Tips On How You Can REDUCE Fuel Consumption.

• Slow down. As speed increases, fuel economy decreases exponentially.
• Check your tyre pressure. Under-inflated tyres are one of the most commonly ignored causes of crummy mileage.
  
• Check your air filter. A dirty air filter restricts the flow of air into the engine, which harms performance and economy. Clogged air filters can cause up to a 10% increase in fuel consumption.
  
• Accelerate with care. Jack-rabbit starts are an obvious fuel-waster. Accelerate moderately so the transmission can shift up into the higher gears.
  
• Driving at a constant speed. A constant speed keeps gear shifting to a minimum and aids fuel economy.
  
• Pace your driving. If you accelerate to speed then have to brake right away, that's wasted fuel.
  
• Get back to nature. Consider shutting off the air conditioner, opening the windows and enjoying the breeze. It may be slightly warmer, but at lower speeds, you will save fuel.
  
• Windows up. Having the windows down at high speeds create aerodynamic drag that causes an engine to work harder. On the highway, this can decrease fuel economy by up to 10%.
  
• Wheel and tyre sizes. If your wheels and tyres are wider than the standard fittings, chances are they will create more rolling resistance and decrease fuel economy.
  
• Clean out your car. Remove excess items that you don't require having in the vehicle.
  
• Downsize. Smaller engine capacity cars are inherently more fuel-efficient.
  
• Don't drive. Take the train, carpool and consolidate your shopping trips. And before you get in your car, always ask yourself, "Is this trip really necessary?"
  
• Maintain your car. Keep your engine well tuned. Poorly tuned engines can increase fuel consumption by as much as 10% to 20%.
  
• 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, reducing fuel consumption.
  
• Cruise control. Use cruise control on highway trips to maintain a constant speed.
  
• Anticipate driving situations. If you anticipate traffic conditions and don't tailgate, you can avoid unnecessary braking and acceleration, and improve your fuel economy by 5% to 10%.
  
• Avoid unnecessary idling. Turn off the engine during a lengthy wait. Unnecessary idling wastes fuel.
  
• Combining 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.
  
• Leave early. Leave early for appointments and take a safe and slow drive. Speeding is not only dangerous but uneconomical.
  
• Fill up with a lower octane petrol. Buy the lowest grade or octane petrol appropriate for your car. Unless your car requires premium fuel, high octane fuel is a waste of money.
  
• Don't top off. Stop pumping at the first indication that your tank is full when the automatic nozzle clicks off.
  
• Tighten up that fuel lid cap. Fuel evaporates from your car's fuel tank if it has an escape. Avoid a loose, missing or damaged fuel cap.
  
• Park in the shade. The hot sun zaps fuel from your fuel tank. So park your car in the shade whenever possible.
  
• Avoid rush hour. Not only is stop-and-go traffic stressful and annoying, it's bad for your car's fuel economy. So if you can, avoid driving during rush hour.
  
• Removing the roof rack. A loaded roof rack increases your car's air drag and can pull down your car's mileage by 5%. Avoid carrying items on your car's roof whenever possible.
  
• Monitoring your fuel consumption. Start monitoring the amount of fuel you use. This will help you identify how and where you can save.
  
• Understanding wind resistance. The power to overcome air/wind resistance increases with speed. Because air resistance increases so rapidly with speed above 48km/h, it becomes a dominant limiting factor. Driving at 72km/h rather than 105km/h results in about one-third(1/3) the power to overcome wind resistance, or about one half the energy, and much greater fuel economy can be achieved. Increasing speed to 145km/h from 105km/h increases the power requirement by 2.6 times, the energy by 1.9 times, and drastically decreases fuel economy.
  
• Warming up your engine. Don't warm up your vehicle for more than 30 seconds. Most modern fuel-injected cars only need 30 seconds to warm.
  
• When to fuel up. Fill up on cool mornings or evenings. Fuel is denser when cold. Fuel pumps measure by volume, so if you pump when it's cold, you get more fuel.
  
• DO NOT PUMP TANK FULL OF PETROL. Many of us are not aware that the petrol kiosk pump has a return pipe-line(in black). When the petrol tank(in the car) reaches full level, there is a mechanism to trigger off the pump latch and at the same time a return-valve is opened(at the top of the pump station) to allow excess petrol to flow back into the sump. But the return petrol has already passed through the meter, meaning you are donating the petrol back to SHELL/CALTEX/MOBIL.

Source : Automobile Association of Malaysia(AAM)