I'd wager he ISN'T going to be able to beat his cars rated fuel economy figures, its amazing that it was even possible to match them given how optimistic they are for the most part.
johotech,
Feb 22, 1:31pm
Said he did beat it. Went from 6.9 to 6.4 per 100k. So saved 0.5l per 100k which is about 1c per km.
Someone you don't want to be driving behind I would think.
survivalkiwi,
Feb 22, 1:34pm
Why stop at driving slow. You could water down your beer and wine and spirits. Turn you TV off during the adds. Ah stuff it, just keep your TV unplugged. Imagine how much you would save if you did not turn on you lights when at home. You could cook over an open fire using firewood you have found. You could eat only road kill. Man there are some tight asses around.
tweake,
Feb 22, 1:38pm
the basic stuff is about right. i get people blasting past, despite me driving at the limit or more, and i catch up to them at the next set of lights or town. they chew through a lot more fuel and make little to no gains in time. tailgating is waste of fuel. constantly slowing down and speeding up. leave plenty of room and you can maintain a nice constant speed which is a lot cheaper. plus its easier to drive and can see better so its easier to overtake.
r.g.nixon,
Feb 22, 1:49pm
Thanks - some great hints there!
steve56467,
Feb 22, 4:17pm
Woo hoo! Take the bus and your petrol could last forever Oh everyone else is in such a rush. Maybe they have places to be and don't have all day to be stuck behind you?
steve56467,
Feb 22, 4:23pm
"But the reward of playing the game is threefold. You're driving more safely, entertaining yourself, and most importantly, making big savings at the pump."
No, you're creating a hazard on the road, you're most likely irritating everybody else, and you're not even saving enough to buy a coffee once a week ( at 1c/km)
And this makes it to the paper?
brapbrap8,
Feb 22, 5:04pm
Even without driving slowly, it is quite easy to improve your fuel economy considerably if you want to. My new car has a gauge showing instant fuel useage which is interesting to look at sometimes, planning ahead and not zooming up to intersections and hitting the brakes makes a big difference, especially in a smaller petrol car with little engine braking that will let you coast for ages in gear without slowing very much. You wouldn't catch me driving below the speed limit to try and save fuel though!
Also I worked out that for most vehicles it is more efficient to accelerate reasonably quickly, then let off the gas and settle to a cruising speed. A quick google shows that people in economy driving competitions usually use the same technique of accelerating briskly, so you don't need to drive slowly to be economical.
Doing short trips where the car doesn't warm up is extremely hard on gas though, the writer is right about that at least.
Especially when petrol prices are relatively low, you don't gain much by trying to drive economically though!
socram,
Feb 22, 5:50pm
Load of bull. Dropping your speed from 110kph to 90kph does NOT save 25%. in all vehicles. As ours drops into a lower gear at 90kph, it uses more fuel, not less, even allowing for increased wind resistance.
I'm sure that if I had a manual gearbox, I could lower the fuel consumption even more. The Mini will trickle along quite happily in 6th gear at 50kph (manual gearbox). The Freelander (automatic) won't accept 6th gear at that speed under any circumstances, even though the engine is more than capable without straining it.
Getting rid of a fair few local traffic lights would help even more, as would getting rid of 70kph open road mimsers, holding up the traffic and forcing everyone into using a lower gear. That would reduce our fuel consumption by 25%.
brapbrap8,
Feb 22, 6:07pm
Newer vehicles are tuned for economy above all else in most cases, and will go to top gear at 50kmh.
thejazzpianoma,
Feb 22, 6:28pm
It never ceases to amaze me, these people are so hell bent on "saving fuel" yet they tend to buy some of the thirstiest cars around. Our Panda does 5.2 combined every tank with no special driving involved, on a trip it does 5.1.
It was cheap to buy, will suffer pretty much no depreciation in the next few years and is cheap to service and repair.
That's what you do if you want to save some proper money, and you don't have to be a road menace to achieve it.
marmar1,
Feb 22, 6:53pm
I drive TT Subaru and don't care about fuel economy it's about enjoying what the car was made for.
loud_37,
Feb 22, 7:02pm
+1, I drive cause I enjoy driving a car, I don't try to save fuel, if I fell like passing someone I will, I don't care if I fly pass them and then they catch up later. Its about enjoying the drive.
tamarillo,
Jun 4, 3:07am
Smooth driving can still be rapid and fast, the ideas about limiting brake usage is good.
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