what to do when it costs $100 to fillup

1. Park so that you can pull forward rather than wasting gas backing up, will improve own your mileage 25%.

2. Follow the speed limit –generally, each 5 mph you drive over 60 mph is like paying an additional $0.20 per gallon for gas.

3. Swear off aggressive driving (rapid acceleration and deceleration), drivers can improve mpg by anywhere from 12% to 55%.

4. An additional 19% improvement can be achieved, it is claimed, merely by keeping a car properly maintained (check air in tires, change oil regularly).

5. Limit the time spent idling also led to improvements of up to 19% (if you're going to be at a standstill for 10 seconds or more, cut off the engine. And if the drive-through line at McDonald's is a long one, park and buy your food inside).

6. Avoid keeping unnecessary items in your vehicle, especially heavy ones.

7. When you use overdrive gearing, your car's engine speed goes down. This saves gas and reduces engine wear.

8. Brake sparingly. Coast up to red lights instead of braking (though you might want to watch your rearview mirror). Timed correctly, you'll hit the green while still moving forward and expend less fuel accelerating again.

9. Warm up your engine (if you're on a round of errands, for example, always go the farthest destination first to bring up the engine temperature).

10. Beware of drag. Car racks and other automotive appendages -- even those flags honoring favorite sports teams -- reduce mpg by creating drag. Driving with open windows is generally held to be better than using the air conditioning, but closed windows and no A/C are best.

11. Jackrabbit starts might enable you to win the race to the next traffic light, but they're murder on fuel economy. Accelerate at 1,900 rpm, if you let the other guy beat you to the next light, his presence might just cause it to change to green, enabling you to keep going without braking.

12. Drive at or slightly below the speed limit while faster vehicles pass and pull you along in their wakes can result in mpg 50% higher than the EPA ratings.