These Are the Worst Gas-Saving Tips You've Been Given

Fuel Shark!

Man, this unlocked some core childhood memory of watching the Fuel Shark infomercial at like 4 a.m. It was a simpler time. For those who don’t know the Fuel Shark is meant to smooth out the voltage your car’s alternator produces. It’s smooth in the same way your smooth brain would be if you thought this actually worked.

Guilty confession: I’ve always thought the fuel shark was so cute.

Suggested by: Unacceptably Dry Scones

Obligatory Shaq’s gas theory reminder.

Inside the NBA is one of the best programs currently on TV, and this clip is an all-time banger. Shaq is one of the greatest thinkers of our time, and I will hear no slander about him. The man believes what he believes, and that’s admirable... even if there’s no basis in reality. That’s admirable.

Suggested by: CleverBS

Had a guy claim he gets better gas mileage not using cruise control on a long drive. Basically saying his right foot can control throttle and speed better than a computer can

Oh man, I love when people are dumb with their chests. My man thinks he can control his car better than a computer whose only purpose is to control the car. I love it. This dude probably said it at a cars and coffee next to his ‘56 Chevy. Peak humanity right there.

Suggested by: i86hotdogs

Buy a $60,000 EV to save $100/month in gas.

More generally, any advice that doesn’t take payoff into account. There are a lot of ways to legitimately save negligible amounts of money on gas, many don’t stand up to scrutiny.

This is a tough one, because I guess technically saves gas. That being said, you’ll never see those savings. The math just ain’t mathing with this one chief. Where the last answer is from IRL boomers, this one seems more like a tweet from the worst person you know.

Suggested by: V10omous

Almost every trick of my dad’s.

1. Put car in neutral and turn off engine on downhill runs.

2. Draft trucks. Not just behind, but just on front of the rear tires you can get a draft too.

My mom combined them once on a trip. Dad had been drafting semis in a tiny Honda Civic (86) and bragging about getting over 50 mpg. While he slept, mom got about 3 inches from the back bumper of a semi-truck, put the car in neutral and “drove” for about an hour. She said the trucker knew she was there and was very good about being very clear about lane changes and the like. Dad woke up with mom going 70 with the engine off inches off the back bumper and freaked out.

But in fairness to mom, she won’t the “who can get the best gas mileage on a run, averaging 93 mpg for that drive.

I hate to be the one to tell you this, but your parents have a death wish. Turn off the engine??? Draft trucks??? Good lord. My guy, is your father Steve-O from Jackass? This is some nutty nutty stuff right here. Your mom, too. Good lord.

Suggested by: hoser68

I recall this one dude who swore up and down that it was good for his ride to “baby it” as he put it by buying premium gas instead of regular grade. Say whut?

The whole idea of the octane of the gas needing to match the engine’s compression was completely beyond him. To this dude, it was all “Premium is more expensive, therefore it’s better for my car.”

I had to look away so he didn’t see me roll my eyes so far up, they nearly stuck there.

This man is living in 3022, a bad and dumb version of 3022, but 3022 nonetheless. This is so dumb on two levels: it’s not saving any money MPG-wise and it is costing more at the pump. I like my idiocy multifaceted.

Suggested by: the 1969 Dodge Charger Guy

My man didn’t even bother to write a comment for this one. Just the picture. However, one of the replies is golden. User IRegretNothing said “To get the best results you need both the Tornado and the Fuel Shark. That’s right, a Fuel Sharknado.” I found this far funnier than I should have.

Suggested by: CitronC

Not stopping.

I had a former driver (fleet world) that truly believed that NOT STOPPING at stop signs or redlights would save fuel. Would creep crawl to sign/light and then try and roll through.

There is some truth to what he was on about. Not flooring it (spending gas) to just idle (spend more gas) at a light. A lot of modern controlled signalizations (stop lights) are timed to prevent speeding. Ie, if you go faster than the posted speed limit, you will catch more redlights vs those going the speed limit will hit changing green lights. So save fuel with better driving and not pushing it.

Why is it the worst? Well, he started having near misses with pedestrians. If you are operating on a fixed route, then neighbors complain. If neighbors complain, then cops come out and conduct traps. He would get pulled by cops and when the cops asked me I say ticket him to the 9th extreme. Then I had cause to terminate... because he WOULD NOT CHANGE. He was the only one and we had 20 employed drivers. The best could eek out about 9.6MPH and the worst would retun 6.5. He got mid-eights. Upper half but not outsanding and wasn’t worth the liability. Gas is cheap, a lawsuit isn’t.

Don’t run lights/stopsigns just to save gas. Ain’t worth it, ever.

This is some real galaxy brain thinking right here. You know what’s more expensive than paying a little more for gas? Buying a new car because you crashed yours. Also, lawsuits from the people you mowed down will probably add up pretty quickly.

Suggested by: FutureDoc

I once overheard someone say they were going to inflate their tires to 5psi ABOVE what the manufacturer recommended to reduce rolling resistance and thus improve gas mileage.

Great....

Except you’ll probably wear out your tires and struts/shocks a lot faster. Not to mention the car is going to handle and ride like crap.

God this is some real oldhead thinking right here. You’ll never convince this man that this strategy makes no sense. That’s because he heard it from his buddy at the Deka Battery factory in Lyons, Pennsylvania.

Suggested by: Earthbound Misfit I

I was told that it was best to keep revving at stop lights, because it kept the engine warm and “in the zone”. Since I was told this by my idiot brother, I went right ahead and ignored him.

Your brother sounds like a nice guy, giving you advice and all that. But, Jesus Christ. Is he okay? That’s some lead-poisoning logic.

Suggested by skeffles

As a former subaru sti owner, the general forum consensus was to get a downpipe with high flow cat or an open downpipe with a tune. It will net you more powa and better mpg. I suppose that is true, but it doesn’t work in the real world when you want to test that extra powa.

I don’t know about this one, Scoob.

Suggested by: pandaexpresssucksball

Buy a hybrid.

Actually, that might be the best advice to save fuel. Not because they get much better MPG than a regular ICE car, but because they are so terrible to drive that you’ll never fire them up unless you absolutely have to. I had a Prius loaner once that made the worst noise I’ve ever heard from a car. It was so cheap inside, I would consider a Cozy Coupe an upgrade. I think the designers made a list of the best things about driving a car, and then made sure the Prius did the opposite of everything on it.

Similar to the slide about buying EVs, you just aren’t going to save enough money to offset the cost of buying a new car. Unless you’re gonna keep it for a long, long time, that math just is not going to come even close to working out for you.

Suggested by: Ticallion The Baptist

Vote Democrat.

Fuel prices will be so high and you won’t have a job anyway so there’s no reason to drive and use gasoline.

Everyday I pray that no one will be a doofus in the comments, and every day God reminds me that he cannot hear me.

Suggested by: Tracer Bullet

Keep your car running while you go into the store because it takes more gas to start the motor back up.

Goodness, this is an oldie but a goodie. I’m pretty sure even I’ve heard this one from people I trust... like my mom. She means well though.

Suggested by: highwaytoheaven

It’s probably not the worst, but putting your car in neutral or depressing the clutch to coast down hills. From a safety standpoint it’s not great because your can’t use the throttle to transfer weight in an emergency maneuver and a mistake going into the wrong gear can be dangerous or destructive but also many cars made in the last couple decades shut off fuel during coasting when the car is in gear so it actually burns more fuel with the clutch in than while coasting in gear. At best even in an old car you are not saving a significant amount of fuel unless you are going across the Continental divide and that may be offset by brake wear.

This is some stupidly bold thinking. I’m gonna start doing it just to ruin my throwout bearing and brakes, because it’s my God-given right to do so.

Suggested by: Fight the Machine

Figure out the maximum distance your roadside assistance will tow you, fake a breakdown under this distance to your destination and call them for a tow

This... is so brilliant. Bravo, friend, bravo.

Suggested by: sklooner