Improving fuel economy makes every journey more rewarding. Wherever you are going, these tips can help you get there more efficiently.
1. Tyre pressure
Checking and adjusting your tyre pressure once a month can improve it by up to fuel efficiency by 3% of your car.
2. Acceleration
Hard acceleration and frequent braking can often cut your fuel economy instantly by as much as 33 %.
3. Letting the engine idle
Switch the engine off when it is safe to do so. If you are using the air conditioning
4. Weight
Removing 45 kg of items from your boot could improve your fuel efficiency by 2 %.
5. Aerodynamic drag
If you are driving at 100 km/h or more, keep your windows closed. Open windows create considerable aerodynamic drag, which can cut your fuel efficiency at high speeds. If you are not using it, take the roof rack off too. These adjustments can save you up to 10% on fuel.
6. Gears
It is worth getting into the habit of changing up a gear as soon as you can. Higher gears are more economical on fuel.
7. Car-sharing
A car-shared journey means shared fuel costs. It also means one fewer car on the road, which helps reduce congestion and improve fuel economy.
8. Sensible driving
Aggressive driving (speeding, hard acceleration and needless braking) wastes petrol. This driving style can cut your fuel economy by up to 33% on the motorway and up to 5% in town. Sensible driving is also safer for you and for others, so you save more than just the money you spend on petrol.
9. Cruise control
Using cruise control (if your car has it) on the motorway helps you hold a steady speed and, most of the time, save petrol.
10. Regular servicing
Repairing a car that is clearly not running properly, or that has failed its emissions test, can improve fuel economy by 4% on average. Fixing a serious maintenance fault, such as a faulty oxygen sensor, can improve your fuel efficiency up to 40%.
11. Engine oil
You can improve your fuel efficiency by 1 à 2 % by using the grade of engine oil recommended by the manufacturer. Using 10W30 engine oil in an engine designed for 5W30 can cut your efficiency by 1 to 2%. Using 5W30 engine oil in an engine designed for 5W20 can cut your efficiency by 1 à 1,5 %. Also look for engine oils marked “energy conserving” on the API service symbol, to be sure they contain friction-reducing additives.
12. Air filters
Replacing a clogged air filter on vehicles with computer-controlled fuel-injected petrol engines, such as those built from the early 1980s to today, or on diesel engines, does not improve fuel economy — but it can improve acceleration.
Replacing a clogged air filter on an older, carburettor-fed vehicle can improve both fuel economy and acceleration by a few percentage points under normal replacement conditions.
13. Route planning
Do you take the car to do your weekly shopping, or to post a letter and come straight home? You will roughly halve the distance covered and the fuel used if you make all your stops on a single trip rather than lots of short round trips.
