what driving techniques can i use to save money on petrol...i already drive a small car but petrol price uk...

Answer 1

Hi,

Drive gently and smoothly

Remove all uneccessary items from the car, clear out the boot, to reduce weight.

When driving avoid rapid changes in speed,

accelerate gently, change up early

leave a good gap and lift off the throttle early when approching lights etc, as you slow down gradually try to time it so you are still rolling when the light change again, avoid harsh braking as this looses momentum.

in slow moving stop start traffic, let a gap build up infront of you and time it so the car infront is pulling away just as you approach it, try to keep a steady speed.

Plan ahead, if you lift off a little before aproaching a roundabout can you time it so there is a gap for you when you get there ?

Avoid hard cornering as this dissapates energy through the tyres.

When you start the engine, especially from cold,
allow it to get up closer to operating temp before driving away
let it idle for a 20-30 seconds, upto a couple of minuites on a very cold morning
a cold engine less efficient.

Answer 2

Hello,

Learn about the engine of your car:

Try get a power/torque/consumption graph from the engine of your car. Look up the first place of the torque figure where the torque exceeds 90% of the peak torque. then look up the point where you have at most 110% of your best consumption.
Between the to correspondig RPMs is your 'cruise band', the rev range in which you should cruise. You maintain your speed to remain in this band, you can try to adapt your speed to this range by shifting. After shifting, your RPM will change.

For example, look for this graph : http://snic-braaapp.org/perfcurv.gif (igonre the curve called bmep)
Max. torque is around 170 Nm, which you get near 3500 RPM.
From the figure you can see that the consumption is best around 2000 RPM. 90% of the max. torque is around 163 Nm, that is around 4500 RPM.
Going lower than 2000 RPM on a small car affects driveability, so in this example (I don't know the engine, but looks like 2 liter petrol engine :D), when cruising, you should keep your RPM between 2000 and 4500 RPM to maintain maximum engine power and good consumption. Get the curves of your engine and look it up for yourself.

Try to maintain your speed, avoid flat-out acceleration. When going downhill, shift down to a gear where your engine brake can maintain a good vehicle speed, this way you don't always have to brake. In this mode (going downhill and you release the gas pedal) the engine cuts off fuel to maximize the braking effect. Strip your roof rack to reduce drag (can cause up to 1 liters of extra consumption on high speeds). Keep your windows closed. When your engine is overheating (eg. going uphill for an excessive period), say above 100 deg Celsius, switch on the heating to remove heat from the coolant. When the engine overheats, the ECU cools the engine by adding extra fuel to be evaporated by the heat, which removes this amount of heat.
When possible, always choose a route that has the least elevation difference between you start and destination points (no point going uphill, then downhill :D). when you can choose, use a route where there are a miniumu of intersecting roads or traffic lights. During wintertime, warm up the car standstill (during warm-up, cold engines in cold weather eat up a lot of fuel and the warming-up is slowed by the cold air when the car moves). Just leave it idling for two minutes before rolling out, it makes wonders :D

Hope you find these useful.

Answer 3

cheapest altogether will be to minimise the number of times and length of time you use the car for. Driving techniques like slower acceleration and not thrashing the engine will save a few %, but really if you could avoid so many trips by walking or cycling for some of them, that will make the biggest impact.

Answer 4

Get to higher gears as soon as practically possible
Make sure your tyres are inflated to the right level
Regular oil change is important
**check wheel balancing and alignment (can make upto 15% difference)
Don't over-rev

However - bet advice would be to look for ways to plan regular driving events (ie, avoid frequent "small" trips to the local supermarket". Also, think about trying to avoid driving (walking, cycling etc) and see if you can order things over the net rather than popping out to the supermarket (often cheaper than what you buy from the shops!

Answer 5

The most important thing is to drive at a steady speed. Accelerate gradually and maintain the same speed. Use cruise control when possible, and keep you tires properly inflated.

Answer 6

In my u . s . a . particular independent gas is cheapper than petrol. yet, as you realize dropping petrol in a automobile relies upon on velocity, concern of site visitors and brake, concern of ur tire, and cheking delco (a factor that deliver electrical energy wires to pistons), and Air filter out. Max 80 km/h is the terrific velocity for nicely-known using. not BRAKING unexpectedly, replace air filter out and checking the air pumping to tire each and each 3 weeks. all of them supplies help to to decrease around 10% petrol dropping.

Answer 7

Aviod motorways if possible, providing you are not going out of your way too much.

On Dual Carriageways and motorways, keep the windows closed

On morotways do no more than 60 - I noticed a difference

Answer 8

when going down hill stick it in neutral and coast, same with approaching junctions

also keep to the low geast and try to stick between 50mph and 60mph

and avoid short trips like trips that you don't need a car for.

also a small deseil engine may be even more economical

Answer 9

Do anything to reduce drag for example. keep windows and sunroof closed. also be gentle with the accelarator and braking, turn off air conditioning, make sure tyre pressure is correct, keep engine serviced, hope some of these help

Answer 10

fast,to get away from the petrol station,you just driven off from without paying.{if you dont like the uk price go to pakisatian it onlt 30p a galleon out there}