Today someone asked me how to "make the car use less petrol".
Jokingly I told him to remove the engine, that'l solve the problem.
Anyway, virtually every radio network in Malaysia is running some kind of fuel saving tips or tricks.
While I agree with most of them, I'm gonna throw in afew of mine.
If your car is a manual, you're in luck, cause some of the tips I'm sharing is through my own experimentation
BRAKE WISELY
Try pressing the brake pedal progressively, or smoothly instead of jamming into it to stop. That way you don't have to accelerate hard to pick up the speed you lost, and it helps save the brakes
DOWNSHIFTING - RECOMMENDED MANUAL TRANSMISION
To be honest this doesn't save much fuel, but if you time your downshifting right, you don't need to brake at high speed, which saves your brake pad. And the brake pads are expensive.
Also, if you downshift well(by well it means that the car doesn't jerk when you go down the gears, if it does, you have FAILED, practise makes perfect) it will lessen the load on powertrain, and your timing belt.
Best not do this if your car is using auto gearbox because:
It slows your car down, but its breaking the 'box at the same time. And the box is expensive
Downshifting in auto car is not even fun, its stupid and you made everyone uncomfortable.
UPSHIFT AT THE RIGHT TIME AND SPEED
Downshifting deals with slowing your car down and getting in the power zone(when you need it). Upshift deals with smooth transition to faster speed.
Unless you decide to kill your engine by repeatingly banging on the redline. Upshift:
2000-3000rpm = Relaxed driving style, save fuel and sanity
3000-4000rpm = sporty driving style, use fuel
5000-more = racy driving style, use fuel
banging on redline = complete A-hole
Of course for cars with auto gearbox, your car's computer automatically change up for you, but its not impossible to be an A-hole if you want =D
DEVELOPE A PREDICTIVE/ANTICIPATION DRIVING STYLE/SENSE
As the title said, you predict how the traffic is going to turn out within 500m or 1km. That means you have to:
- pay close attention to how fast you're doing, and cars on other lane.
- try to look further than the car in front of you to get a picture of upcoming traffic condition
-know that road inside out(hardest and best way, because it became spontaneous instead of going through your brain to be processed)
Predictive/anticipation driving style works wonder with downshifting, from my personal experience, you drive faster(not going fast, but you can feel it), able to adapt to sudden traffic change in an instance, get to appropriate lane, and best of all, being in the right gear at the right time
ACCELERATE SMOOTHLY, AND KEEP THE SPEED YOU ACHIEVE
Its an ultra simple idea/skill thats so hard to achieve. Upshift at the right point to carry over the power and keep your feet away from the brake pedal.
Brake when necessary, don't do sudden acceleration and sudden braking. You use more fuel, stress your engine and gearbox, burn your brake.
Downshifting works wonder. Practise.
PUT GEARBOX IN NEUTRAL - FOR AUTO GEARBOX
This doesn't save fuel, but it save your gearbox and driveshaft and bearing, which are more expensive than a full tank of fuel. Repeated stress on this part will definitely cost you your precious time and money when it went into workshop
PUT YOUR CAR THROUGH WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAMME
Those accesories sure looks nice/cutesy/cool, but it puts on weight to your car. Your engine will need to work harder to proppel the car because its heavier. Why do you think your car feels sluggish when its fully loaded with stuffs/people
I don't mind if you remove more stuff from your car(like carpet or sound insulation), but you are responsible for whatever outcome you'll encounter(unbearable road and wind noise)
AIR CONDITIONER - AIRCON
This is the tricky part. Turning on the aircon actually put more load on your engine, because the compressor takes power from engine. But no aircon = wet turkey.
If you're:
Cruising at low speed = Wind down the window slightly on both side, just enough that you can feel the wind blowing you
Cruising at high speed = Leave the aircon on, and try to maintain a stable speed. DON'T LEAVE THE WINDOWS OPEN, because that'll create drag, which slows the car down, and use more fuel.
TIRE PRESSURE
Always check them once a week, and pump in the correct tire pressure according to tire manufacturer/car manual. Because:
Too low pressure = more surface contact between rubber and road = more tire wear = more money spend to renew tire
And by the way, get a high quality tire pressure gauge. The dial one works fine.
For the lazy/poor, wake up early when the air is cool and tire is cold. Drive slowly to the nearest petrol station to your house and use the air pump there.
I recommend this step because you just need to setup how much pressure for your tire, and just plug it in. If the pressure if enough then you'll hear a beep, if its not enough the machine will pump it to the designated pressure. This is a fail-safe method, unless the machine starts acting up.
General Science = that if air is hot(inside the tire) it will expand, hence you're not getting the right reading. If you have a pressure gauge, try to take the reading after a drive home, and comapre it to the pressure reading you take in the morning.
CHANGE ENGINE OIL AT DESIGNATEDTIME
Your car manual comes with a graph of table showing when to send your car for a simple service(oil change). Follow that guide, old engine oil collected dirts and particles within the engine, and because they've went though so many times of temperature change, they might get sticky, hence increase friction.
Increase friction = harder to move = use more fuel to get the same power
SHUT OFF THE ENGINE WHEN NOT IN USE
This has been mention so many times I got sick of it. If you know the person you're waiting is going to take long, let your engine rest. It also let your wallet take a short break =)
