How to Extend the Life of Your Car
Cars are expensive these days, and they aren’t getting any cheaper. A lot of people are trying to do as much as they can to get some extra mileage out of their car so that they don’t need to replace it as quickly. There are also ways to get a few extra thousand miles still out of older cars; if you’ve got a rust bucket of your own, there are some important things you should be doing.
The best thing you can do for your car to extend its life is to keep it in good repair. Follow your maintenance schedule as noted in your car’s manual to the letter. Not only will this keep your car in tip top shape, it will give it a slight boost in re-sale value if there aren’t any failing parts when you go to sell or trade it in.
Fuel efficiency will also play a big part in extending the life of your car. There are a lot of parts in your car that can affect fuel efficiency, including poorly-inflated tires, air filters inside the car, and your oil. These are all easy things to fix, and will give your car better fuel efficiency, but the hardest thing to change above all is your driving habits. To do this, you can try hypermiling.
Hypermiling is a method of increasing your car’s gas mileage by changing the way you drive. Apart from improving the performance of your car, you’ll also get the added bonus of saving on gas. There are some simple ways to start hypermiling without changing your driving habits too drastically.
First you should be recording your mileage after every fill-up at the tank. Compare how many kilometres your last tank gave you, to see if you’ve increased or decreased your fuel efficiency. This is the only way you’ll be able to track your changes. Secondly, reduce the amount of time that you’re stopped, as you will be getting 0 miles per gallon while stopped. If you see a red light, or brakes, take your foot off the accelerator to at least reduce the amount of gas that you’re burning.
The easiest thing people can change about their driving is how they accelerate. After a stop, accelerate SLOWLY. The faster you accelerate the more gas you burn. You’re not in a race, and your speed will pick up eventually.
These aren’t the only methods of hypermiling, but they are the easiest to implement. As long as you keep your car in regular repair, and be smarter with your gas usage, you’ll be sure to add thousands of extra miles to your older car.
Katie used to drive an old 1993 Honda Civic that she was able to maintain for 12 years. Katie feels this is a common theme even when it comes to anti aging or your mattress pad, life will be prolonged if you take care of it.
Processing your request, Please wait....
