my car is seriously breaking the bank with its fuel consumption - any ideas how to make fuel last longer?

Question

i know one way is to drive slower...

Answer 1

Don't accelerate hard.
Change up through the gears quickly - at about 2,500 rpm if you have a rev counter.
Drive smoothly.
If you think you are going to be stationary for more than about thirty seconds, switch off the engine.
Try to anticipate hold ups. It's better to slow down and keep your car moving than it is to come to a complete halt and pull away.
Coast down hills if possible, with the car in top gear.
Avoid short trips. Your car won't have chance to warm up and will be at its least economical. Walk, ride or take the bus instead.
Make sure your tyres are at the correct pressure.
Don't carry excess weight.
Keep your windows shut to reduce wind resistance.
If you have aircon, turn it off.

Answer 2

There's a few things to do, obviously the way you drive will do a lot (anticipate stop lights, accelerate slower, use the highway whenever possible, etc.).

Other things are: check your tire pressure, change your oil, and make sure your air filter is clean. Having your tires at 32 psi alone will help by 2 mpg alone.

Choose the lowest grade of fuel you can for your car. If your car requires premium fuel, the you're out of luck, but if it can take regular, use regular.

Other than that, you should calculate how much you're spending on your car per month (fuel + insurance + repairs + loan payment) vs how much you'd spend if you sold it and got a more economomical car. It may work out cheaper overall, even if you take a loss on the sale of your current car, with a more fuel efficient car.

Answer 3

The most effective will be to learn how to drive economically - this does not necessarily mean slowly, as to drive economically you need to be in a high a gear as possible, and at lower speeds you need to be in low gears. Think of your driving this way: if you have to brake, you've already wasted fuel, so read the road ahead, lift off the accelerator early and coast down to the lower speed rather than using the brakes.

Other than that, keep your car regularly serviced, use good-quality fuel (I find Shell, Esso, Texaco give better mileage than supermarket fuels), and make sure your tyres are at the right pressure (low tyre pressure increases the tyre's rolling resistance, so increasing consumption).
Don't carry heavy items you don't need in the car (e.g. if you have golf clubs, don't take them to work every day, or to the shops or the cinema).
If you have a roof-rack, take it off when not being used.

Answer 4

Depending on the engine size ( I drive like this with all engine sizes) you could try what truckers have been doing for years -- 'Block changing' ie instead of going thru every gear, use 1,3 & 5 or 1,2,4,5 - or any combination - you do not need to use every gear all the time & by using the low down torque instead of top end horse power you should use less fuel as a result. One other tip is do not take car out of gear while braking, if the engine is slowing the car you are using NO fuel. If you take it out of gear & coast to a stop, your engine is idling at approx 600 rpm & using fuel. Have your car serviced & change the air filter at the recommended intervals

Answer 5

Surprisingly driving slower might not be the answer.

Cars often reach peak fuel efficiency closer to 40+mph.

Your own driving style is one of the single biggest factors affecting your car's fuel efficiency and the key here is SMOOTH. Aggressive acceleration and hanging onto gears over revving the engine is throwing petrol away.

Also make sure the tyres are properly inflated at the correct pressure, get into the habit of checking them every week or two.

Answer 6

if its a manual, stay on the higher gears as much as possible. the fuel to air mixture is lowest at the highest gear, thus you save more fuel. shift at around 1,500-1700 rpm this is most efficient. if you drive an automatic release the accelerator a bit at these engine speeds. your car will shift automatically to a higher gear.

or have your car tuned up at the local garage, maybe it needs new air filter, oil and spark plugs so it can burn the gasoline efficiently.

lastly keep your tire pressure slightly higher than the optimum pressure, the ride gets a little bumpy but adds a lot to your mileage.

Answer 7

Well you could have your car serviced, take all the things out of the car to make it lighter (lol). But it might be the case that you need to think about a more fuel efficient car or getting a bike for short trip.

Answer 8

Yes go slower also make sure your tyres are inflated to their correct lbs if their not you use more fuel also remove any bars or roof racks. Failing all those get a smaller, cheaper car. Good luck.

Answer 9

erm what size engine does it have? how far do you travel?
do you know what you get per mile?

best way is to drive sensibly, dont over rev the car, dont go above 3000rpm in each gear and you should be fine.

short urban driving will use more petrol then motorway driving over distance. so if you are only driving short distances and stopping and starting alot because of traffic lights etc.. then yes, you will use more petrol than you think you would.

Answer 10

Drive 55mph on highway. Adjust your tire pressures to 35psi. Make sure your alignment is good and tires are balanced. Do not let your car idle for long periods of time.
Use fuel with the least amount of ethonal.