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Fuel Economy Tips
Try out these differing ways to save fuel and increase mpg (miles per gallon) if you haven't already. Economical and mature driving can make a drastic improvement on your fuel efficiency.
- Try to remove excess and un-needed weight in your car. A heavy toolbox, cleaning kit or roof rack could reduce your mpg by 1 or 2%
- In a manual car try to use as high a gear as you reasonably can. The more overdrive (5th or 6th gear) you use, the slower your engine needs to burn fuel.
- Check your tyres are inflated to their optimum pressure or even a couple of psi (pounds per square inch) more. Under inflated tyres create more friction with the road surface and slow you down.
- Choose a time of day when there will be less traffic on your route. More stop-start traffic and jams will ruin your mpg.
- Take it easy on the accelerator. High revving to get up to speed will waste more fuel. The best economy is reached when the engine is doing 2000-3000 rpm at about 50 mph.
- Try to think ahead when breaking at traffic lights, or in traffic etc. Slow gradually as you approach, so you have a chance at keeping some of your momentum to use when the road clears. Remember that using your brakes is scrubbing off (wasting) the energy that you have burned to get you moving in the first place (of course this doesn't mean you should run red lights or drive like an idiot)!
- If you can, turn off the air conditioning in the car. Running aircon from your engine will cause a slight reduction in power and a slight increase in fuel consumption.
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