Fuel Economy Guide:

A properly maintained and operated vehicle will run more efficiently, will be safer, and will last up to 50 per cent longer.

It is important to get regular engine tune-ups. A misfiring spark plug, for example, can reduce fuel efficiency by as much as 30 per cent. Follow the service schedules in your owner's manua and replace fluids and filters as recommended. Underinflated tyres and improperly aligned wheels also reduce fuel efficiency, because your engine has to work harder to push the vehicle.

Aggressive driving (speeding, rapid acceleration and braking) wastes gas. It can lower your gas mileage by 33 per cent at highway speeds and by 5 per cent around town. And excessive engine idling also wastes gas. Cars with larger engines typically waste more gas at idle than do cars with smaller engines. Mileage usually decreases rapidly at speeds above 60 mph.

The best thing you can do to save fuel costs is to drive a more fuel-efficient vehicle. The difference between a car that gets 20 miles per gallon and one that gets 30 miles per gallon amounts to hundreds of dollars a year, and thousands of dollars over the lifetime of your vehicle, depending on the cost of gas and how much you drive.

Almost all of the cars and trucks we drive run on fuels derived from oil - a non-renewable resource, and while there is some debate as to how long this resource will last, we will eventually have to find new ways to power vehicles. Until other alternatives are developed, it makes sense to use fossil resources such as oil more efficiently to buy time to develop new and better energy sources and to make the transition to these sources smoother and less expensive.

You can find information on the fuel economy of individual cars on the internet - or ask your dealer.