Fuel prices have been increasing over the last year so we have put together a list of top tips to help you save your money by making your fuel last longer!
Maintain your car
Ensure you are regularly servicing your car and fixing any issues as soon as they arise as this will improve the efficiency of your car, help it run smoothly, and therefore reduce excess fuel consumption. This will also prevent any big maintenance bills in the future!
Stick to the speed limit!
The faster you drive, the faster you will drain your fuel!
If you are accelerating smoothly and using the highest possible gear while keeping within the speed limit it will reduce any unnecessary fuel consumption. It is advised that when in an urban area you should change through the gears to the highest possible one as fast as you can with the lowest revs possible at around 2000rpm.
In addition to this, figures from the Department of Transport show that when driving on a motorway at 80mph your car will use around 25% more fuel than when driving at 70mph!
Anticipate the road ahead & drive smoothly
Anticipating the road ahead can be very important when trying to save fuel.
This can be achieved by slowing down when coming up to traffic lights instead of heavy breaking as this will waste the energy your car used when accelerating to reach speed. Also, you may not even need to stop if the lights change to green in time and you will therefore not use as much fuel when accelerating again.
Check your tyre pressure
You need to ensure your tyres are at the correct pressure as under inflated tyres will make your engine work harder as they will develop more rolling resistance. You can find the correct pressure your tyres need to be in your vehicle handbook.
Remove any excess weight
Remove any unnecessary items from your car boot. This may be deckchairs, footballs, rubbish etc, but remember to leave your emergency breakdown kit in your car! Also, if you have a roof/bike rack on your car or a roof box remove that until you need to use it as this will also add unwanted weight. This is important as the added weight will mean that your engine will have to work harder to ensure your car gets up to speed, therefore increasing your fuel consumption.
According to the Energy Saving Trust an empty roof rack adds 16% more drag when driving at 75mph (though you should always stick to the speed limit!) and when going the same speed, a roof box adds 39% more drag!
Does air con use petrol?
Yes!
Whenever you use the air con or the heating, they use engine power to work and will therefore use fuel. So, try not to use these unless you really need to.
Combine your journeys
If you combine your journeys instead of making several trips it will help you save your fuel and become more fuel efficient. This is because when you have used your car and your engine is warm it is more fuel efficient than when starting on a new day when it hasn’t been used for a while.
Use a sat nav
If you do not know the area well a sat nav will direct you on a journey which is the shortest and will therefore use less fuel. Your sat nav will also direct you away from large traffic jams which will help with your fuel efficiency.
Do you have the engine stop-start feature?
If your car has the stop-start engine feature use it! When you are stuck in traffic or even just stopping at traffic lights keeping your foot on your clutch will keep burning fuel. However, if you take your foot off the clutch while your car is in neutral your cars stop-start system should activate and therefore save you fuel and money.
