Photo credit: Sean MacEntee
With fuel prices heading for the sky and a fuel crisis likely to be just around the corner it looks like we need to good homespun advice for making every last drop of petrol count.
Thankfully our friends at Kwik Fit have come up with a couple of ideas to help us all out…
Check Your Tyres
The Kwik Fit guys did a survey of 2,700 cars and discovered that a staggering 69% of them had tyres which were at least 3psi below the recommended inflation levels. To complete the survey I just nipped out to check my tyres and I think we can safely add my name to the list of the chronically underinflated. The research stated that this means that in the UK we waste up to £1 billion in year in fuel due to poorly inflated tyres. It sounds like an almost unbelievable figure but there you go; pump up your tyres and save money.
Windows or Air Conditioning?
What do you do when the weather is warm and you are out driving? Well, it seems that between all of us we are burning up more than £650,000 a day by not doing the right thing here.
When you are in stop start traffic, the Kwik Fit advice is to roll your window down and put some ice cubes down your trousers. Actually, I added in the bit about the ice cubes but it could be worth doing if you get stuck in a big traffic jam. However, once you get onto a clear stretch of road you should wind the window up and put the air conditioning on.
If you drive with the windows down then the drag this produces could lose you up to 5% in fuel efficiency and of course it also affects the efficiency of your air conditioning and makes your ice cubes melt faster.