Driving tips to improve mileage

Your car loses fuel every time you accelerate or brake. It guzzles up even more when you accelerate rapidly or brake suddenly. This is because the more you push the throttle, the higher the engine RPM or in simple terms, the more stress the motor takes. 

To get the most out of every litre of fuel accelerate gently, get to the highest gear as quickly as possible and then maintain a steady speed. Avoid jackrabbit or rapid starts while waiting at a red light and, of course, turn off the ignition if you’re stopping for over 20 seconds. Some studies say that keeping a light foot on the throttle can lower fuel consumption by as much as 30 percent!  

Similarly, there’s no need to race to a red light and slam brakes at the last moment. Unless, you get kicks from watching the fuel gauge needle drop rapidly to empty, which we doubt anyone does. But how does braking hard burn more fuel? Let’s say you accelerated to drive 500 metres but applied the brakes suddenly at 200 metres. In this case, while you burnt enough fuel to travel 500 metres, you stopped the car at just 200 metres. 

Frequent changing of gears and pressing of the clutch is another fuel sapper. Avoid keeping your foot on the clutch while waiting at red lights. Also, as aforesaid, get to the top gear as quickly as possible and shift to a lower gear only when required. Fortunately, most modern cars come with a gearshift indicator on the display, which tells drivers when to change gears, thus maximising fuel efficiency.