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eTyres care about our customers. The
following article may be of interest.
Petrol - Real Money Saving Tips
by Robert Rogers
Real Money-Saving Steps
There are numerous no- or low-cost steps you can take to
combat rising petrol prices. Most cars can run on
regular unleaded - 87 octane. High performance vehicles
will usually require 91 octane or higher. Check your
owner's manual to determine the right octane level for
your car. It's also usually written inside your petrol
lid, door panel, and sometimes right on your dashboard
under the fuel gauge. It will say something like
"Premium Unleaded Only" which means 91 octane or higher.
All petrol pumps must post the octane rating.
Petrol Cards
Check out petrol card offers from petrol stations and
credit card companies. The can save you an additional 1%
to 5% off every gallon or earn you free petrol. One of
the best cards out there right now can be found
http://valueauthority.com/savepetrol.htm
If you put 20 gallons in your car at $3.00 per gallon,
that's $60. A 5% cash back would save you $3.00 making
your effective cost per gallon just $2.85. It's like
getting a free gallon of petrol with every fill up!
Drive more efficiently:
-- Stay within posted speed limits. The faster you
drive, the more fuel you use. For example, driving at 65
miles per hour (mph), rather than 55 mph, increases fuel
consumption by 20 percent. Driving at 75 mph, rather
than 65 mph, increases fuel consumption by another 25
percent. This is caused by the amount of energy it takes
to push your car through the air and the amount of drag
created by your cars body.
So if your car gets 25-mpg highway at 55 mph, driving
65mph will drop it down to 20 mpg! Driving 75 mph drops
it down to just 16 mpg!
My personal experience with my 98 VW Beetle: I drove to
New York at the posted speed limits between 55 and 65
mph. I got about 35mpg and 450 miles on one tank!!! When
I drove to Florida the posted speed limits were between
55 - 70 mph. I actually drove about 75 mph most of the
way. I only got 27 mpg and about 350 miles on one tank.
I lost almost 100 miles distant per tank! I couldn't
believe it.
-- Use overdrive gears. Overdrive gears improve the fuel
economy of your car during highway driving. Your car's
engine speed decreases when you use overdrive. This
reduces both fuel consumption and engine wear. Most
automatic transmission cars will have an overdrive
button right on the gearshift. Look for a "D" and/or
"O/D". You will see a light on the dash indicating
weather it's on or off. Check your owner's manual to be
sure. If your car has a tachometer, you should be able
to tell by watching your engine's rpm speed on the
highway. Buy switching the overdrive on, your rpm's
should drop significantly.
-- Use cruise control. For longer trips using cruise
control can help you maintain a constant speed and, in
most cases, reduce your fuel consumption. Set it to 55
mph on highways.
-- Avoid unnecessary braking and acceleration, and
improve your fuel economy by 5 to 10 percent. In city
driving, nearly 50 percent of the energy needed to power
your car goes to acceleration. Go easy on the petrol
pedal and brakes. "Jack-rabbit" starts and sudden stops
are wasteful. Let off the petrol early when approaching
yellow and red lights, stop signs etc... Most
fuel-injected cars will cut off the fuel supply to the
engine while you slow down saving you even more petrol.
-- Combine errands. Several short trips taken from a
cold start can use twice as much fuel as one trip
covering the same distance when the engine is warm. It
takes about 15 to 20 minutes for a car to reach normal
operating temperature. Until then, your car is using
almost twice as much fuel to keep the engine running!
-- Remove excess weight from the trunk. Avoid carrying
unneeded items, especially heavy ones. An extra 100
pounds in the trunk reduces a typical car's fuel economy
by one to two percent.
Maintain your car
Keep your engine tuned. Studies have shown that a poorly
tuned engine can increase fuel consumption by as much as
10 to 20 percent depending on a car's condition. Follow
the recommended maintenance schedule in your owner's
manual; you'll save fuel and your car will run better
and last longer.
-- Keep your tires properly inflated and aligned. Under
inflated tires on a car is like running on the beach
with no shoes. Car manufacturers must place a label in
the car stating the correct tire pressure. The label
usually is on the edge of the door or doorjamb, in the
glove box, or on the inside of the petrol cap cover. If
the label lists a psi (pounds per square inch) range,
use the higher number to maximize your fuel efficiency.
Under inflated tires cause fuel consumption to increase
by 6%. -- Change your oil. Clean oil reduces wear caused
by friction between moving parts and removes harmful
substances from the engine. Change your oil as
recommended by the vehicle manufacturer.
-- Check and replace air filters regularly. Your car's
air filter keeps impurities in the air from damaging
internal engine components. Not only will replacing a
dirty air filter improve your fuel economy, it also will
protect your engine. Clogged filters can cause up to a
10% increase in fuel consumption. Imagine running up a
flight of stairs with only using one nostril in your
nose to breath.
petrol Cards
Check out petrol card offers from petrol stations and
credit card companies. The can save you an additional 1%
to 5% off every gallon or earn you free petrol. One of
the best cards out there right now can be found
http://valueauthority.com/savepetrol.htm
If you put 20 gallons in your car at $3.00 per gallon,
that's $60. A 5% cash back would save you $3.00 making
your effective cost per gallon just $2.85. It's like
getting a free gallon of petrol with every fill up!
About the Author
Robert Rogers is a writer in the Washington DC area and
specializes in money saving. For More Information -
Visit www.valueauthority.com/savepetrol.htm |
