How to make your car more fuel-efficient

With the long Easter weekend approaching, it’s anticipated that around 21.6 million journeys are planned over the holiday period.

But, with the rise in fuel costs showing no sign of stopping, drivers are looking at ways to make their cars more fuel-efficient.

We’ve spoken to the AA about the best ways you can reduce your car’s fuel consumption and make driving this weekend a lot more affordable.

Reduce your speed

A simple and effective way to improve your car’s fuel economy is to reduce your speed.

There’s no need to drive at the speed limit and instead, take your foot off the accelerator and maintain a steady pace.

Reducing your speed and driving with the flow of traffic can improve fuel economy by 10 per cent, which makes running your car cheaper and allows the vehicle to go further on one tank of fuel.

If you drive a manual vehicle, make sure you don’t over-rev the engine and remember to change gear smoothly, as this can also impact how much fuel your car consumes.

Leave more space

Harsh braking is one way to increase fuel consumption, so instead, create more space from the car in front and read the road ahead, as this can eliminate unnecessary braking and acceleration.

Anticipating traffic lights, roundabout junctions and changing traffic flow will encourage smoother driving and improve fuel efficiency. This is particularly prevalent in wet conditions when more space is required to prevent an accident, and it’s important that drivers try and maintain the two-second gap rule from the car in front.

Check your car’s tyre pressures

The change in temperatures from winter to spring can affect your car’s tyre pressures.

Before you set off on your travels this weekend, make sure that all four tyres are pumped up to the correct PSI reading.

Your car’s tyre pressure label will be located in the owner’s manual, glovebox or door shut.

Driving a car with underinflated tyres causes rolling resistance, which creates more mechanical drag on the vehicle and increases fuel consumption.

If you have winter tyres fitted, make sure you change them over to summer tyres as having out-of-season rubber can increase fuel consumption due to the soft compounds and deep tread patterns, which create a higher rolling resistance, impacting efficiency.

Combine trips

If you have a lot of trips planned this weekend, try to combine them into one, as lots of short individual journeys will cause your car to use more fuel.

This is because lots of stop-start cycles on your car’s engine will cause it to consume more fuel. Combining lots of short journeys into one will allow your car to get up to temperature, making it run smoother and more efficiently and can help improve fuel economy.

Use the air conditioning only when you need to

Spring brings a mixture of cold and warm weather, with drivers needing to think carefully when they use their car’s air conditioning.

Air conditioning uses fuel from the tank in order to power the system and it can affect a car’s economy if it’s used unnecessarily or too frequently.

Avoid driving with the window down, as this can cause more aerodynamic drag on your car, which causes the engine to work harder to maintain a steady speed. However, using your windows at slower speeds is more economical than using the air conditioning. Once you’re going more quickly, roll them up as the drag they create will offset these savings.

Plus, don’t sit idling with the engine running as a typical 1.6-litre petrol or diesel car will use around half a litre of fuel per hour, while running with the air conditioning on at the same time can impact fuel economy even more.