One of my favorite things about living in the middle of a city is not having to drive to work. While I sometimes I miss the privacy of commuting an hour or so everyday in the confines of my 1984 baby blue Volvo (with blue velour interior!), most of the time, I know that reading on the subway is more my style. And I definitely don't miss digging my car out of the snow, as I know most of my friends in Minnesota are doing today.

Then there's the escalating gas prices, which are on the upswing yet again—an average of 30 cents per gallon since this time last month. Though the national average is nowhere near $3 per gallon again, it can't be a bad thing to be more conscious about consumption. From the EPA's Fuel Economy website:

While each vehicle reaches its optimal fuel economy at a different speed (or range of speeds), gas mileage usually decreases rapidly at speeds above 60 mph. As a rule of thumb, you can assume that each 5 mph you drive over 60 mph is like paying an additional $0.20 per gallon for gas.

The EPA's Fuel Economy website has some great tools for maximizing fuel economy, as well as a catalogue of average MPG, cost of fueling, and greenhouse gases produced by all makes and models going back to 1985. This year, the least efficient car isn't a monster SUV, but rather a Lamborghini, which gets an estimated 9 miles per gallon (14 on the highway), and which is probably occasionally driven at speeds above 60 mph.

Fuel Economy Catalogue
Tips to Improve Gas Mileage

Flickr photo by Spike55151