J. Clarke articles

Everyone wants to squeeze a few extra miles out of a tank of gas, especially when prices keep climbing. Unfortunately, some supposedly clever fuel-saving tricks can actually make your car less efficient. From questionable driving habits to expensive products promising miraculous results, plenty of popular advice doesn't hold up under scrutiny. Here are 29 things that might be doing your gas mileage more harm than good.

Remember when getting a fully loaded car meant adding features that made everyone jealous? Twenty years ago, automakers offered everything from elaborate entertainment systems to surprisingly clever mechanical gadgets. Some cost hundreds or thousands of dollars, while others required upgrading to expensive trim levels. Today, many have disappeared entirely, and a few survive only in unusual corners of the new-car market.

A new car’s window sticker tells you what the vehicle costs to buy, not necessarily what it costs to own. AAA’s 2026 analysis estimated average new-vehicle ownership and operating costs at $12,863 per year. Depreciation, financing, insurance, fuel, maintenance, taxes, tires, and increasingly complicated technology can dramatically change the financial picture after you leave the dealership.

Car brands can disappear surprisingly quickly. A merger, shrinking sales, corporate restructuring, or one badly timed recession can erase a badge that drivers grew up seeing everywhere. Yet plenty of discontinued marques remain highly visible at car shows, auctions, enthusiast gatherings, and in garages where owners refuse to let them fade away. These 24 departed names left behind cars distinctive enough to keep people talking long after the dealerships closed.

A hybrid warning can be confusing because the car may continue behaving almost normally after the light appears. Unlike a conventional car, though, a hybrid combines an internal-combustion engine with electric motors, a high-voltage traction battery, power electronics, and sophisticated control systems. A warning involving that equipment deserves prompt attention, even when the vehicle remains mobile.

Your mechanic may be right, even if the quote feels surprisingly high. Cars with automatic start-stop systems put their 12-volt batteries through more work than older vehicles, and many require enhanced flooded batteries or absorbent glass mat batteries instead of the cheapest conventional option. The price premium is real, but so are the technical differences.

If your dealership enrolled you in a connected-car program you did not fully understand, you may be able to turn off the service, stop certain data collection, opt out of sharing, or request deletion. The exact choices depend on the automaker, vehicle technology, and privacy law where you live.

Modern cars have become surprisingly chatty. Between dashboard lights, infotainment messages, emails, and manufacturer apps, your vehicle can now tell you about maintenance in several different places. So when your phone warns you first, it is reasonable to wonder which screen deserves your attention. In many cases, the app is receiving legitimate information from the vehicle itself—but that does not make the dashboard obsolete. Here is how to handle the situation without ignoring something important or booking an unnecessary repair.