Eco-driving – get the most out of your fuel

At a time when most of us are trying to economise, fuel-efficient driving becomes more important.

Here are a few tips which will have a real impact:

Be smooth, not sharp

Leave you inner James Bond and Jason Bourne at home; tearing away when the lights change might feel good, but it looks daft and you can save a lot of fuel – up to 60% in fact – by accelerating and breaking gently.

Don’t sweat the gears

Change gear well before the engine starts to scream and you’ll save up to 15% on fuel.

Walk, don’t run (the engine)

If you need to take a short trip to the post office or convenience store, be radical: walk. Cold engines use twice as much fuel as warm ones.

Warm your gloves, not your engine

Don’t ‘warm up’ the engine in the winter; you’re wasting a lot of petrol and adding significantly more wear and tear to the engine. Again, be radical: use de-icer and a scraper.

Keep cool

At the opposite end of the temperature spectrum, get used to driving without air-conditioning unless you really need it (it drinks a lot of fuel). Use blowers instead once you’ve brought the temperature down to a more comfortable level (but don’t open windows – the drag increases fuel consumption).

Stay below 70

Driving at 80mph on the motorway (apart from being illegal) drains up to 20% more fuel from your tank than driving at 70 (and you’ll only be slower by 1 minute for every ten miles).