Driving Economy
with Leslie
Wanna know how to keep the gauge needle up? Glue it! Okay just joking. Try out my methods.
Here's a handy tip - get rid of that heavy foot of yours. For most people, that's a hard habit to break but
practice never did anyone harm. Pressing on the accelerator hard will only flood the combustion
chambers with more fuel mixture which means most of the mixture won't burn properly.
General Tips for saving fuel:
- Avoid full throttle starts. You don't have to rev the engine to the redline everytime
you leave the intersection, you know.
- Change gears according to the recommended upshift points noted in your driver's manual.(Manual cars)
- Accelerate slowly when you drive. This uses less fuel.
- Avoid SPEEDING. Driving at speeds above 55mph or 90km/h actually wastes fuel even though you cover more distance faster. It would be advisable to cruise
at 80-90km/h on the freeway on final gear or overdrive.
- Change into a high gear faster. The higher the gear, the lower the gear ratio. That means the engine will
be running slower but the car will be moving faster. Be reminded however that shifting to a higher gear too early
eats up your fuel. In this situation, the engine is actually struggling and flooding it with fuel mixture
by forcing the engine to run smoothly only drinks up more gas.
- (For Autos) To shift into higher gear faster, go slow on the gas.
- Keep a recorded survey of your average fuel consumption rate so you'll know how exactly to save fuel by looking at the figures and remembering what measures you took
to save fuel during your driving period.
Remember: Be nice to your car. Treasure it and love it like a loved one. Be soft on it and don't push it too far.