL. While it does everything poorly, it is reliable and I can get 36mpg when I drive it properly. The key is a lightweight car with a small engine. Newer cars tend to be bloated and heavy, which works against gas mileage even with the most advanced, whiz-bang gas saving technology.

Don’t Skip Scheduled Maintenance
A car in tip top shape will be more fuel efficient than a car that is old and falling apart. Things like new spark plugs can improve ignition, letting the engine burn cleaner and wasting more gas. The difference won’t be night and day, but you can often get an extra 1 or 2 mpg after maintenance. You’ll also ensure that your car won’t die on the side of the road, which of course wastes all the gas the tow truck will need to tow your car away.

No Quick Starts
Yes, this is a sad tip, but if you want to get good gas mileage you can’t treat every stop light like you’re the next Fast and the Furious star. Pretend your grandmother is sitting in the passenger seat and doesn’t like going fast. Now take it a step or two back from that.

Keep the Engine’s RPMs in the Efficiency Zone
If you drive an automatic, your car will deal with this on its own. Just give a little bit of gas to slowly accelerate, and the revs will fall where the need to.

If you drive a manual, it is up to you to keep the revs where they need to be. All engines have a rev range where they are most efficient. For most engines, this is between around 1500 RPM - 3000 RPM, although every engine model is slightly different. This means that efficiency falls off when you are higher in the revs but also when you are lower in the revs. Yes, this seems a bit counterintuitive, but trust me on this. Think of it like this: on your bicycle, if you are in the top (fastest) gear, it is REALLY hard to get the bike moving at slow speeds. The same is true for a car engine - this is called “lugging” the engine. This is why dropping a gear to get it into the efficiency zone yields better gas mileage.

So, don’t punch it to redline with every shift, but also don’t throw the car into 5th as soon as you start rolling at 5 mph. Keep the revs in the zone.

Cruise in the Highest Gear Possible
This tip relates directly to the tip above about keep the revs in the zone of efficiency. With an automatic, just make sure that you are in Drive and that your Overdrive is turned off, if your car has one.

In a manual, use the highest gear that keeps you in the zone of efficiency. At 30 mph, this would probably be eitehr 3rd or 4th gear. At 55 mph +, this would be your top gear - either 5th or 6th gear depending on how many gears your transmission has.

Keep Your Windows Closed
Your main enemy when cruising is air resistance, aka drag. When you open the windows in your car, the flow of air is disrupted as it flows over your car’s surface. This is nice if you want to stay cool, but now your engine must work that much harder to force the car through the air. Keep your windows closed to let your engine work less and save you gas.

Turn Your AC OFF
Your air conditioner is just a pump - special fluid gets pumped around your car, moving heat from the fan ducts to the outside. This works great if you’re hot, but comes at a price. After all, something has to power that pump, and that something is your engine. Turning off your AC can usually save a few MPGs, sometimes more depending on the driving environment.

If you were paying attention, you’d realize that keeping your windows closed and turning off the AC should yield the best gas mileage. You are correct. But what if it’s really hot outside!? Well, there is no free lunch on this front. Either sweat it out or lower your gas mileage. People have debated forever whether your better off with the windows open and AC off, or windows closed and AC on. Both are compromises, but at higher speeds, the drag of having the windows open will exceed the energy needed to run the AC pump. So, cruising around town I keep my windows open, and I put the AC on while on the highway.

Keep your Tires Inflated
Tires create rolling resistance, ie, it takes a little bit of energy to make them roll. When tires are underinflated, they have a greater rolling resistance because there is more tire material on the pavement and the tires deforms much with each revolution - both of which require more energy to overcome. Underinflated tires also wear out quicker, and all aspects of performance quickly become terrible. Really, there is absolutely no benefit whatsoever to underinflated tires, so keep those tires pressures up!

Don’t overdo it though. Too much pressure will yield a very harsh ride, worse performance, and will prematurely wear out the middle of your tires. Just keep the pressure at the level recommended by your car manufacturer.

Buy Narrower Tires
This is tied to the section just above about tire inflation. Narrower tires (and tires that are less sticky) will have less rolling resistance, and therefore will yield higher gas mileage. They also will have less aerodynamic drag, since there will be a narrower profile slicing through the air.

Note that this tip is REALLY splitting hairs. Technically this will lower gas mileage, but you probably won’t notice the difference in practice. Personally, I would chose a tire based on its performance, not its width and affect on gas mileage.

Take Routes that Require Less Stop-and-Go Driving
If you have the choice between taking a deserted road or a road with stop lights every 5 feet, take the deserted road. Being able to maintain a steady speed will save you gas since you don’t have to accelerate back up to speed constantly. It also means you won’t be stopped in traffic, which is always best.

Maintain Your Speed Through the Corners
Finally, a fun tip! For the same reason that avoiding stop-and-go driving will save gas, maintaining speed through the corners will also save you gas because you won’t need to accelerate back up to speed on every straight. And, as a bonus, it’s a lot of fun!

To maintain your speed, simply take the Line through the corner. Don’t forget that you are on a public road, so obviously brake when you need to. Crashing will definitely cost you more money, and will also use more gas as now several different vehicles have to come and deal with the aftermath.