Everyone wants a car that gets great gas mileage now. Gas prices are going up and there’s no sign of them coming back down. Gas prices are truly crazy right now, and it doesn’t seem as if they’re going to improve any time soon. Between continuing instability in the Middle East and the choppy rise and fall of the world’s financial markets on a daily basis in response to numerous wars and natural disasters – there’s very little hope of fuel prices easing off or falling to reasonable levels again. Not everyone can afford a costly electric hybrid vehicle right now. Most of us are faced with the decision of whether to drive or stay home, but for those of us who still have jobs to get to, yet can’t telecommute, there’s no option. Still, there are things you can do to maximize the bit of fuel in your tank without having to dish out for a new car or grow your own pair of wings. These tips from the U.S. Department of Energy can make getting out and about at least a little less expensive. Gas mileage begins losing efficiency in most vehicles at the speed of about 60 mph. For each mph over 60, it’s like you are paying an extra twenty-six cents per gallon of gas. The nearer you stay to 55 mph, the closer the cost per gallon stays to what you actually paid for it. If you tend to store weighty items in your trunk or backseats, you are burning fuel inefficiently. There is a formula by which this can be figured using the percentage of extra weight in the car relative to the vehicle’s weight. This factor affects smaller cars more than it does large ones. For each 100lbs of extra weight in your car, your mpg goes down by as much as 2 percent. The only time you get 0 mpg is when your car is running, but sitting still. Idling is a total waste of gas for all vehicles, but the larger your car’s engine is, the more gas is wasted when the car is running but not in motion. Some people power off their cars when parked in long lines, such as at fast food drive through lines or bank windows, but even this can waste gas, depending on how long the wait is and how many times you have to crank the car. Cranking the car up uses more gas than just driving.