Drive Smarter

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Running a home and a car can be an expensive business and if there’s one thing we love best it’s finding savings that make a big difference. We all know that turning down your thermostat, having windows that close properly and switching to money saving energy tariffs can drive down the cost of your household bills, but how about your vehicle?

In this blog we take a look at how to make your car or bike more efficient, saving you money and helping to reduce pollution by cutting down on emissions.

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Cutting Car Costs

As tempting as it is to pull away with screeching tyres at traffic lights, the best way to conserve your fuel and make your car more efficient is to accelerate gradually. The faster you try and speed off, the greater the drag and the harder your car will have to work to get to the speed you want. This simply burns through fuel at an alarming rate, so think gradual.

The same principle applies when slowing down. Give yourself plenty of time and ease down the gears to save energy and fuel.

Another smart way towards greater fuel efficiency is to lighten the load. If you have a boot crammed full of sports equipment and so on, you make your engine work harder to increase speed. Lighten up and make that petrol last longer.

You will also achieve a positive effect through keeping your tyres at the optimum level and if you’re not sure what that is, check your handbook. They’re likely to be different for front and rear and whatever you do, don’t guess. You should also be able to find the PSI number on the tyres themselves.

Many modern cars have an automatic stop function that kills the engine when you’re waiting at traffic lights and so on. Not only does this make the environment far cleaner for the people around you it also saves fuel. If you know you’re likely to be stationary for a few minutes and you don’t have automatic stop, do switch off manually. You will save fuel and cut pollution, so it’s well worth doing.

Finally, remember to drive in the highest gear possible to take the strain off of the engine. If you’re travelling at 40mph, take the gears up to five or even six if possible. An engine that isn’t straining in a lower gear is an engine that isn’t using up precious supplies of fuel.

Saving Money on Your Motorbike

Much like a car, avoid aggressive accelerating and braking where possible. You should also try and keep to main roads where you can and avoid overly hilly or windy roads that will rob you of your fuel efficiency.

If you’re able to carry out minor repairs to your bike, you’ll be able to find much cheaper but equally as effective spare parts online on sites such as solomotoparts.

The make and model of your bike is also going to play a role in your weekly fuel bill. If you’re mainly using your vehicle for commuting then switching to a lighter more versatile bike might be a good option rather than dragging your chromed up classic around the city streets, no matter how cool you look.

It might seem counter-intuitive but when you’re at the pumps consider buying high quality fuel and avoiding the lower cost version. A motorbike running on high quality petrol will generally use less, giving you greater efficiency overall. 

In the same way you make your car lighter, try and avoid having too many panniers on the side of your bike. They will contribute to the drag effect and make your bike more resistant to acceleration, forcing it to work harder.

Lastly, you’ll want to keep your bike in top shape so it’s running like a dream. Check spark plug gaps and valve seat clearances and make sure that the oil is changed regularly. You should also think about changing the air filters regularly, particularly if you’re a die-hard off roader and spend a lot of time in dry and dusty environments. Improving and maintaining your bike’s engine will save you both fuel and cut pollution, so it’s a win-win situation. 

Put these simple but highly do-able tips and tricks into place and you’ll soon see your vehicle bills come tumbling down. Drive carefully, take your time accelerating and decelerating and you’ll give your engine all the time it needs to burn fuel in the most efficient way possible.

Drive happy, drive smarter.