remove extra vehicle weight

one way to increase gas mileage is to remove extra weight from the vehicle. meaning that if you have lots of junk in the trunk (heavy stuff) remove it if it is not necessary to be toting around all the time. less weight puts less strain on your vehicle increasing gas mileage

[QUOTE=darkhorse;686]one way to increase gas mileage is to remove extra weight from the vehicle. meaning that if you have lots of junk in the trunk (heavy stuff) remove it if it is not necessary to be toting around all the time. less weight puts less strain on your vehicle increasing gas mileage [/QUOTE]


I tried this with my spare tire but didn't see much of an increase. Maybe its because I do a lot of stop and go driving within the city.

On another car forum I'm on, I've seen people take out their spare tires, back seats, a/c units just to see how much they can increase their mileage. Not sure I'm willing to go that far. Even if the spare tire is added weight, it's a safety feature that I won't do without.

Agree with this one. I would take the spare out, but I would consider removing the back seat which is never used or rarely used. Maybe that is something to look at. Converting the car to something more practical for me in every way.

i have heard of people doing this when they go the race track, but not for typical daily driving.

This can also mean leaving extra family members home on errand runs. Let the mom or dad keepthe kids while your out running errands. Its the green thing to do.

I have a 1991 Pontiac Transport that features removable rear passenger seats.

It might consume a tad more gas than smaller cars, but its flexibility allows us to function with only one vehicle.

It is lighter without the seats, but we can carry more pepole by just putting them back in!

I don't really think that doing that will dramatically cut costs on gasoline. But I do see it as contributing to reducing it in total.

[QUOTE=andy;691]I tried this with my spare tire but didn't see much of an increase. Maybe its because I do a lot of stop and go driving within the city.[/QUOTE]

Why would you remove your spare tire? What if you get a flat? Jesus.

Removing the spare will not make a difference, neither will unloading your trunk. If you want to make a real difference, you would need to do weight reduction to the body panels, by replacing them with fiberglass.

Having a empty trunk will not make a difference, you have to remove ALOT of weight before it would make a differerence. And having more weight in the back can actually help in cold months, you get more traction in the rear.