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Five Dont's While Driving Your Toyota & Lexus Hybrid

  • Drafting Behind Trucks

    You can’t save gas if you’re dead!

  • Failing to stop at stop signs and lights

    See above.

    A good product to help with this is a set of pressure sensing valve stem caps. Available at parts outlets in varying pressures, the sensors screw on in place of the valve stem caps. When the pressure in the tires falls, the caps turn progressively from green to red. They can easily be glanced at with a quick walk around the car.

  • Using low friction 0w20 or 5w20 oil

    Toyota and Lexus only specify this oil for the benefit it gives them for their Corporate Average Fuel Economy scores. The difference between these oils and 10w30 amounts to a fraction of a mile per gallon. They don’t protect as well as 10w30 in hot climates and they cost more, too. Would you let someone sell you low friction blood so that you don’t have to eat as many calories?

  • Additives, K&N air filters and other gizmos

    If a magnet on the fuel line or a food processor blade stuffed in the air intake hose really helped an engine work, the car companies would have used them already. Leave the Tornado at AutoZone for some other sucker to buy. That goes for K&N air filters, too. These really do help….until the oil from the filter fouls the MAF sensor and you lose 5 mpg.

  • Synthetic oil

    The dealers are making people pay $60.00 or more for an oil change. The excuse is that the engine cools down so much that it’s the same as a cold start when it comes back on. That is completely ridiculous! Not only will the engine automatically restart if the temperature falls, the engine usually needs to run every few minutes anyway. Park at the dealer service drive for 10 minutes with the engine off and tell Mr. Synthetic Oil that if he’ll put his bare hand on top of the engine that you’ll pay the extra..