How can i increase the mileage on my 2001 Hundi Elantra? It has never gotten the milage othe elantras did. I’m looking for more than general improve milage info. I have tried new plugs so far. I would rather put a bit of money into this car to get the milage than to buy another car. Thank you! Thel
The single biggest thing you can do is get an accurate tire pressure gauge and frequently check the cold pressure (like in the morning before you drive) to make sure it is correct. Follow the specs for the car (not the tires) normally found on a placard one of the front door posts or inside of the glove box. (I actually run mine a wee bit over).
Also keep the air and fuel filters clean. Keep to recommended service intervals on those and on all fluid changes.
If you have a roof rack, remove it.
Leave the windows up.
Drive gently - smooth acceleration and deceleration rather than jackrabbit starts & stops.
You’ll do quite a bit worse around town/city than on the highway no matter what you do.
The earlier post has hit on major things to do. One more thing–be certan your odometer is recording the miles accurately. If you are traveling farther than the odometer indicates, you may be getting better mileage than you are calculating. Check your odometer against a known distance. Some interstate highways have odometer checks.
Most bang for the buck is the brick mod. Put a brick under that accelerator to keep your acceration acceleration rates down. Anticipate traffic lights and stop signs so you use the brakes less. The Driver is #1. All the other stuff is very minor in comparison.
All the others have said, plus:
Don’t carry extra junk in the trunk.
Follow all the maintenance stuff in the manual.
Get the wheel alignment checked.
Get the brakes checked for dragging.
Don’t warm the car up idling more than 30 seconds.
Don’t use thicker oil than the manual calls for, and don’t overfill.
If your car has a manual transmission, “short” shifting will improve gas mileage. That means to upshift at low rpms, say 1500 or 2000. Get into top gear asap and drive in top gear as much as possible. Acceleration will suffer, but fuel mileage will be better than if you upshift at 3500 or 4000 rpm.