Fuel Saving Tips!
Fuel prices are at a high point right now and show no signs of coming back down for the time being. Rather than discuss why, lets talk about what you can do to maximize your fuel efficiency.
Car Maintenance
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Car maintenance is probably the most overlooked aspect of fuel economy. There are a couple of things you can do to passively maintain a better fuel ratio when driving. Firstly is checking the cars manual or owners handbook and ensuring that your engine oil is the correct consistency, type and level. Having the best engine oil which is usually the one that the car manufacture recommends is the way to go. This will ensure the engine is working at its most optimized level.
The second piece of maintenance you should do is not just for safety but also to help with fuel economy. That is to check your tire pressure, ideally while your tires are cold or cool. You can usually find a sticker in the one the doors when the door is open containing recommendation of how much air to fuel your tires with. We found that adding a maximum of 0.5 (or a little less) can help keep your car at a more efficient state. Do be sure to check the guidelines for your tires and not to overfill them if it’s too much, especially if you have heavy loads or multiple passengers frequently.
Fuel Efficient Driving
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Your engine oil an tires are looking good, now lets talk about active ways to save fuel. We do not recommend using neutral or the clutch for “free rolling” as this is dangerous. Refuelling is cheaper than replacing a car and a lot less tragic than losing a person. With that in mind, there are still ways you can optimize your fuel efficiency when driving. The key is in the planning. Pick routes with long stretches of straight roads or roads that don’t force you to stop and start a lot. Start stop traffic will cost far more fuel than maintaining a constant speed. You want to be in a low rev range (most cases the sweet spot is over 1,500 rpm but under 3,000 rpm). Maintaining a constant speed allows you to go into gear and maintain a steady low rpm which will save you money over time.
The other step is resistance. Drag and air resistance increase the cost of your journey. One easy way to decrease resistance is to remove weight. So be sure to detach anything your may have such as trailers, bicycles or anything heavy when not needed. Dropping weight can be easy as clearing the junk from your car boot.
Better fuel types like premium fuels last longer than regular fuel, so despite the higher cost usually this fuel is cleaner for your engine, increasing its life span. But it will also go a longer way and it could save you money.
Fuel Optimization Tips
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The last step is a bit more scientific and follows our theme of reducing drag an air resistances.
- Avoid Using Air Conditioning When Possible
- Dress Warm To Reduce The Frequency Of Using The Heating
- At Higher Speeds, AC is better than having the windows open. Neither is even better!
- At lower speeds, opening the windows is better than AC. Neither is even better!
- Once your engine is up to temperature, turn it off if you have to stop for more than half a minute.
- Cruise Control can be great, but usually a person is better at fuel economy if the road is descending, curvy or ascending.
