You can improve fuel economy by changing your driving habits. If you are wondering why you don't get the fuel economy your manufacturer advertises one of the main reasons is likely to be your style of driving. By altering your driving technique you can improve fuel economy greatly. And we're not talking about negligible differences here. You will notice quite a difference the next time you fill up your car with fuel.
Here are our top tips to
improve fuel economy by changing
your driving style:
Accelerate gently - Aggressive acceleration causes the engine to rev higher before each gear change. This uses more fuel and reduces the fuel economy of the car.
Brake gently - Use the brakes as little as possible. Obviously you need to slow down and stop when required, but if you read the road ahead and come off the accelerator sooner when you see you're going to have to stop ahead, you'll improve fuel economy. The reason for this is every time you touch the brakes you are wasting fuel. Fuel is used to build up the speed of the car as kinetic energy. When you apply your brakes you are wasting your valuable kinetic energy by transferring it into useless heat energy. The key to using the brakes less is concentrating on the road, looking further ahead and preparing for situations that lie ahead. If there is a corner or stop sign coming, try to judge when to come off the power so that you hardly need to use the brakes at all. Its amazing how many people accelerate right up to a queue of cars and then brake hard right at the last minute. Not only is this bad for fuel economy but its requiring the brakes to work harder and they'll need replacing sooner.
Drive at the most economical speed - The most economical speed of your car is likely to be just fast enough so that you're in top gear but the engine is not labouring and wanting to change down a gear. For a 5 speed car this is probably around 50mph. Do not drive too fast if you want to improve fuel economy.
Drivers of manual cars can do further things to
improve fuel economy:
Select the next gear as soon as possible - Improve fuel economy be selecting the next gear as soon as the car is travelling fast enough to do so. Most manual car drivers rev their car higher than they need to before changing gear.
Engaging neutral or dipping the clutch in various situations - With no gear selected the engine will just be at idle speed, as if the car were stationary. The revs will drop substantially and use far less fuel. We don't recommend this technique however because the driver has less control of the car without the engine driving the wheels - braking is less effective and the car is more prone to skidding. Situations where engaging neutral will improve fuel economy include when you have to stop anyway, such as at stop signs or traffic lights. Coming off the power early and coasting up to the stop sign will use a lot less fuel. Hills are another example. If you coast down a hill you can substantially improve fuel economy but this is also a very dangerous thing to do. Usually the engine works to keep the vehicles speed in check when going down hills and helps maintain control of the car. Without the engine running the wheels you risk picking up too much speed and your brakes not being able to control the car safely.
There are simple things you can do in terms of maintenance of your car to further improve fuel economy, although these will probably have less of an impact than your driving style.
Tips to improve fuel economy by maintaining your car include:
Check your air pressure - A safety check you should do regularly anyway, running your tyres at the correct air pressure will also improve fuel economy. Check them every month.
Lighten your load - Do you need everything thats in your car? If theres a 20kg toolbox in there that you don't use, take it out. The more you lessen the load the more you'll improve fuel economy.
Remove roof bars - By removing any exterior accessories you are not using you'll further improve fuel economy.
Regular servicing - To perform most efficiently your car needs to be in perfect mechanical shape.
We wish you well in your quest to improve fuel economy, save money, and be greener.