Maximize Fuel Efficiency: Manual Transmission Driving Tips

Even if you aren’t quite ready to trade your manual transmission-powered sports car in for a hybrid vehicle, you can still find ways to save money on gas.

Keep Your Car in the Right Gear

Your car will let you know when it is time to switch gears. Don’t ignore it. Sure, you can slow down to a crawl while in a high gear, but doing so will cause your vehicle to burn additional gas. The same goes for straining your vehicle to run as fast as possible in a low gear. Switch gears as soon as you need to for the greatest amount of fuel efficiency with a manual transmission.

Speed Up Slowly

You can take off as soon as a traffic light turns green, but doing so not only burns the clutch--it wastes gas. Bring your car up to speed slowly in order to use as little gasoline as possible.

Maintain Low RPMs

Watch your RPM gauge when driving and attempt to keep your RPMs within the 1200 to 1500 range. Revving your engine boosts your RPMs but causes you to waste gasoline in the process.  

Take the Highway

The sudden stops you encounter due to traffic lights and stop signs when driving in the city put additional wear and tear on your clutch and wreak havoc on your car’s gas mileage. Take the highway whenever possible to avoid constant breaking and get the most mileage from each gallon of gasoline.