Getting the best from your chosen vehicle

[the-gnole]

So what ways are there to save our precious fuel when out on the roads, after all with fuel costing over £6 a gallon we need to be more thrifty than ever.

Get it serviced regularly.

Get the tyre checked weekly for the right pressure setting.

Don't carry anything on the roof unless you really have to.

Double up tasks when taking the vehicle out.

Don't have excess weight in the vehicle.

Keep it clean.

Anymore ideas?

[scoobie]

Smooth acceleration and anticipation of junctions and the like to avoid excess braking (which is essentially just wasting fuel)

Stick to 70mph or less on the motorway, apparently doing 80mph uses 10% more fuel than doing 70mph!

Car sharing where possible..

That's all I've got for the mo!

[the-gnole]

Using the correct gear for the speed you are going or the load on the engine.

Don't use the air-con as this using an extra 10%.

Don't open the windows too far, will act as an air-brake.

Slip stream another vehicle if possible and safe.

[Meyou]

If you don't use it often, or generally only drive it local and never get very fast, you may want to occasionally give it an Italian Tuneup...essentially rev the tits off it for a few minutes. Will clean the engine out lovely.

If you have one of those onboard doodads which tells you your MPG, use it to find the optimum speed and make that your cruising speed. For me its about 65MPH, but it varies from car to car.

And if push comes to shove and the price of petrol skyrockets...convert it to run on Woodgas!

[diamond lil]

Buy a bike ! Cheaper to tax and insure .

[Bournemouthprepper]

if your hot, open your windows when driving slow and use air con when driving faster! sometimes you dont even have to turn the aircon on, just switch your heater to cold and open all the vents when driving fastish