1) If you have increased the weight of the vehicle by packing the trunk, and or backseat with items you want to have in the vehicle, adding significant weight to the vehicle can decrease gas millage.
2) Get a locking gas cap.
3) Be sure the tires are not low on air pressure.
4) Get it aligned at a good alignment shop.
5) If you drive often where there are a lot of traffic lights so you end up having to stop for red lights, pay attention to how fast you are going when you first hit the brake. The energy absorbed by your brakes is a function of mass times the velocity squared. All things being equal (same vehicle carrying same amount of weight, on the same road), a driver who is going 40 MPH when they begin applying the brake for a red light ahead of them is making the brakes dissipate 4 times as much energy as a different driver who is going only 20 MPH when they have to begin braking for a red light. (Even though 40 MPH is only twice as fast as 20 MPH, because energy is a function of velocity squared, the result is a square of the speed) And this ties into MPGs because that energy dissipated by the brakes is first put into getting the vehicle moving (unless the vehicle is getting energy to move by drifting down a hill) by the engine burning fuel. When you drive in areas where you know there are several traffic lights that you will have to go through, realize in advance that when there are several traffic lights you most likely will ketch a red light, and save fuel by not going fast, so when you first apply the brake you are going at a slower speed.
I see drivers all the time who have to be going 10 MPH or more over the speed limit, and they weave in traffic so they can keep going fasts, only to end up having to apply brake for a red light at a high speed, and therefore they don't get a decent MPG. And they also wear out the tires and brakes faster. If they want to drive the vehicle like it is in a road race, and they want to experience the acceleration, side forces, and fast stops, hay it is a free country, but they are paying for it in gas millage, tire wear, and brake wear. And possibly traffic tickets, and or accidents.
Some of these people seem like they are in a hurry, and some of them seem like they just want to beat the vehicle to enjoy accelerating, weaving through traffic, and braking hard. In the end there is no way these people are going to get the gas millage that some driving a similar vehicle can get just by not being going fast when they have to apply brake for a red light.
