Don’t believe myths about how to improve your gas mileage.

1. Never use regular gas if your manual says “premium gas recommended‘. False. Regular gas is OK and you can save $$. If your manual says “premium gas required“, you better buy it. Else engine knocking & faster engine wear.

2. Buy gas at night or early morning in the summer because cold gas is more dense. False. Even is you do succeed in buying “cold gas” (and this is complicated), the difference in density is slight (maybe 1%). Savings are marginal.

3. Shopping around for cheaper gas isn’t worth the mileage. False. Let your fingers do the walking online. If you’re traveling, crossing state lines may save you $$.

4. You need to drive 55 to stay alive (and get the best gas mileage). False. Fuel efficiency doesn’t drop until you get over 60 mph. Consistency on the gas pedal(smooth driving) makes a much bigger difference than how fast you drive.

5. A car with manual transmission will always get better mileage than an automatic. False. Not any more. Newer automatics can get same or slightly better than manual. Maybe not for city driving, but on the highway–definitely.

6. Open windows & kill A/C to save gas. False. At high speeds especially, leaving windows open increases wind resistance and cancels out the savings. Oh and btw, you don’t have to keep the A/C going full blast at all times. Once the car is cool, turn it down and adjust your vent settings.

Art Cashin, director of Floor Operations at UBS gave CNBC his market outlook. Cashin is sort of the E.F. Hutton of the trading floor. “When he talks, people listen.” Sandwiched among his observations of other market happenings, he mentions:

“With oil pressing up against key resistance here — if it gets above $74, $75, you could get a short-covering spike. That could really hurt the recovery that’s beginning.”

It’s not clear whether he sees this coming, just that if it does, ‘yikes.’ Stay calm all you investors out there.

See the CBNC segment here:

Crude oil prices popped to over $71/barrel Mon. China is boosting its reserves again. Nigerian militants have partly shut down a Royal Dutch offshore oil platform.

Analyst Phil Flynn of Alaron said China’s plans to increase oil reserves by 60% should provide market some long-term support. Ughh!!

A Shell spokesman confirmed the Nigerian attack and partial shutdown. Previous attacks have reduced Nigerian outputs by 25%.

Retail gas prices still holding their own for now.

The average price of regular unleaded gas is approximately $2.66/gal., same place it’s been for the last 2 weeks.

It all comes down to crude, of course. The price has been hovering in a narrow $69-$70/barrel range.

Says Trilby Lundberg, comparing prices to the $4.097/gal a year ago:

“That price discount of a $1.44 is large but so is the number of motorists who are barely motoring at all,” Lundberg said. “The upcoming July Fourth holiday (is) hardly a point at all,” she said, noting that most people commonly use gasoline to drive to work and back.

“Only a reversal in employment levels would revitalize gasoline demand,” Lundberg said.

AAA says travel will be down this year. High gas prices and the economy to blame.

‘Many Americans remain cautious about the outlook for their personal finances and these attitudes are reflected in the slight decline in travel we are forecasting for the upcoming holiday weekend,” said AAA Chief Executive Robert L. Darbelnet.

Auto travel will be down, but air travel will be up. My goodness, they are giving away the seats! Hotels are aiding and abetting with attractive discounts.

Darbelnet again:

Those who do vacation this summer will find a plethora of attractive discounts,” Darbelnet said. “If you can afford to go, this summer is a smart time to travel.”

Good news - bad news. Be brave, consumers!