Trying to escape high fuel prices nowadays relates to believing you can find a unicorn in your backyard. Let’s face it, if you’ve been driving for a little while you’ll notice that your fuel budget has been going skywards and the chances of it going down again are so slim you can see through them. This is why, whether you drive a small car or a three-ton SUV, squeezing a bit more distance out of each litre of fuel is becoming a necessity. These following tips can help you improve your car’s fuel economy, all the while helping the environment and improving traffic safety. Most of these tips will give you a very slight increase in Fuel Consumption, but when used together, the improvements will help you see the pump less often.

Slow down
The best and easiest way to save petrol is to simply reduce your speed. As speed increases, fuel economy decreases exponentially so try driving 5 to 10km/h less than the speed limit, especially on the expressways. You’ll save a lot of fuel and your journey won’t take much longer.

Accelerate with care
Accelerating smoothly and braking softly conserves fuel. Fast starts, weaving in and out of traffic and hard braking wastes fuel and wears out some of the car components, such as brakes and tires, more quickly. That doesn’t mean you should crawl away from every light, just keep your foot light. If you drive an automatic transmission car, accelerate moderately so the transmission can shift up into the higher gears. Stick-shifters should shift early to keep the revs down, just make sure you don’t lug the engine; downshift if you need to accelerate. Maintain a safe distance between vehicles and anticipate traffic conditions to allow for more time for braking. You’ll notice that if you let go of the accelerator early, and brake smoothly, you will be able to avoid stopping during some slow moving zones during traffic jams, giving you a smoother ride and saving you fuel at the same time. Look far ahead for potential slowdowns; the less you bring your car to a stop, the more fuel you save. During traffic jams, stay cool, play your favourite songs or tune in on your preferred radio station and go with the flow, getting angry and aggressive won’t make things faster, and jumping between lanes and accelerating will only waste more fuel.

Avoid idling
Today’s engines don’t require you to wait a few minutes to warm up before driving off. Fire the engine and pull away without leaving your car idling. Prolonged idling increases emissions and wastes fuel. Turn the engine off in non-traffic situations, such as when waiting to pick up somebody, or when idling more than 30 seconds.

Hang with the trucks
Ever notice how, in bad traffic jams, cars seem to constantly speed up and slow down, while trucks tend to roll along at the same leisurely pace? A constant speed keeps shifting to a minimum — important to those who have to wrangle with those ten-speed truck transmissions — but it also aids economy, as it takes much more fuel to get a vehicle moving than it does to keep it moving. Conclusion: rolling with the big rigs saves fuel (and aggravation).

Roll them down
Consider shutting off the air conditioner, opening the windows and enjoying the breeze, it can help you save 10-15 percent of fuel. It may be a tad warmer, but you’ll save quite a bit of fuel at lower speeds. That said, driving at expressway speed with the windows down increases the aerodynamic drag on the vehicle and lowers fuel economy, so in this case, opting to wind up the windows and switching the air conditioner on is the way to go. For optimal fuel economy, use the vent setting as much as possible and park in the shade to keep your car cool and reduce the need for air conditioning. However, driving with the windows open at highways speeds increases aerodynamic drag on the vehicle and lowers fuel economy.

Check your tires’ pressure
Under-inflated tires are one of the most commonly ignored cause of crummy Fuel Consumption. Under-inflated tires have a higher rolling resistance, which means you need to burn more gas to keep your car moving. Tires lose air due to time (about 1 psi per month) and temperature (1 psi for every 10 degree drop), so it’s a good thing to check their pressure at the petrol kiosk or at home if you own a pressure gauge at least once a month. Be sure to check them when they are cold, since driving the car warms up the tires along with the air inside them, increasing pressure thus giving a falsely high reading. Use the inflation pressures shown in the owner’s manual or on the data plate in the driver’s door jamb or inside the gas trap. Remember air is a lot cheaper than gas, so make those tires are properly inflated.

Check your air filter
A dirty air filter restricts the flow of air into the engine, which harms performance and fuel economy. Air filters are easy to check and change: remove the filter and hold it up to the sun. If you can’t see light coming through it, you need a new one. Most cars will be factory equipped with a paper or cotton filter. These are restrictive and need to be thrown away and changed often to maintain a good efficiency. Consider changing to a drop-in filter or similar permanent filter; they are more expensive at first, but they can be cleaned when dirty, saving you the costs of regularly changing, thus making them cheaper in the long run. They are also much less restrictive and better for the environment than the originally fitted ones.

Maintain your engine
Be sure to change your engine oil regularly and you use a proper grade of motor oil in order to see the best fuel economy in your vehicle. Also ask your mechanic to check on the wheels alignment when servicing your car as wheels that are fighting each other waste fuel are increase your tire wear.

Back off the bling
New wheels and tires may look cool, and they can certainly improve handling, but if they are wider than the stock tires, they will end up creating more rolling resistance and decreasing fuel economy. If you upgrade your wheels and tires, keep the old ones. Sport rims and aggressive tires sure look nice, but for long road trips, the stock wheels give a smoother ride and better economy. Besides, it’s mostly on road trips on unfamiliar roads that you end up driving in pot holes that can damage your low waist tires and expensive sport rims.

Clean up your car
If you’re the type of person who takes a leisurely attitude towards car, periodically go through your car and see what can be tossed out or brought into the house. It doesn’t take much to acquire the extra weight, and the more weight your car has to lug around, the more fuel it burns. Get rid of the unnecessary stuff that is taking up space in your trunk or backseat, it’s costing you money.

Downsize
If you’re shopping for a new car, it’s time to re-evaluate how much car you really need. Smaller cars are inherently more fuel-efficient, and today’s small cars are roomier than ever. Worried about crash protection? The automakers are designing their small cars to survive crashes with bigger vehicles, and safety features like side-curtain airbags and electronic stability control are becoming common place in smaller cars.

Consolidate trips
Plan ahead as much as you can in order to consolidate your trips. This will enable you to save on fuel-wasting back and forth trips, try to bypass congested routes, leading to less idling, fewer start-ups and less stop-and-go traffic. Whenever feasible, share a ride and/or carpool.

Don’t drive
Not a popular thing to say on a car site, but the fact is that if you can avoid driving, you’ll save gas. We are very lucky here in Singapore, as we have a highly developed public transportation system. Take the MRT, bus, carpool, and consolidate your shopping trips. Walking is also good for your wallet and your health. And before you get in your car, always ask yourself: “Is this trip really necessary?”