Fuel Economy Tip - Ditch The Drive Through

April 26th, 2006 | by Brian Carr |

The fast food or bank drive through (or any other drive through you can think of) has been one of the most convenient “innovations” in the shopping experience. Unfortunately, the drive through can also reduce your vehicle’s overall gas mileage and fuel economy.

Stop using drive throughs. Park your vehicle instead.

It’s certainly nice to never leave your car and have everything handed to you, but that convenience is probably going to cost you money and ruin your car’s gas mileage.

When your vehicle just sits and idles, or moves just a couple of feet every minute or so, your fuel economy drops to a whopping 0 miles per gallon (wow, what a surprise).

So, instead of sitting in the drive through for three or four minutes, wasting gas and money, park your car and go into the restaurant, bank or store.

Obviously there are going to be times when you need to use the drive through, like when you’re traveling with children or you’re in a rush, but the less you use drive throughs, the more gas and money you’re going to save.



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  1. 12 Responses to “Fuel Economy Tip - Ditch The Drive Through”

  2. By Anonymous on Apr 27, 2006 | Reply

    I’m all for parking the car. It’s a win/win situation. You save money, gas, AND get a little extra exercise!

  3. By Brian Carr on Apr 27, 2006 | Reply

    Thanks for the comment. And just think, with the weight you lose from the exercising, that will increase your gas mileage even more :)

  4. By Mr. Lady on Apr 30, 2006 | Reply

    ummmm…..actually it takes more gas to park and then start your car again, than it is to wait in line for about two minutes

  5. By Mr. Lady on Apr 30, 2006 | Reply

    This post has been removed by the author.

  6. By Anonymous on Apr 30, 2006 | Reply

    mr. lady, the general consensus amoung experts is that you will save gas by leaving your car idle as long as it idles for 10 seconds or less, any longer than 10 seconds of idling and you could be saving gas by turning your car off and then turning it on again. Just Google “idle 10 seconds” and you will see what i mean.

  7. By Anonymous on Apr 30, 2006 | Reply

    You also waste more gas by having to start your car once more. If the line is short, it is probably more gas friendly to go through the drive through.

  8. By DrDiSaia on Apr 30, 2006 | Reply

    You will save time and money not to mention preserving your health by not eating as much fast food. Pack a sandwich and skip a few of the fat pills they sell you as “fast food.”

  9. By Brian Carr on Apr 30, 2006 | Reply

    Ha, wow, who would have guessed this would be such a hot topic?!?

    From the research I’ve done, it takes a much gas for your car to idle for about a minute as it does to start your car. I haven’t seen anything about the time span being as short as 10 seconds, but I suppose it’s possible.

    In regards to having to continuously restart your car, yes, I would agree if you have to restart your car a bunch of times in a row it may be worth it to just idle, but I can’t really think of many situations where you’d have to do that.

    Finally, in regards to just not eating fast food, that’s a point well taken, but I think the general point of the article was to reduce the amount of time you spend in drive throughs, whether that’s in line at a fast food restaurant, the bank, the post office, etc.

  10. By RJSzynal on May 1, 2006 | Reply

    This is totally dependant on the age of your car, a brand new car will use very little fuel to start whereas my 1996 Ford fiesta with 101,000 miles on the clock will use more (in my case it is cheaper to leave it running for 3-4 minutes.) Also the size of the engine hold some weight as a big engine uses more fuel to start (bigger pistons etc). So there is no set time. Only the driver of a car knows it well enough to decide.

  11. By Brian Carr on May 1, 2006 | Reply

    I agree, there’s going to be a difference between different vehicles. I’m not saying that the “one minute rule” is true for all cars, but from everything that I’ve researched, it appears that it is a pretty reliable rule of thumb.

  12. By Anonymous on May 1, 2006 | Reply

    As has already been stated older cars waste much more gas stopping and starting than new cars. Not to mention the wear and tear on your ignition system.

  13. By Brian Carr on May 1, 2006 | Reply

    Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating turning your car on and off every 15 minutes.

    That being said, I’m sure MOST people don’t use drive throughs enough for the restarting of their car to be an issue.

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