Debunking gas saving tips and myths
(photo by Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun)
In an earlier post about being frugal, I mentioned my father's refusal to fill his gas tank completely to avoid using up more gas to haul that fuel all over town.
Commenter aeb asked on that post about an opposite strategy --- keeping your tank full to avoid losing your gas to evaporation.
This Real Simple article on saving money also says evaporation is a problem, but because of hot weather, and so recommends parking out of the sun, a tip repeated in this interview on Marketplace.
Little did I know that the kind fellows on Car Talk had addressed these very same questions earlier this year!
An amazing coincidence. So what's the deal?
1. Yes, they confirmed that a full tank could weigh 40 or 50 pounds more than a half-full one, so it does use more gas to drive with a full tank. But if you have to constantly drive to the gas station, you'll end up driving away your savings.
2. Gas doesn't evaporate from modern cars because it's a closed system.
What other surprising ways have you heard to ease the pain at the pump? Post them below and I'll run them by some automotive experts next week.
A native of Vietnam, 
Comments
I heart Car Talk.
Posted by: mary | March 28, 2008 4:55 PM
Someone told me the other day that they never pump gas with the valve all the way open (e.g. holding the "trigger" partway, or locking the handle in the first position rather than the second). This is supposed to be a means of keeping the vapors down while you're pumping. (The vapor recovery system means that you wind up paying for gas that ends up back in the pump.) My guess is that, between the time you lose by pumping more slowly, and the relatively small amount of actual loss, the savings on this one is probably negligible.
Posted by: Claude | March 30, 2008 9:47 AM