How to save money on diesel?

edde

If you think of swopping for an electric car don't forger electricity isn't free.

I'd try changing the mode type eco isn't always the best also try other driving tricks ie slower speeds or higher tyre pressures. Just make sure the few quid saving are really worth it ie if you change tyres more the fuel saving may not be worth it. 55mpg from a presumably largish auto diesel. Isn't bad. Even if you sell and buy a smaller manual diesel the savings in fuel won't be that big relitive to other costs

jk0

Drive slower?

GunJack

jk0 wrote: »

Drive slower?

possibly...if the OP drove between 50-60 it could save quite a bit over driving at 70.. just get up a little earlier.

Sea_Shell

Drive like you've got a basket of eggs on your lap. Gentle acceleration and braking, anticipating traffic / road conditions ahead.

Cetshwayo

GunJack wrote: »

possibly...if the OP drove between 50-60 it could save quite a bit over driving at 70.. just get up a little earlier.

Please 56+ mph otherwise they are a mobile chicane for the lorries.

AdrianC

Haych1992 wrote: »

Currently I drive a 100 mile round trip to work which is costing me £250 a month

So about 2,200 miles/month plus anything outside the commute.
At the current average £1.32 for diesel, that's 190 litres, 42.2 gallons. Just over 52mpg.

The easiest way to save money is going to be a shorter commute...

GunJack

AdrianC wrote: »

So about 2,200 miles/month plus anything outside the commute.
At the current average £1.32 for diesel, that's 190 litres, 42.2 gallons. Just over 52mpg.

The easiest way to save money is going to be a shorter commute...

christ, that's expensive... it's £1.257 by us....I'd hate to see what the most expensive was!!

AdrianC

Figure from... https://www.petrolprices.com/

foxy-stoat

Biggest single factor that can influence fuel usage is your right foot, drive more economically, use cruise control where you can.

System

Haych1992 wrote: »

Currently I drive a 100 mile round trip to work which is costing me £250 a month, £3000 a year.
I have a 2015 automatic diesel car which I drive in eco mode when commuting, the boot is empty and I check tyre pressures regularly

Is there anyway to gain/save money on this?

You're already getting reasonable MPG but there is room for improvement.

Economical driving. Just having the car in ECO mode doesn't mean you're driving economically. So that involves planning ahead and using engine braking to slow instead of the brakes. You need to get into the mindset that pressing the brakes is setting fire to money. Lets say two cars are approaching a junction 300 metres away.

Car 1 continues to drive as normal, only braking once they get to the point where they have to to stop at the junction.

Car 2 lets off the accelerator at the 300 metre mark, uses the momentum in the vehicle to continue forward and the engine braking to slow down, only needing a momentary application of the brake pedal to stop.

Because ALL modern cars completely shut off the fuel on overrun (when you take your foot off the accelerator and the vehicle is still moving), Car 2 will do all that 300 metres for free whereas Car 1 would've been using fuel for most of that 300 metres.

So what does this mean when driving? (You will get better at judging when to let off the accelerator to do the following as you learn the rate your vehicle slows down with engine braking.)

1) When approaching traffic lights, roundabouts, pedestrian crossings, stationary traffic etc you take your foot off the accelerator long before you brake with the plan of arriving at those points to time it so you don't need to stop. This will both save you fuel as well as reduce your journey time as you will enter the roundabout/junction faster than you would have from a standstill.

2) When exiting dual carriageways and motorways you lift off the accelerator before or as you enter the slip road depending on its length. If you were doing 70MPH before you got to it or the slip road is on a downhill stretch of motorway you could let off at the 100 metre marker. You may find with experience you can let off the accelerator even before then as when you first try you're still having to apply the brakes a fair bit because of the speed you're going.

There are other things to do as well such as:

Keep a constant speed, much easier to do if you don't drive too close to the vehicle in front.
Don't accelerate up hills
When you're nearing the crest of a hill let off the gas and let the momentum take you over the crest and gravity down the other side.