We are repeatedly told in various magazines, on tv, in books and pretty much everywhere else that driving style has a massive impact on how good (or bad) your fuel economy figure is. I recently put this to the test and came to a number of conclusions.
Firstly, my car is quite old and is probably fairly inefficient. The locations I drive to on a regular basis tend to be shorter runs through the suburbs – not exactly city centre but hardly getting up to a cruising speed and sitting back.
My driving style changes. At times I do like to press on, but for the experiment I decided to smooth out my driving, keeping revs low and upchanging before I normally would. I found that I was relaxed, more patient and had more time to preempt what was taking place rather than focusing on trying to milk more performance from the car. As a result of all this, I’d definitely say I gained about 5 miles per gallon. Not a huge amount but certainly enough to make a difference when it comes to the wallet!
Would I be better off driving like this all the time? Absolutely I would. Could I manage it though? Perhaps that is the bigger question. Of course, the best of both worlds would be to buy a newer, more fuel efficient car and then I’d probably save in the long run. Now, if I could just persuade myself to part with the cash…
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