Saturday, December 29, 2007

Ten Tips to increase the fuel efficiency of your car

Here are ten tips summarized from http://www.edmunds.com/reviews/list/top10/103164/article.html for increasing the fuel efficiency of your car. Some of them may be applicable only to U.S. conditions but i think it can be largely practiced by everyone.
  • Maintain your car regularly as per the schedule given by the automaker.
  • Keep Your Tires Properly Inflated.
  • Dont overload the vehicle.
  • Drive less aggressively. Avoid braking hard and accelerating in a rush. From the article "On the highway, the DOE says that every 5 mph you drive over 65 mph represents a 7-percent decrease in fuel economy."
  • Use the highest gear possible.
  • Use cruise control whenever possible.
  • Keep your car clean and waxed. It helps improve the aerodynamics of the car.
  • Dont idle.
  • On the freeways, keep the car windows up as it increases drag on the vehicle and increasing fuel consumption.
  • Avoid starting the engine from cold many times in a day. This means that try to combine your short trips into a long one. A cold engine requires more fuel to get going.

2 comments:

The Shaolin said...

tip #11: idle your car for a minute if it's being sitting shut off for more than a couple of hours. And avoid accelerating during idling.
(this helps lubricate the internals of your engine before you take her for a rather torturous ride downtown!)

tip #12: If you have a manual transmission, avoid using clutch as much as possible. Use it only when extremely necessary, which takes a little practice to learn and get used to.

Sagar Bhanagay said...

tip#13 - Before filling, "Zero" pe dhyaan dena. Applicable only for India ;)