Have you ever compared your actual fuel consumption to that which is quoted in the manufacturer's guides? I think it's pretty common knowledge that the figures in the books are always a bit "too high" when compared to real life and this is mainly because the official figures are gathered from rolling road data. You have to do it that way really, otherwise the figures would be affected by road, traffic and weather conditions. The engines are run through standard cycles with various resistances, but there is no aerodynamic drag or resistance created by different road surfaces meaning that although the figures allow easy comparison between different models of cars, the figures are not something that can be achieved by an actual driver in real life situations.
Most drivers CAN get a lot close to the quoted figures than they do though and all it would take is a few simple changes to the way they drive their cars. Give the following ideas a go...
- Plan ahead more
- Is it worth increasing the speed?
- If you change gear now, will it be used for long?
- Is there anything in the road ahead that might cause you to reduce speed?
- Is it possible to adjust speed early for traffic lights so that they're always on green by the time you reach them?
- Keep more space around the car
- If the car in front stops, do we need to use the brakes or can we utilise engine braking?
- Is the car in front approaching a hazard that's likely to cause it to slow down?
- Is it worth reducing speed now, even though the car in front may not have started to change it's own speed in response to an approaching hazard yet
- Consider use of the gas pedal to be investing money to create energy and the brake pedal to be something that destroys invested money by destroying that energy
- Is the creation of that energy sensible?
- Is the destruction of it necessary?
- Was the destruction of it avoidable?
- Was the un-necessary creation of it avoidable?
If you give some thought to these questions and look at your driving style, you WILL see your fuel consumption figures improve. You'll also likely feel reduced levels or stress and tiredness too and your driving will become safer - give it a go!
