Smart tips to keep on mind to get more mileage out of your car!
1. Maintain recommended tyre pressure: Under inflated tyre pressure causes more resistance and engine has to work harder. Get the tyre pressure checked on a regular basis.
2. Always travel light: Remove unnecessary items from your vehicle. More weight increases fuel consumption .Use roof racks only when required. Keep the windows closed to minimize wind resistance.
3. Get your car serviced regularly: This helps in maintaining engine efficiency. Choose a good service center nearby your place. A poorly tuned engine can use up to 50% more fuel and produces up to 50% more emissions than one that is running properly. Use correct engine oil recommended by manufacturer. Ensure that air filters are clean and ignition and fuel system are working properly.
4. Always avoid over revving the engine: Keep your engine running at its most efficient level, for the majority of engines this is between 2,000 and 3,000 revs per minute. Correctly matching engine speed and road speed plus using the gears in the most cost effective way will reduce fuel consumption and also reduce wear and tear on the engine and gearbox.
5. Use AC sparingly: Air conditioning system requires more fuel consumption. At low speeds, open windows will save reduce fuel consumption by reducing A/C use. At higher speeds however, using the A/C may be more efficient than the wind resistance from open windows and sunroof.
6.Get in the right gear: Change gear quite quickly but smoothly at the right revs. This will get the car into its highest and most economical gear quicker. However don’t change up too early at very low revs, this causes the engine to labour and will also increase fuel consumption.
7. Avoid excessive idling: When your car is idling, fuel wastage gets you nowhere and produces unnecessary greenhouse gases. If you’re going to be stopped for more than 30 seconds, except in traffic, turn off the engine. In winters warm up your engine by driving it not by idling.
8. Always drive within speed limit: Less speed saves fuel. It is recommended to drive between 50-60kmph.To maintain constant speed at highway use cruise control.
9. Check the wheel alignment: Ensure the wheel alignment is correctly set and the brakes are not dragging, as these can both increase rolling resistance – and consume more fuel.
10. Ditch driving: Simplest way to save fuel is to use public transport, walking to cover small journeys. If you want to use your car, try to combine a few smaller trips into one. A cold engine is less fuel-efficient and emits more pollutants than a warm engine, so several shorter trips will use more fuel than one longer trip.