Why is highway mileage good

Conversely, highway driving requires maintaining a consistent speed. There are a few ways to improve your gas mileage in the city, and they all coincide—fortunately—with safe driving practices. The best thing you can do is drive gently: accelerate and stop at a controlled rate and try to spend as little time as is possible with your car idling.

Looking to upgrade to a car with better gas mileage? Come take a look at our inventory of new cars. Is it necessary to take my car on the highway from time-to-time to keep the engine running properly?

If so, how often? The short answer is no, there is no need to drive your car on the highway. The long answer is a bit more complicated because highway driving is definitely better for your car than city driving. Let your local Master Mechanic explain. By cruising in the mid-range, the engine is working in its comfort zone. It's is hard to identify an ideal speed for a given car. Some vehicles will cruise very nicely at 80 mph for hours on end, while another will struggle mightily.

Some cars seem to resent cruising at 50 mph, while for others this is the ideal speed. Rather than speed itself, though, it is really the steadiness of the speed that has more impact on engine wear. When an optimal speed is maintained steadily, the oil pressure remains higher so internal engine parts are better protected and engine temperatures remain stable.

Transmissions also last longer, since they don't shift as often. Frequent shifting places the most wear on gears and transmission linkage. Additionally, brake pads and brake discs last longer simply because you go so many miles between brake applications. All of these things together make for an ideal situation for a vehicle.

If you've ever heard a driving enthusiast refer to the feeling of their favorite car "at speed," they are talking about a smooth, fast drive, one that leaves the systems of the car performing perfectly together like a well-rehearsed orchestra.

City driving is the antithesis of the perfect conditions offered by highway driving. You are constantly accelerating and decelerating, the transmission is constantly shifting up and down, which accelerates wear, and the engine frequently idles at low RPMs, reducing oil pressure and causing more wear on internal engine parts.

You use your brakes more often so they will wear out quicker. The wear of city driving can be minimized by more frequent maintenance cycles. A car with a recommended oil-change interval of 7, miles might really require changes at 5, or even 3, miles if it sees nothing but stop-and-go use in heavy traffic.