Without investing any money you can improve the mileage of your car.
All you need to do is adjust your driving behaviour a little. Follow the tips below and save real money :-)
- avoid short distance drives (below 4 km / 2.5 miles)
The engine reaches its operating temperature and optimal combustion not until around this distance. During those first 4 km the mileage is considerably lower than average and raises after driving for a while. Get a bike or take a walk. This also improves your health. - start ride sharing / car pool
If your coworker lives in your neighborhood, why not share the ride to your employer and take turns in driving. Even if he lives in the next village it is still rewarding. While this does not improve your mileage, it saves you costs for fuel and lowers the deterioration of your car. - raise the pressure of the car tires
Raise the pressure by 0.2 bar / 3 psi over the manufacturer’s recommendation for a fully loaded car and the rolling friction drops and mileage rises by 3 to 5 percent. However do not raise the pressure higher - switch off unneeded electric drains
Air condition and window defroster cost lots of energy. Also do not run the engine idle to bring it to its operating temperature or to defrost your windows. Use an ice scraper instead. The engine reaches operating temperature faster when driving than when running idle - clear out unnecessary things from your car
Driving around dead freight raises the overall car weight and thus lowers the mileage - lower air resistance
If you came back from vacation, dismount the roof and bicycle racks. Also close sunroof and windows. - drive at lower revolution speed
Accelerate quickly, shift to higher gears early and drive at constant speed in a high gear at low rpm. Use the first gear only for the first few meters, then shift to the second. When you reach about 2000 rpm, shift to the third. - drive anticipatory
In a traffic jam, or at a stoplight, if you do not want to slow down yet, decouple. If you need to slow down, couple again, and if you want to slow down even faster, shift to a lower gear and couple. Of course, to fully stop, you need to brake and decouple. Otherwise you will stall the engine. :-) - Stop the engine, if you need to stand still for 20 sec and more at a stop light or traffic jam.
- When driving downhill, shift to a higher gear and step off the throttle and do not decouple. The engine registers that and will run idle without consuming fuel. This is called throttle cutoff.
- drive consistent
Avoid Stop’n'Go style driving and try to stay at average speed
