Top five tips for drivers to save fuel

If there’s anything more volatile than the petrol in your car’s tank, it’s the price you pay for that petrol.

In 2020, retail prices fell to levels not seen since the early 2000s. Motorists were literally partying like it’s 1999…

But fast-forward two years and the price of petrol and diesel have returned not only to the higher levels we were paying just before the outbreak of COVID-19, but beyond the $2 per litre mark, where they're expected to stay.

That will encourage more and more people to consider moving into an electric car for the first time.

However, for the vast majority of Australian motorists, our immediate attention is now on reducing fuel consumption in our combustion-engined cars.

The household budget will thank us for it, and so will the environment.

Here are our top five tips to get you started…

Do you buy cars for the social status? Are you a single person who cannot be seen in anything smaller than Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series?

Look, we get it. For some people there’s just no street cred being seen in a small, fuel-saving hybrid car – unless that person is a green juice-loving Hollywood actor.

And it’s fine to buy a high-performance Euro sedan or a jacked up heavy-duty 4x4 – provided there’s at least some rationale for it and you use the vehicle for that purpose, not just to boost your ego.

Keep it in reserve for weekend drives and give it a damned good thrashing then, but take public transport to work during the week.

If you do need a car for the weekday commute – and you’re the only person in that car – consider buying a light hatch , which will be fairly frugal, easy to park, and will typically provide all the mod cons to keep you entertained while sitting in peak-hour traffic.

As often as not, the light hatch can be just as much fun to drive as the bitumen-burning performance sedan once the road starts to twist and turn.

As soon as your car’s tyre pressures fall much below 210KPa (30psi in old imperial measure), the car’s fuel consumption will increase.

Badly under-inflated tyres, furthermore, will place you at greater risk of a crash if you have to brake suddenly or swerve around a car or other object ahead of you.

When it comes to maintaining your car for optimal fuel efficiency, tyres are the obvious place to start, but there are other measures you need to address as well.

If the engine hasn’t been tuned since it left the new-car dealership, it may not be running at its healthiest.

Make sure that the car is serviced regularly, in accordance with the manufacturer’s schedule. That way you can be certain that consumables which might affect the car’s running – such as air filters, for instance – will be replaced at the appropriate time.

While you’re having the car serviced, ask the service adviser whether filling up with a higher-octane fuel will actually save you money in the longer term.

Sometimes, the more expensive fuel allows the engine to run at higher compression for improved fuel economy, and could pay for itself. Your local dealer’s service adviser should be able to set you straight.

Maintaining the car for peak fuel economy isn’t just a question of having it regularly serviced either.

Are there objects that are permanently stored in the boot? Objects that are work-related boxes of paraphernalia which could be left at home or in the office, rather than adding weight to the cumulative total mass the car’s powertrain has to move?

Clear out the junk, especially if it has been in the boot or sitting on the back seat for a month or more without you needing it.

How you can reduce fuel consumption
• Select a car known for its economy, using the Green Vehicle Guide
• Keep the car maintained as per the service schedule and check tyre pressures regularly
• Drive gently, applying a light foot to brake pedal and accelerator
• Avoid short trips from cold starts
• Share the cost of fuel by car pooling where possible

This is key. More than practically anything else, your driving style will have the greatest impact on the amount of fuel your car consumes.

It goes without saying that if you just tramp the accelerator every time the light changes to green, you will pay for it at the pump.

How often have you seen another car launch like an F18 off a carrier, only to pull up at the next intersection? Drive that way long enough, what’s more, and the car will begin to show signs of premature wear and tear – primarily clutch and other driveline components.

Ease away from the lights, and rely on the car’s torque or power delivery to stay with the traffic, which usually doesn’t move all that fast anyway.

If you’re driving a hybrid, gentle acceleration using electric power alone will keep the combustion engine from firing up at speeds below 40km/h or thereabouts.

If you’re driving a manual, change up a gear between 2500rpm and 3000rpm, provided that meets with the manufacturer’s recommendations. And make sure the car is in the right gear on a hill. You can change down for engine braking on a hill, and that will have little if any effect on fuel consumption.

Unless the car is engineered differently (as in the case of a diesel, for instance), you should endeavour where possible to keep the engine revs above 2000rpm – and frequently higher revs to maintain a speed on a steeper ascent.

On the flat, try to maintain a steady, legal pace that will (hopefully) get you to the next set of lights just as they turn green – and the F18 pilot is preparing to relaunch.

Use topography to your advantage. When the light changes to green, let the car roll forward on the hill so that gravity supplements the energy from the engine to get the car moving.

Let the moving car build up a little speed downhill to maintain momentum when the road turns uphill again.

Brake gently, coast where possible, and maintain a speed that’s not too slow through bends. Slow down too much for a bend that’s marked with an advisory speed limit and you’ll be wasting fuel accelerating back up to the prevailing speed limit again.

There’s absolutely no need for a driver in any car built since the end of the 1970s to let speed drop below the advisory speed limit on any road in this country.

As much as we’re all speed freaks once we get behind the wheel, sticking to the speed limit will save fuel.

Saving fuel is not just a function of taking more care when you’re driving; lower fuel consumption can also result from letting the idle-stop system go about its business.

Don’t disable it just because you worry that too much restarting the engine will have long-term ill effects, or you’re opposed to it because it seems unnatural.

Also, avoid idling while the car is parked just to power the air-conditioning or climate-control system on a day of extreme temperature – too hot or too cold. If you’re too hot, wind down the window and/or step out of the car. If you’re too cold, put on a jacket while you’re waiting.

Of course, saving fuel is important, but it should never be taken to such an extreme that you place yourself and your fellow road users at risk – so leave the hypermiling for somewhere away from the public.

There are frequently places you have to be at a set time, and that often means that you must endure peak-hour traffic to get to a business meeting.

But if you can drop your kids off at school on the way to the meeting, that will save your partner making the short trip to the school and back home in the family’s second car, using much more fuel from a cold start, relative to the actual distance travelled.

If you can make three short trips in one big loop or all within the space of an hour, the car’s engine doesn’t cool off too much after initially reaching operating temperature, which will save the engine from running a rich mixture while the cold-air injector is working (assuming the car has one of those).

A long trip on flowing off-peak arterial roads with occasional stops along the way will take you further for the same quantity of fuel than travelling amidst bumper-to-bumper traffic, and making a series of short trips, each from a cold start.

Avoid known traffic blackspots and take the roads peppered with roundabouts rather than those with traffic lights.

As a final point to note, if you have time to spare and your destination can be reached by either a bypass limited to 100km/h or an older country road subject to an 80km/h limit, taking the older road and sticking to the lower speed limit will save fuel.

Many cars are more economical at 80km/h than 100km/h… and the country road is bound to be more scenic too.

Do you and a work colleague live in adjacent neighbourhoods? Do you both start and end work at the same time? Perhaps one of your neighbours works within easy walking distance of your place of employment. You could car pool…

Can you call upon a nearby friend to take your kids to school with theirs, if you offer to pick up the kids in the afternoon?

Does your car-pool colleague know of a better route to work? Can you cut out an extra traffic-light-controlled intersection here or there, or skip the logjam at a major intersection by wending your way through the rat runs before the intersection instead?

If you have a satellite navigation system that is configured to warn you of heavy traffic ahead, accept the alternative route offered if the traffic jam is less than 15 minutes from your current location.

Don’t ignore the half-hourly traffic reports on the radio during the morning peak either.