Xcellerate

The price of fuel has gone down significantly these past few months. Gone are the days when you had to spend five dollars per gallon of gasoline…at least for now. Read: for now. Yes, gas prices are low for now, but they won’t always stay low, as everybody found out last summer. And because of this, improving gas mileage should still be high on you priority list.

But what can you do to save gas? Well, for starters, go slower. Fuel economy decreases exponentially as your speed increases. Aside from going slower, try to stay at a cruising speed. Don’t suddenly accelerate or decelerate as it will result to burning the most amount of fuel.

Always check your tire pressures too. Under-inflated tires cause more drag, making you burn more fuel than necessary to move your car. Check the pressures at least once a month.

Check your air filter. A dirty filter restricts air flow, decreasing fuel economy and costing you more for your fuel.

In a traffic jam, try to keep rolling instead of starting and stopping all the time. It’s usually more efficient to keep the car moving instead of moving it from rest.

Though fuel prices have gone down, everyone should still try their best to save fuel and improve mileage. It will not only save money, it will help save the environment too.

The internal combustion engine has been around for a along long time. It has been the main means of propulsion for automobiles from the time the automobile was first invented up to the present and most likely, the foreseeable future. And they have performed well…at least well enough to last that long.

Times are changing however, what with the rising cost and dwindling supply of oil, and with the environment becoming more and more of an issue. It could be said that the days of the internal combustion engine are numbered. The thing is a suitable replacement has not been found yet.

There have been experiments on hydrogen, fuel cells, solar power, and more. But for now, the most likely successor of the internal combustion engine looks like the electric motor.

Though electric cars have failed before, those failures were because the market and the people in general were not yet ready for an electric car back then. Now though, they are thought of as the solution.

Already, hybrid cars (those that have both an electric motor and an internal combustion engine) are selling more and more units even though they are priced at a premium.

Though full electric vehicles are not yet available for everyone, hybrids are a step towards that full electric future.

Car makers always publish the power outputs of their engines. Those published numbers are usually enough for most people, but why settle for it when you can always get more?

You can get more out of your engine by simply tuning it. Tuning involves modifying or changing some parts or adding other parts to your car’s engine. What you can do to and how much more power you can gain by tuning your engine depends on the engine’s base size.

For example, a smaller engine with a displacement of 1.4 liters or smaller will not give a very big gain. Fast road cams could be put to good use in these engines as they are usually high-revving compared to bigger displacement engines.

A bigger engine, with up to 1.8 liters of displacement is more suited to tuning. It already produces more power at lower revs than a smaller engine, so there is a lot to be gained. A sports exhaust and a new filter will do wonders for this engine. So will the addition of forced induction either through a supercharger or through a turbo. There’s also the magic of nitrous oxide which adds more power.

The really big engines though stand to gain the most from tuning. Engines with at least 2.0 liters of displacement can get a lot more by changing the ECU mapping, or by adding a sports exhaust.

There are other things that could be done to get more out of your engine, but those are the easiest to do.

Be an expert in the world of cars. Accelerate, go beyond your limits as you explore every corner of this blog. Xcellerate is dedicated to providing resources about autos, cars, and SUVs. Automobile news, latest releases, car buying and maintenance tips and other fun stuffs related to cars are just a few of the many topics that will be discussed in this blog.

Feel free to browse through and be a pro in every aspect of the world of cars.