Fuel Saving

Jonah61

To get the ultimate saving of fuel. As you may know when you take your foot off the accelerator the fuel is shut off and the engine 'brakes' or slows down the car. So the challenge is not to accelerate the car too much so that you need to take your foot off straight away. Really that means 'feathering' the throttle as you travel - ie don't press the accelerator too hard so that you have to take your foot off more or less straight away to slow down because the traffic is slowing. It is easier to do if you allow just a little more of a gap from the car in front and read the traffic better. It takes time to learn how to do this, but it does help your concentration on road awareness. I have found I can get up to 4mpg with my eco-drive Ford focus.
Jonah61

Aylesbury_Duck

Jonah61 wrote: »

To get the ultimate saving of fuel. As you may know when you take your foot off the accelerator the fuel is shut off and the engine 'brakes' or slows down the car. So the challenge is not to accelerate the car too much so that you need to take your foot off straight away. Really that means 'feathering' the throttle as you travel - ie don't press the accelerator too hard so that you have to take your foot off more or less straight away to slow down because the traffic is slowing. It is easier to do if you allow just a little more of a gap from the car in front and read the traffic better. It takes time to learn how to do this, but it does help your concentration on road awareness. I have found I can get up to 4mpg with my eco-drive Ford focus.
Jonah61

4 mpg? Wow, you've really mastered the technique.

Herzlos

I assume a 4mpg improvement.


It's all about anticipation - don't accelerate up to a speed you need to immediately slow back down to, ease off and coast to slow down rather than using brakes - and moderation - accelerate more slowly, drive slightly slower.



Maintenance is important too - cars in good condition with tyres at the right pressure will be better on fuel. Carrying less junk means (marginally) less weight to move about.

MovingForwards

You know what you could try? Lift you foot off the accelorator, as the engine starts to slow change gear, keep doing that through the gears and it is 'engine braking' saves wear and tear on your brakes!

EssexExile

MovingForwards wrote: »

...keep doing that through the gears and it is 'engine braking' saves wear and tear on your brakes!

And increases wear & tear on your engine & gearbox!

Car_54

EssexExile wrote: »

And increases wear & tear on your engine & gearbox!

Which is why the technique was abandoned by professional drivers about half a century ago.

Johno100

Jonah61 wrote: »

To get the ultimate saving of fuel. As you may know when you take your foot off the accelerator the fuel is shut off and the engine 'brakes' or slows down the car. So the challenge is not to accelerate the car too much so that you need to take your foot off straight away. Really that means 'feathering' the throttle as you travel - ie don't press the accelerator too hard so that you have to take your foot off more or less straight away to slow down because the traffic is slowing. It is easier to do if you allow just a little more of a gap from the car in front and read the traffic better. It takes time to learn how to do this, but it does help your concentration on road awareness. I have found I can get up to 4mpg with my eco-drive Ford focus.
Jonah61

Trust me life really is too short for things like that.

Arklight

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

4 mpg? Wow, you've really mastered the technique.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

almillar

You know what you could try? Lift you foot off the accelorator, as the engine starts to slow change gear, keep doing that through the gears and it is 'engine braking' saves wear and tear on your brakes!

Don't waste your time - try to pick ONE gear that will give the deceleration required. Every time you use your clutch on the way down, you'll be burning fuel.
Offset any wear and tear on your engine/clutch/gearbox against the fuel saved.

Jackmydad

Surely "the ultimate saving in fuel" is to not use the car?
If you do use it, then fuel economy is just good driving technique. No hard acceleration or braking, and anticipation etc.

System

EssexExile wrote: »

And increases wear & tear on your engine & gearbox!

Nope. Its the way I drive and I've done 100,000 miles driving my current Mondeo and 75000 miles in my previous Mondeo like that. Current Mondeo is on 134k and tows a 26ft caravan up a 1 in 6 hill just fine so I'm assuming the clutch in that is OK. Previous Mondeo I sold with 168k on and the clutch in that was fine too. Gearbox fine in both cases.

The 44 tonne lorry I drive is designed to slow down like that. It also has downhill descent speed control so uses engine braking to maintain speed when descending hills. Our fleet is on 700,000km and most of the fleet spend at least once a day descending hills for 3 or 4 minutes at a time 100RPM from the redline using engine braking to maintain the speed.

It isn't the 1970s any more.