We’re all dying to know what we can do to drive more economically, now more than ever given the rise in fuel and living costs. It’s all about increasing your miles per gallon (mpg) figure and saving money at the end of the day. We’ve put together the ultimate guide with a few ideas on how you can drive more economically.
Save on the weight
Extra weight means extra fuel, so anything that you don’t need, take it out. That includes all of that rubbish too. Any excess weight will only drag you down. You can reduce the drag, put your rubbish in the bin, take out anything that doesn’t need to be there, and improve your car’s efficiency while you’re there too.
Driving more economically doesn’t need to be completed, you just need to not let your car get bogged down with bits and pieces. It’s all about the science if you think about it. The more your car has to pull, the harder your engine has to work to get you to where you need to be. You’ll be surprised at how quickly you’ll be able to lighten your load.
Chop of any drag
If you love a good roof rack and other storage accessories that might weigh you down, take them off. It’s all about lightening the load and getting rid of any unnecessary items that you don’t need. Think about it, if you leave a roof rack on, and you’re not using it, you’re increasing the aerodynamic drag and your fuel consumption for nothing. Even when you’re not using it and can’t be bothered to take it off, do it anyway, you’ll be thanking yourself for it when you’re saving money on your fuel.
Tyres that bounce
It sounds obvious because without your tyres being inflated you wouldn’t be able to get from A to B. If your tyres are inflated to the correct pressure, it’s a win-win. You’ll be doing your bit to help drive more economically. Under pressure, and you won’t be doing yourself any favours, get them to the right pressure and you won’t be dragging yourself all the way home and you’ll be doing yourself and the economy a massive favour.
Up the ante on them gear changes
If you’ve got an automatic, then you can gloss over gear changes. In a manual you know when it’s time to change gear, up or down. You can hear it and even if you find yourself changing up a gear sooner than usual, that’s fine, you’ll be doing yourself a favour. Letting your foot go off your accelerate will help to get down that fuel consumption.
Your engine only needs to work as hard as it needs to, it doesn’t need to keep up with the higher speed limits of certain gears. If you’ve got a fairly new car too, then the chance is all you need to do is keep an eye out on your dashboard to see when you need to change up to or down.
Eye spy a speed sign
Who doesn’t love a good speed limit? Let’s face it they’re there for a reason and by sticking to them, you’ll be improving your driving economy and fuel efficiency. On the plus side, you won’t be smacked with any speeding fines by sticking to the speed limits! We’ll be honest, every car is different in the way that it burns fuel and how much it burns depends on you as the driver.
Crank up the cruise control
As hard as it might be, trying not to race the car next to you, is not worth trying to match your speed to those around you. This is probably about the only time that you can ignore the speed that the other person is doing in the lane next to you. If your car is kitted out with cruise control, you can use this to maintain your speed and drive more economically, how about that?
You’ll be reducing your need to put your foot down and use your brakes, reducing your fuel consumption while you’re there. If you can maintain a steady speed, especially when you’re on the motorway, on that flat surface, you’ll be well away.
