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business Wednesday 11 May 2022
As gas prices hit record, here's how to get better mileage

By TOM KRISHER cording to Repairpal.com.
AP Auto Writer — Watch your speed. AAA
DETROIT (AP) — The dollars- says fuel economy peaks
and-cents counter on the around 50 miles per hour on
gas pump seems to be most vehicles, then drops
spinning faster these days as speed rises. Reducing
with U.S. prices hitting an- highway speeds by 5 mph
other record high on Tues- (8 kilometers per hour) to 10
day. mph improves gas mileage
The average price for a by up to 14%.
gallon of regular unlead- — Plan your route in ad-
ed hit $4.37, according to vance. Try to minimize
AAA, 17 cents higher than backtracking. Do multiple
just a week ago. Last year tasks on each trip. Avoid
at this time it was just $2.97 rush hours and other peak
per gallon. Crude oil prices travel times.
already were high largely — Don't idle too much. An
because many countries engine burns one-quar-
are refusing to buy Rus- ter to a half-gallon (1.9 li-
sian oil due to the invasion ters) of gas per hour when
of Ukraine. And now we're idling, but a warm engine
heading into peak driving needs only around 10 sec-
season and demand is up. Gasoline prices are displayed at a gas station in Vernon Hills, Ill., Friday, April 1, 2022. onds worth of fuel to re-
That means the cost to Associated Press start, according to AAA. So
pump 15 gallons into a ve- when safely possible, shut
hicle is now a whopping also pushing up prices. — Make sure there's enough could cause tires to wear your engine off if you'll be
$65.55. Four fill-ups per The average used vehicle air in the tires. Underinflated out more quickly. stopped for more than a
month would cost more cost $31,218 last month. tires create more rolling — Properly maintain your minute. Many new vehicles
than $260, a big chunk out The average new one? resistance with the pave- vehicle. Follow the manu- do this on their own. Ben-
of just about anyone's bud- $45,341, according to Ed- ment, thereby reducing facturer's recommenda- nett says owners shouldn't
get. munds.com. gas mileage. Inflate your tions for oil and other fluid disable their new "stop-
With gas prices that high, Generally, comparable tires to the pressure rec- changes and for replacing start" system.
owners may be thinking electric vehicles are even ommended on the inside air and other filters. Replac- — Coast to stop lights. Time
about replacing their older more expensive than gas- of your driver's side door. ing spark plugs at the prop- your travel to keep rolling
vehicles with something oline-fueled ones, though Check them periodically er intervals can help, too. and avoid unnecessary
more efficient. But that may charging the battery is typi- with a tire pressure gauge. "The vehicle is going to op- stops. Cars consume a lot
not be cost effective. The cally much cheaper. "Typically, your gas mileage erate at its peak efficiency" of fuel to get moving from
global shortage of com- All is not necessarily lost. is going to be impacted by with good maintenance, a dead stop.
puter chips and other parts There are steps you can about 5% to 10% if you don't Bennett said. It will cost be- — Fill up with gasoline des-
has cut into production of take to make an old car, have proper inflation," said tween $235 and $289 for ignated as "Top Tier." Oil
new vehicles, driving prices truck or SUV perform bet- David Bennett, manager of new spark plugs on, say, a companies put additives in
up. That sent many people ter, go farther and perhaps repair systems for AAA. But 10-year-old Ford F-150 pick- Top Tier gas that cuts car-
into the used car market, save some money on fuel: don't over-inflate. Doing so up with a 4.6-liter V8, ac- bon deposits. q

Sony's profit surges on healthy film, game, music growth

By YURI KAGEYAMA No Way Home," which con- ed to get over the new
AP Business Writer tributed to theatrical rev- supply problems stemming
TOKYO (AP) — Sony's fiscal enue. from the recent restrictions
fourth quarter surged 67% Sales in its TV division also in China, he added.
to 111.1 billion yen ($852.7 grew from the licensing in- The reversal of a previous
million) from the previous come of "Seinfeld" and oth- write-down of deferred tax
year, as the Japanese en- er titles, Sony said. assets last fiscal year also
tertainment and electron- Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki told helped send the latest an-
ics company racked up reporters income from nual profit lower due to the
profits in video game and movie theaters was return- absence of the tax-reduc-
movie divisions. ing lately to levels record- tion perk.
Tokyo-based Sony Corp.'s ed prior to the coronavirus Sales for the fiscal year
January-March quarterly pandemic, which brought through March 2023 are
sales edged up 1% to 2.26 on restrictions around the expected to benefit from
trillion yen ($17 billion), as its world to curb the spread of the declining yen that will A woman walks at the headquarters of Sony Corp. Tuesday,
music operations also did infections. come on top of the expect- May 10, 2022, in Tokyo.
well, boosted by the popu- By reshaping its product ed growth in content sales. Associated Press
larity of streaming services, lineup, profits improved in The dollar was trading at
the company said Tuesday. TVs and digital cameras, 116 yen, up from nearly 106 animation. Sony has also Sony, which also makes TVs
For the full fiscal year ended overcoming supply chal- yen the previous year, ac- recently been banking on and portable digital music
in March, Sony racked up a lenges that came from dis- cording to Sony. the metaverse, the immer- players, expects to post a
profit of 882 billion yen ($6.8 ruptions brought on by CO- Sales were also boosted sive virtual world, where it profit of 830 billion yen ($6.4
billion), down 14% despite VID-19, Totoki said. But sev- by Sony's acquisition of faces rivals like Facebook, billion) for the fiscal year
the success of "Spider-Man: eral months may be need- Crunchyroll, which streams or Meta. through March 2023.q