Tips on how to save fuel

Make sure you maintain your vehicle
Regular maintenance and servicing improves the efficiency of your vehicle and therefore can improve fuel consumption.

Tyre pressure
Make sure your tyres are inflated to the correct pressure as indicated in your owner’s manual. Underinflated and overinflated tyres both adversely affect fuel economy. Tyre pressures will vary depending on the load you are carrying… if you have more passengers and luggage then you will need your tyres inflated to the increased recommended pressures.

Light foot
Excessive speed is the biggest fuel-guzzling factor so having a light foot and ensuring all acceleration is gentle is very important to fuel-efficient driving. Of course you will need to accelerate a number of times during your trip, but that doesn’t mean you have to pull away like you’re on a race track!
It’s a good idea to drive in the highest possible gear while keeping within the speed limit. The best advice in urban areas is to change up through the gears as quickly as you can with the lowest revs possible. Remember… the faster an engine spins, the more fuel it uses.
This optimum fuel economy speed will be different for every car. While there is an ideal speed, road conditions and gradients don’t often allow you to do that speed so you have to improvise and learn to adjust your driving according to the road ahead. As well as fuel economy differing from vehicle to vehicle, it is also dependent on a number of other factors such as tyre pressure, presence of roof racks and one’s driving style.

Anticipate and try to avoid losing momentum
Keeping the car moving at the right speed is essential to fuel economy. Obviously this depends on traffic conditions and what’s happening on the road ahead, but slowing down and having to accelerate again naturally uses more fuel.

The best advice is to drive as smoothly as possible, gently using the steering, accelerator and brakes. When slowing down, it’s important to remain in gear as the fuel cut-off switch in a fuel injection engine is then activated, meaning virtually no fuel is used while braking. Try to anticipate what’s going to happen by looking well ahead. This way you’ll see the traffic lights on red meaning you can ease back on the accelerator or slow down naturally and potentially keep moving as opposed to coming to a stop.

Driving up hills destroys fuel economy. When you spot a hill ahead try to accelerate a little before you reach it, then ease off as you drive up. The extra momentum should be enough to minimise additional fuel consumption.

Cruise control
Cruise control only aids fuel economy when driving on a constant flat surface, hence why it is usually best reserved for motorway driving. One of the keys to saving fuel is driving at a constant speed, cruise control can do this effectively on flat surfaces, making your driving as fuel efficient as possible by negating unnecessary acceleration. However, if you were to use your cruise control regularly, not on flat roads, you would encounter problems that would increase your fuel consumption. This is because your cruise control would be slower to react to gradient changes, meaning when reaching the brow of a hill – at which point you would normally take your foot off the accelerator to maintain more of a constant speed when descending – your cruise control will keep the power on for a little longer as it’s unable to see the gradient change in front of you. Driving in this way regularly would lead to worse fuel consumption.

Accessories
Don’t leave your roof bars and roof box on because they create wind resistance and cause your car to use more fuel through the ‘drag’ effect. This is increased the faster you drive. Even those little flags you can affix to your vehicle to show support for your favourite sports team can decrease your fuel efficiency. Driving with an open window also has a similar effect.

Aircon and heat
Don’t use your air conditioning unless you really have to as it uses engine power and therefore increases fuel consumption. This goes for heat as well as cooling, so try to dress for the weather, even inside your car, if fuel efficiency is a big concern.

Combine trips
Consider making one round trip rather than several short trips. Once the engine is warm it will operate at its most efficient whereas several cold starts will increase fuel consumption even though the total distance could be the same.

Lighten the load
While this is not going to make the biggest difference to your fuel efficiency it stands to reason that the heavier a vehicle is the more fuel it uses. Therefore do not keep unnecessary items in your boot as they all add weight to your vehicle, which will long term hamper your fuel economy.