Secret 1 – Using a High Gear
The best secret I’ve ever been given to getting great m.p.g figures is to be in the highest gear you can, driving the lowest speed. Every car is different, but learn to change up to the next gear as early as you can, without making the engine struggle.
Tip: Try using hills & gradients to your advantage, and change gear even earlier when driving down them.
Secret 2 – Gentle Throttle Foot
There are 2 elements to throttle control, the first being not to accelerate too hard, but gradually until you reach your desired speed and then back off.
The second element ties in with Tip 1, where you should use gradients and ease off the throttle whilst you are going down them, but only use gentle throttle to maintain your speed going up them.
Secret 3 – Good Judgement is Key
Maintaining momentum and not constantly speeding up and slowing down will impact your mpg significantly, so it is important to look ahead of you in the distance as well as your immediate view. This enables you to judge what to do well in advance rather than at the last moment.
Example: If you see a queue of traffic well ahead, it will be far more fuel efficient to ease of the throttle and gradually slow down to the correct speed, rather than wait until you get to the traffic and brake hard.
Secret 4 – Tyre Pressure Checks
Keeping your tyres inflated to the correct levels will ensure they operate efficiently. Some ‘hyper miler’ believe that slightly over inflated tyres help with fuel saving, but this may also lead to premature wear (or damage), but certainly under inflation will reduce your mpg, so a regular check is vital.
Secret 5 – Save Weight
Lugging around more weight in your vehicle will obviously use more fuel, so if you’ve got a boot full of items that you don’t need (or passengers haha), take them out.
Fact: It’s reported that every 50kgs of extra weight in your vehicle will reduce fuel economy by around 2%.
Secret 6 – Maintenance
Keeping the engine and fuel system well maintained and regularly serviced is a must to enable it to work most efficiently. Old worn out parts and blocked filters will increase fuel consumption dramatically, as well as potentially cause damage to the engine.
Tip: Check out our Terraclean service for more info on how de-carbonising can help with restoring your MPG – Click Here For More Info
Secret 7 – Turn off the AC
Turning off your air conditioning if it’s not needed will reduce the load put on the engine, which in turn will save you fuel and improve your mpg.
Secret 8 – Warm Is Best
A cold engine and cold starting works less efficiently, and uses more fuel than a warm one. So if you can, try not to make several short trips with a cold engine, but combine them into one longer trip giving the engine a chance to warm up, and start easier & more efficiently.
Secret 9 – Take It Off
Leaving roof bars, a roof box or roof rack on your vehicle when you don’t need it, and cause extra drag and wind resistance meaning you need to use more power & fuel to get up to and maintain the speed you desire. Remove these items if you would like to make extra fuel savings.
Secret 10 – Don’t Coast In Neutral
With modern fuel injection engines, if you coast in gear with no throttle, often no fuel will be injected into the cylinders.
However if you coast in neutral, fuel is injected into the engine to keep it running, so coasting in N is a false economy and will actually use more fuel.
TOP SECRET 11 – Change Software Perimeters
Improving the way your vehicle performs has never been easier. A professional Remapping company can now improve the way your vehicle responds on our main roads and in turn can improve your Economy safely and effectively.
No it’s not too good to be true – by bringing in the turbo earlier and increasing the torque lower down the rev range means you can change gear earlier, hold the gears for longer without changing down when you’re going up hills etc and as there will be more torque lower down you won’t need to press as hard on the accelerator.
If you are looking for more Economy and you have a Turbo Diesel vehicle you need to check out what a Remap could do for your vehicle – Click Here For More Info on Remapping Your Diesel Car
Turbo Petrols tend to produce good Economy with the above tips however, if you are looking to enhance your vehicles performance and enjoy a smoother more responsive drive keeping your Economy high you should check out Ace Remaps website to see what your vehicle can achieve – Click Here For More Info about your Turbo Petrol Car.
Naturally Aspirated (Non-Turbo) Vehicles are more difficult to Remap due to the uncontrollable airflow with it not having a turbo, however a Terraclean Service is a great way of getting back lost power, economy and lower emissions – ask us about our ‘DEEP CLEAN’ for best results – Click for more Information on Terraclean In Shrewsbury
We hope you have found these fuel saving tips helpful and put them into practice to reduce your vehicle fuel bills.
If you have any other tips that we’ve missed, we’d love to hear them 🙂
You can contact us on sales@acecarcare.co.uk or send us a Message on Facebook www.facebook.com/AceCarCare