Although petrol prices have recently dropped slightly over the past few months, they are still relatively high in comparison with the rest of the world, and this means that conserving petrol is essential. Never is this more essential than in winter, when driving is more difficult and more dangerous than in the rest of the year, leading to higher use of petrol or diesel. Here’s how to be fuel efficient this winter.
3 – Reduce Your Idling
You might think that in the dead of winter, the best course of action would be to turn your engine on and leave it running for a few minutes before you get in to heat everything up. Unfortunately, this leads to wasted fuel and shouldn’t’ really be done. A better way of doing things would be to clear your windows with de-icer, get in your car and turn the engine on. If your steering wheel is cold, buy some fingerless gloves to make things easier on yourself.
2 – Lose Weight
Vehicle weight is a significant factor to the amount of fuel your car consumes. This is particularly the case in winter, where a car may take extra time to get moving if there is less surface grip because of the weather. To minimise these effects, you should lessen the weight in your car, either by acknowledging that perhaps it isn’t the best idea to squeeze 5 people into your car for your daily trip to and from work. You could also remove excess weight you taking things out of your boot, and by removing excess roof racks.
1 – Amend or Upgrade
A more extreme solution is to make alterations to your car to ensure it copes better against the winter weather, preventing as much fuel loss. A good example of this might be upgrade the tyres to a set with greater grip to enhance your car’s tyre to road friction, lessening waste. An even more extreme option might be to upgrade your car entirely for a newer model which is more fuel efficient. This doesn’t need to be a very expensive task, as there are plenty of sites that offer great deals on second hand cars that can help you beat your fuel problems.
So don’t let the winter driving woes get you down. Use these fuel efficiency tips and you’ll be ploughing through the snow in no time at all.
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