Super Mega Action Plus

I’ve tried this before and had some pretty great results but I thought I’d give it another go to make sure it really does make a difference. You know, fair test and all that. But I read somewhere that people waste loads of petrol while driving to and fro by not driving economically. By that i mean there are things you should and shouldn’t do while driving that’ll save petrol, which is happy times for me because i’d rather not spend so much money on fuel, and happy times for the environment (well less bad anyway).

So each time i fill my car up I reset my milage counter to zero. I normally get about 350 – 360miles before the petrol light turns on and it costs me about £30 to filll it up again. So i started doing the various things that i’ve been told help to save petrol. Firstly i stopped overloading the car. I’ve been carrying a load of unnecessary rubbish around (clothes, books, bags) which although it’s only a slight change does effect the weight of my car meaning the engine works a little harder and uses a little more fuel. I stopped using things like the heating if i don’t really need it. All things like that drain the fuel. I made sure the windows were always shut while driving. This makes such a difference, when i shut my windows i can feel my car struggling less to accelerate (it’s not a very good car) as there is much less drag. Probably most importantly i stopped accelerating when i don’t need to. If a traffic jam is coming up a distance away i just tried letting the car role up to it, even if the car behind me seems to be getting annoyed that i’m going slow. If i reach the traffic jam and i have to break at all I’ve used unnecessary fuel. So i suppose that’s always true, when you use the break excessively you’re driving too fast and therefore wasting petrol. I still think breaking may come in handy though, running people over in the name of the environment would not stand up in court.

Anyway by doing this I started getting 370 – 380miles out of my car every time. Which is around 20 miles more out of each full tank. So by my maths (which really ain’t too great) I do about 13500 miles a year, which (if i get 350 miles for £30) should cost me about £1157 each year. If i drive the same distance “environmentally” I think it’d cost me about £1094 That’s saving me £63 per year for doing nothing but driving in a different way.

The tricky thing is, as with everything like this, keeping it up all the time. As i said at the start i tried this once before with similar results but slipped back into my old ways. I’m trying again and encourage everyone with a vehicle to try if they’re not already. If anyone knows any other things to try, please let me know.

(and i’m gonna start riding my bike again!)