How to reduce fuel consumption

Most of the fuel you can save comes from how you drive and how you look after the vehicle. None of the tips below need special parts or additives.

Drive more smoothly

• Accelerate gently and look far ahead, so you brake less. Every time you brake, you throw away fuel you paid for.
• Keep a steady speed on the highway. Most cars use the least fuel per km at about 70 to 90 km/h. Above that, fuel use climbs quickly.
• Switch the engine off if you will wait for more than a minute or two. An idling engine uses fuel and goes nowhere.
• Combine short errands into one trip, and avoid the worst traffic hours when you can. A cold engine uses the most fuel in its first few kilometres.

How to reduce fuel consumption in automatic cars

• Press the accelerator lightly, so the gearbox changes up sooner. Pressing hard keeps the engine at high revs.
• Use D for normal driving. Sport and power modes, and the low gears (L, 2 or S), keep the revs high and use more fuel.
• Many Japanese imports, such as the Fielder, Axio and Vitz, have a CVT gearbox. It holds the engine at high revs while you accelerate hard, so gentle acceleration saves the most fuel in these cars.

How to mechanically reduce fuel consumption in cars

• Keep the tyres at the right pressure. Check them once a month when they are cold.
• Service on time: a new air filter, spark plugs at the interval in the service book, and the oil grade the maker asks for.
• Get the wheel alignment checked if the tyres wear unevenly or the car pulls to one side.
• Fix faults early. A check engine light, a dragging brake or a thermostat stuck open all raise fuel use. What causes high fuel consumption lists the common ones.
• Take out what you do not need. An empty roof rack and a heavy boot cost fuel on every trip.
• Next time you buy, compare engine sizes. The same model with a smaller engine, or a hybrid, can cost much less per km. Each vehicle's page on Kilolita compares its engines.

How to reduce fuel consumption in a motorcycle

• Keep the chain oiled and at the right tension, and the tyres at the right pressure.
• Change gear early and ride at a steady speed. Revving hard in low gears uses the most petrol.
• Do not carry more than the bike is built for.
• Clean the air filter often, especially on dusty roads.

How to reduce fuel consumption in a motorcycle carburettor

A carburettor that runs rich wastes petrol. Signs are black smoke, a black and sooty spark plug, and a smell of petrol. Ask a mechanic to set the idle and mixture screws and to check the jet size and float level. Do not just turn the mixture screw leaner yourself: a mixture that is too lean can overheat the engine and damage it.

What does not work

• Plug-in "fuel saver" gadgets. They cannot change how much fuel the engine burns.
• Coasting downhill in neutral. Modern fuel-injected cars cut the fuel when you lift off the accelerator in gear, so neutral saves nothing and takes away engine braking.