Fuel Saving Tips for Motorists

In times like these, when the price of fuel is rising and the cost of living is increasing, knowing how to save fuel when driving can make a big difference to motorists’ budgets. Here, we have gathered our top tips on fuel saving for owners of petrol- and diesel-powered vehicles.

Maintenance and servicing for fuel saving

At Dowleys we strongly advocate regular vehicle maintenance as one of the most important ways to keep your vehicle running in top condition. That’s not just because servicing is a key component of our business, but it is also advice that we give for free, having advised our customers as such and written extensively about in our blog.

Keeping your car serviced and in good order ensures the engine runs efficiently and helps to guard against the costly failures that can occur through neglect. Even simple maintenance tasks that any driver can undertake, like ensuring your vehicle’s tyres are at the correct pressure, as recommended by the manufacturer and taking load into account, will help fuel economy.

Watch your speed and gear selection for fuel economy

There is a great deal of variation in the data available when we investigate the optimum speed for fuel economy. It will vary by car or van and is likely to be a range, for example 45-50mph, rather than an absolute value. What is certain is that heavy acceleration and high speed will use much more fuel than gentle acceleration and moderate speed.

Driving in urban traffic at slow speeds also increases fuel consumption so it is advisable to drive in the highest gear that is possible given the current traffic conditions. Changing up as soon as it is feasible to do so will help save fuel.

Maintain momentum by anticipation

Your author was taught to drive by an instructor who also worked as a bus driver, and his advice was invaluable in developing a smooth, progressive driving style. Bus drivers are typically trained to drive smoothly, for passenger comfort, and safely, to avoid accidents, by looking at the road ahead and anticipating when adjustments to speed are required. By building momentum and favouring gradual braking, this approach eschews heavy acceleration and braking and is therefore complementary to fuel saving. For example, accelerating slightly on approach to a hill to increase momentum and thereby climb the hill more easily helps offset the slight initial increase in consumption This is opposed to approaching the hill at a slower speed and having to accelerate harder once climbing the hill, which uses more fuel.

Reduce load and drag

Lightening your vehicle by removing all unnecessary weight from the boot can make a minor saving in fuel, but a more significant gain can be made by making sure your car is as aerodynamic as possible. This does not necessarily mean fitting spoilers but instead removing roof racks, bars and boxes, cycle racks and other similar attachments when not in use will help reduce drag and thereby improve fuel economy. These items, and even driving with windows open, all create considerable wind resistance which makes the vehicle use more fuel to drive at the same speed and are exacerbated at high speeds.

Air conditioning and fuel economy

This is a simple solution to aid fuel economy – switch off air conditioning when you don’t need it. Though more modern cars may be more efficient, nonetheless aircon does use fuel and switching it off will be an easy way to contribute to an economy drive. Having your vehicle’s air conditioning serviced to ensure it is operating efficiently is also recommended.

Cruise control and fuel economy

Using cruise control to drive to an optimal speed might well seem like a good way to ensure fuel economy and on a level surface in traffic conditions which permit it, that might well be true. However, road conditions and traffic volumes vary and therefore a driver needs to adjust their speed more often and more quickly than the cruise control reacts, making this technique more suited to motorway driving where constant cruising speed is more feasible.

For example, given the idea mentioned above of accelerating gently in anticipation of an upcoming hill, the driver can see this but the cruise control cannot, and its slower reaction time is therefore likely to use more fuel than necessary to climb the hill, and similarly to adjust again on the descent.