Economy Tips
Driving a car will never be totally environmentally friendly, but there are a whole host of simple changes you can make to help keep down fuel bills. As well as having your vehicle tuned by WG Tuning to improve its fuel consumption and MPG.
Here are some other simple tips to ensure your vehicle runs at its optimum fuel efficiency.
- Accelerating too hard wastes fuel too – in fact up to 60% more!
- When pulling away try to accelerate gently but firmly. Move through the gears to bring the vehicle up to cruising speed as soon and possible but without over revving the engine. Make sure you change up into a higher gear as soon as it's possible. The tuning procedure carried out to your vehicle will help with this, it should also reduce the amount of gear changes you need once driving. Also don't rev the engine between gear changes or when stationary.
- Look ahead and read the conditions of the road - look in advance for anything that might slow you down or stop such as traffic lights or someone attempting to park. By anticipating what is coming up, you'll not only be a safer driver, but you'll save fuel by starting to slow down earlier and not need to come to a stop.
- Stick to the limit - Doing 80mph on the motorway will use between 10% and 20% more fuel than doing 70mph. For a 20 mile motorway journey, driving at 80mph will only save you about 2 minutes compared to driving at 70mph anyway!
- If you're not in a hurry to get to your destination, doing 70mph will use between 20% and 30% more fuel than doing 50mph.
- Check your tyres - check your tyre pressures regularly (at least once every 2 weeks). An under-inflated tyre can increase fuel consumption by 3%, and it will also wear out quicker too.
- Making sure your car's engine is well maintained and in good working order will improve performance and cut your fuel bills, a clogged air filter can loose 3 mpg.
- Where possible avoid short trips, especially from cold, a colder engine will generally use twice as much fuel as a warm engine.
- Sharing driving duties with friends or colleagues reduces the number of vehicles on the road and saves time. If you have kids, share the school run with other parents and give yourself a few mornings off.
- Make the most of every journey by fitting in as many tasks as you can. Getting three jobs done in one trip instead of making three trips saves you time, money and fuel.
- Try not to travel during rush hour and avoid areas that are usually congested, as these will increase your journey time and fuel emissions.
- Turn off the Air Conditioning, air Conditioning is great in the hot summer months, but only use it when you need to and just use the blowers the rest of the time. An a/c system only partially working will also increase fuel consumption (make sure it is serviced and working correctly) - try to avoid opening the windows when driving at speed as this can increase aerodynamic drag which will waste more fuel. Running the air con when you don't need it will waste a lot of fuel.
- Loose weight - Take out items that you won't need for a particular journey (such as golf clubs which can stay in the boot for weeks not being used ) this will reduce the car's weight and cut your fuel consumption - saving money and the environment.