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Car's Future: General Driving Tips

Friday, March 20, 2009

General Driving Tips

Avoid High Speeds - When driving on the motorway try and limit your speed as much as possible, the average car consumes 38% more fuel at 70pmh than it does at 50mph. Avoiding high speeds on motorways can save a lot of petrol. Around 50% of the power produced by the engine is used to overcome aerodynamic drag, drag increases rapidly above 70mph so you fuel consumption will suffer.

Smooth Driving - Acceleration and deceleration is what uses most fuel. For this reason you will improve your fuel consumption with smooth driving, heavy braking can be reduced by not tailgaiting and slowing down gradually when coming up to a red light. Also avoid heavy acceleration from the lights and try not to rev too much.

Use The Right Gear - To maintain low revs whilst driving you should change gear as soon as is practical. Engines run most economically at revs between 1,500 and 2,500 so aim to always be between this unless more power is required.

Don't Coast In Neutral - Modern cars automatically shut off fuel to the engine if you're not accelerating, but in neutral the engine will still use a tiny amount of petrol to stop it from stalling, so when cruising up to the lights keep the car in gear.

Close Your Window - If you are driving fast then don't have your windows open unless necessary. Having the windows open when driving at over 50mph causes significant drag which increases fuel consumption, even at lower speeds it may affect your consumption. So close your window and put the fans on!

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