MCM's TOP FUEL-SAVING TIPS
Right now the world at large is feeling the brunt of record-high oil prices and even petrol and diesel shortages in some areas. So, let's look at how we can use less fuel to ensure we don't have to give up our dreams of making our cars maaaaaad.
The overriding premise here assumes you understand the basic rationale behind driving a car for maximum fuel-efficiency: keep the boost down; avoid going full-throttle as often as possible; avoid idling the car for extended periods; try to drive as smoothly as possible; and avoid carrying heavy loads if you don't absolutely need to.
Here are our 5 fastest, easiest, and most important tips for saving fuel right now when the cost of a litre of bang-juice seems to be worth more than a litre of flurpy tears.
1. Scheduling Your Errands
First and foremost - and this shouldn't be a shock - but the more you drive the more you'll use. If you normally have many short trips in the car this will add greatly to your fuel use. Consider parking somewhere central and walking between each stop if possible, or taking a bike in the boot and riding the Deadly Treadly... which is kind of a modern version of Japanese businesspeople riding Motocompos to work after parking their Honda City II.
2. Avoid driving in built-up areas
Fuel economy is badly affected by continual cycles of speeding up and slowing down. Short hop fuel use is especially true if you're doing lots of short trips in built-up areas with traffic and traffic lights to get through. You'll use a lot more fuel there, compared to cruising at a steady speed on a highway.
If possiible avoid driving into packed urban areas where you'll end up stuck in traffic, or speeding up and slowing down. This is a great time for sitting on FB Marketplace on public transport instead, looking up former magazine cover cars to buy...
3. Spread the load
Diesel is horrendously costly right now, so if you have a car which runs on cheaper petrol and you don't need your diesel vehicle for work, consider swapping the petrol car in for a stint. If that car is also flex-fuel tuned, E10 is a great fuel which is cheaper to buy than diesel of 98-RON Premium Unleaded at the pump, runs 94-RON octane, and still has 10% ethanol for knock-avoidance. It's not the fuel to go setting PBs on the dyno with, but it is a good option for commuters looking to avoid paying up to $3.50/litre for diesel right now.
4. Check your tune (not just the engine)
If your nugget runs an aftermarket ECU, or an old school thing called a "carburettor", it can pay huge dividends to check it's running as efficiently as possible. Simple checks like having a look at the data-logs (or throwing a wideband gauge into a carburettor car) to not waste fuel by running rich, checking the spark plugs aren't sooted up from too many cold starts, changing the oil, checking the tyre pressures are all even and up to par, and even making sure your wheel alignment is correct can all have a huge effect on fuel economy.
If you can safely do it and you're not heading to the track any time soon, you can also trim a bit of fuel out of the car's tune while you're driving for peak fuel economy, but you're unlikely to save a huge deal of fuel unless your car's set-up was very rich beforehand.
5. Judicious de-modding
We never like taking mods off our car to put stock parts back on, but there are a few ways to improve fuel economy with a small amount of work. Many of us have daily drivers with mods like roof-top baskets and pods, bullbars and towbars, some have winches, there are people with oversize aftermarket wheels or big off-road tyres, and all of these add significant weight to a car. This leads to a significant parasitic loss to your fuel economy, so looking at heavy parts that are easy to remove and installing stock wheels and tyres in place of heavy aftermarket set-ups can add up to a significant reduction in fuel consumption, saving your hip pocket.
