Five top tips to make fuel go further

Throughout the UK, the price of fuel just seems to keep on increasing. As of the beginning of December 2018, BBC News reported that the average price of a litre of fuel across the nation worked out at around £1.24 for petrol and £1.34 for diesel. UK motorists don’t need to simply put up with paying more to keep their vehicles on the road, however. In this article, Audi service plan, providers, Vindis, offer these tips on how to become more efficient with your driving in order to see your fuel go further…

Can you carry out multiple trips at once?

Park a car for a few hours and the vehicle’s engine will go cold. As a result, a lot more fuel will be used for around the first five miles of you heading out onto the road. With this in mind, you should look to drive for as long as possible when the engine is warm instead of conducting several short trips with long gaps in between each one.

Let’s put this concept into a real-life example. If you do the school run in the morning, have to go to the supermarket for the weekly shop sometime during the day and visit some family, can you not do all three during one stint away from your

home?

Do you conduct maintenance checks around your vehicle?

Compared to a vehicle which appears to be on its last legs, a car that’s in tip-top condition should complete the same journey while using less fuel. A regular service is highly recommended to achieve the best efficiency, while you need to be always using the correct specification of engine oil too — consult your manufacturer handbook to find the details you need here.

Take a look at your vehicle’s tyre pressures as well, both on a regular basis and ahead of all long road trips. This is because tyres which are under inflated will force your car into having to use more fuel. Correctly inflated tyres, meanwhile, could improve fuel consumption by up to two per cent in context, according to the RAC.

Can you shift unnecessary weight from your vehicle?

For every additional item that’s placed in a vehicle, more fuel will need to be used. Every 50kg increases your fuel consumption by two per cent on average, claims the RAC. With this in mind, regularly look around your vehicle and get rid of the stuff you aren’t using.

It may sound surprising at first, but your fuel economy can be helped by only filling half of your car’s tank with fuel as well. This substance adds to the weight after all, and you’re not going to need 300+ miles worth of petrol or diesel just to complete a half-hour commute.

Are you making sure your vehicle maintains an aerodynamic design?

More fuel is also used when a vehicle is subjected to wind resistance. Therefore, it’s best to keep windows and sunroofs closed, especially when you’re travelling at high speeds. Make sure to remove roof racks and boxes for storage when they aren’t being used as well — up to 20 per cent fuel can be saved on an annual basis by removing a cargo box from a vehicle’s roof alone!

Aerodynamics is looked at by people responsible for designing your vehicle, as they attempt to find solutions for reducing the drag that a set of wheels possesses. As a result, it makes sense that drivers should be maintaining that aerodynamic design too.

Are you smooth with your driving?

You can use quite a bit of fuel by braking and then accelerating too. Obviously, there will be times when you’ll need to slow your vehicle down — or to a sudden standstill in the event of an emergency — but you should be road savvy enough to be able to approach traffic lights at a gentler pace, for example, or smoothly get up a hill.

Choosing to drive when you know there’s likely to be heavy traffic can prove costly to your fuel economy as well. This is because you’ll likely need to keep on stopping and starting your car as you work your way to a destination at a snail’s pace. If it’s possible then, try and get around having to commute in the rush hour. Perhaps you can head to an exercise class or gym that’s near your workplace instead of waiting until you get home, for instance.