But don't be sad, because did you know that you can save money by changing the way you drive? With the tips given below you can save a few hundred dollars or euros a year in your fuel expenses. Not only your wallet, but also your mood and car will be happy about this!
Being the most economical means that you choose not to drive a car. Try making it into a habit that for short distances you take the bicycle. Not only good for your wallet, but also for your physical shape!
The hardest tip: drive slower. Our cars are built to drive speedily, and that is also under the skin in most people. What we little know or realise is that: speed slurps fuel. A speed of 100km/h on the high way is often the most economical. This will differ however from car to car. In general it is assumed that your engine is most fuel efficient at 2500 rounds per minute, 2000 for diesel engines. The time that you lose by driving slower, is negligible, only a few minutes on an hours ride. A change in mentality is key here. When you drive slower, you will also avoid changes in speed, which will surely benefit your fuel consumption.
Make use of your cruise control when your car knows this handy feat. This will ensure that you drive the most economical. Is there no cruise control available in your car? Then try to make your speed at which you are going as consistent as possible. Also make sure that you gear up to your second gear as quickly as possible when you are accelerating. If you want to gain speed quickly then pushing the pedal to the metal in first gear may seem the quickest way, but it is not good for your fuel consumption and the health of your car and its tyres. When you quickly switch gears after starting your car, the engine keeps running consistently and you will lessen your fuel consumption. Furthering this line of thought, it is also better to take turns in your third gear and not your second. Allow the car the simply roll slowly into the turn, so that you do not have to break.
Plan your route before you leave your house. The shortest way is not always the best choice. During rush hour you are forced to adapt your speed to the one that is driving in front of you, and in a traffic jam you have to constantly break and accelerate and this is not the best way to save on fuel expenses. Do not stick too close to the one in front of you, choose a bigger distance so that you do not have to keep breaking and giving more gas again. When you are keeping a close eye on the car in front of you and you allow your car to roll for a bit instead of straight away pressing the breaking pedal, you will save a lot of gas. Or choose to drive on the right lane behind a truck. Trucks usually let themselves roll through the traffic jams, then you can roll with them and you will use way less gas because you are not constantly breaking and then giving more gas.
Combine this also with your rides. When you are needing to go for different things in the same direction, then try to go to these different meetings in the same ride. Not only you will save on kilometres travelled, you will also drive with a less cold engine. Driving with a cold engine is not good for your car and when you think about the environment... a cold engine is very polluting.
Drive on the highway behind a truck. It is easiest to drive a constant speed behind a truck and this is a threefold win: your speed is lower, your car has less air resistance because the truck is like a windbreaker. The car as it were sucks you in, which makes you have to give less gas. Moreover other cars will not be bothered by your 'slow' driving because they will see the truck as an annoyance, not you in your small car. Needlessly overtaking is also not a good idea. When you are overtaking a vehicle, your car uses a lot more gas because you are driving against the wind and the suction as well as the wind breaking effects are not there anymore. When you are driving up a hill, then avoid giving extra gas. The steeper the hill, the lower the gear. Your car needs to overcome gravity now as well. Drive calmly up the hill and when you reach the top, you can let the car slowly roll down the hill on the other side. Keep an eye on your surroundings so that you can break in time if you have to, because there will be more force on your breaks because of the gravity of coming down hill. Make sure that you do not roll down to quickly and in any case do not turn off the engine!
When you park, then place your car with its nose in the direction of the driveway. When you park your car in this way whilst your engine is still warm, you will thus use less gas than when you have to turn your car with a cold car when you leave the parking again.
Make sure for a good tire pressure. When you are driving with soft, and thus wider tires, you are increasing the rolling resistance and you are using more fuel. You can imagine this when you are riding a bicycle, when your tires are soft it costs a lot more effort to ride your bicycle. The same goes for cars, they use up a lot more fuel when the tires are soft. Check this thus regularly. Harder tires make sure that you are driving more lightly. Watch your speed in this case, because with harder tires you often want to drive faster too!
One more maintenance tip: regularly change your fuel filters and the air filters. These filters often get clogged because of water, rust and dust and this has a negative influence on the fuel use of the car. It is also good to give your car a good cleaning once in a while. Because a clean car has a better streamlining, it drives more economical. This tip won't save you litres of fuel to be honest, but it might help a bit and at least your car looks nice and clean.
Leave all the unnecessary weight at home. A heavier car is a more expensive car. Therefore remove the roofbox off your roof and clean out your trunk and rear seats once in a while. It will reduce the fuel consumption of your car. Make sure you therefore keep driving to empty your fuel tank, because a full tank also costs more weight and more fuel.
Leave the air conditioning switched off as much as possible. Of course, sometimes its not possible to keep your cool in the car, use it as sporadically as possible and let the cooled air circulate in the car instead of sucking in warm air and having to continuously having to cool new air. Sometimes its better to open the window, because air conditioning is eating a lot of fuel, but use it as it is described above. All the electrical accessories that you can find in your car will use up fuel, rear window warming, seat warming, gps...
It is not necessary to drive with your lights on during the day. Make sure to turn them on in case of bad weather or with a low hanging sun. When your windows are frozen in the winter, then it is not a good idea to turn on the engine and let your car become warm to defrost the windows. Take a scraper and scrape away the ice. This is much faster and it doesn't use any fuel.
The feeling with the gas pedal is important during driving. When you are starting to operate a vehicle, then put on shoes with thin soles. You will be less inclined to fully press the gas pedal and this will save you.
Finally, fill up your tank at gas stations without any staff. Because these gas stations can save on staff costs, they can make the fuel a few cents cheaper. It sometimes pays off to drive a little further to these stations.
