Lesson 5:
Driving for Fuel Economy
Objective:
At the end of this lesson, you'll be able to drive in a way that uses less gas, keeping your money
in your pocket.
Lets Get Started!
Just to warn you, this is a very hard concept to understand. Don't worry if you don't understand it at
first. With time, you'll be able to master this trick, and keep your hard earned money in your pocket.
The first thing you need to remember is, as you learned in the last lesson, the engine uses more gas
when the engine is revving high. The trick is to drive when the engine is revving low. To do this,
you must drive in fifth gear. As you approach your cruising speed, shift early. Once you reach a steady
speed, you should be driving in fifth gear.
The next concept to learn is about how gears work, and I will try to simplify it as best as I can. In first gear,
the engine is working hard to pull you from a stop. In fifth gear, the engine is not working hard at all, as you
are usually cruising at a steady speed. When the engine is not working hard, it is using less gas. This is why
you want to drive in fifth gear as much as possible.
There is one more concept to remember. The car accelerates quickest in a lower gear, and slowest in high gears.
If you are cruising at slow speed in fifth gear, you will need to downshift into a lower gear to regain the power
you've lost. You trade off performance for better fuel economy, but given the price of gas, it's well worth it.
Make sure that you practice downshifting to get the acceleration power back. You never know when you'll need to
speed up to get out of a tight situation.