How does the weight of my car affect fuel efficiency?

How does the weight of my car affect fuel efficiency?

Terry Tamminen (Author & Environmental Policy Advisor) gives expert video advice on: Why is fuel efficiency important to the environment?; How does the weight of my car affect fuel efficiency? and more...

The weight of your car will dramatically affect your fuel efficiency. Imagine if you had to push the car, if it didn't have an engine; you'd obviously rather push a lightweight car than a very heavy car, and it's the same thing when you're propelling it with gasoline and an engine. You obviously have to do more work, create more air pollution and burn more fuel if you're going to push a heavy car than a light one. In fact, studies have shown that we could increase our fuel economy in our cars - in other words we can get better mileage in our cars - by taking the stuff out of our trunk. Most people don't realize that they're carrying an average of about 50 pounds of extra stuff in their trunk - golf clubs, perhaps. If you took that out, you'd actually get two or three percent better gas mileage.