How to make your car more economical and save money on your fuel bill

Fuel pump prices are at record highs in the western world so it makes sense to minimise the amount of fuel your car uses in order to save yourself cash at the fuel pump. I am a qualified mechanic and automotive tuning technician, but these tips are things that everyone can do and will work for all.

Choice of car: The most obvious tip of course, is to change your car for a more efficient one. Many people dont consider this but cars can weigh between 1 and 2 tonnes so there is a big difference between cars on the market. The lighter the vehicle, the less fuel it will burn to get moving, and the less it will cost you to run.

Petrol or Diesel? Diesel engines are generally about 25% more fuel efficient than their petrol counterparts when it comes to miles per gallon so this one is kind of a no brainer really.

Automatic or Manual? Automatic cars lose a small percentage of their power through friction inside the fluid flywheel, not to mention, if you leave it in drive while waiting at the traffic lights, the engine is burning extra fuel to counter the friction. While decelerating, an automatic still requires fuel to be pumped into the cylinders, a manual does not. The most efficient choice is a manual gearbox. If you must own an automatic, selecting neutral at the lights, will save a few cents.

Things you can do to make your own car more efficient;

You dont have to go out and buy a new car to cut down on your fuel bill. There are many other things you can do to decrease your fuel consumption and cut your bills.

Drive slower. By driving slower and not accelerating hard you can cut your fuel bill dramatically. If you drive at 70mph you use almost 10% more fuel than if you were to drive at 60mph. Keep your acceleration to a conservative level, keep the revs low, change gear early and dont floor the throttle wide open. If you can see ahead that you need to stop, don't cruise up to it and slam on the brakes, lift off the throttle completely from a distance and let the car slow itself down. These tips alone can increase your mpg by over 25%.

Tyre pressures. Don't let your tyre pressures get low. A tyre with low pressure creates a lot of resistance which will waste fuel. By inflating your tyres to the maximum recommended pressure for that vehicle, rolling resistance will be reduced and your fuel economy will be increased.

Service your car. Keep your car well serviced. Old oil does not lubricate as well as it should and blocked filters will restrict an engines performance. An engine full of fresh new oil and new clean filters will produce more power and use less fuel.

Close the windows. When cruising at 60mph an open window can create so much resistance that your fuel consumption will rise as much as 10%. Keep the windows closed if it's not too hot.

These common tips are actually myths and will not save you any money so if you have read somewhere that these work you will have to trust me when I say that they dont.

Fill up the tank when its cool outside. This myth explains that when it is cool, fuel is more dense and you get more for your money. While fuel IS more dense when it is cool, it is actually temperature regulated undergound so anytime you go to fill up, it will be the same temperature.

Use premium fuel. This myth explains that you will get more miles to the gallon using premium fuel. On most modern cars, the engines computer will compensate for the different fuel resulting in much the same miles per gallon so the extra cost of the fuel is not going to save you anything.

Leave the car running instead of turning it off and on at the lights. This myth claims that it takes more fuel to start the car then it would to leave it running while waiting at the lights. This was true for older cars but not anymore.

Miracle fuel saving products. The myths claim that magnets, lubricants & additives will increase your economy. These just dont work at all. Any study on any of these has thrown up a negative result. They are nothing more than a gimmik created to take your money.