Datsun’s Fuel Saving Tips
Driving fuel-inefficiently is like chucking a couple of bucks out of your window every kilometre. With petrol just south of R16 per litre, you should seriously think before you go full F1 down the driveway.
But can you save fuel when driving a manual car?
Yes, you can. Let’s look at the common sense basics and then at some manual transmission specifics.
Is this trip necessary? If yes, can you influence when you are going to drive? If you can, plan your trip properly. Drive at times so you can avoid as much traffic as possible. Apart from time wasted and wear on your clutch, covering that distance stop and start, zero to 25km/h and back, first and second gear will guzzle your expensive petrol. A couple of hours later and you may well cruise the same route in 5th gear, going an easy 60km/h.
If practical, combine several short trips into one. Even though new cars are better at this, the first bit of the trip when your engine and tyres are still cold uses more fuel. Speaking of tyres, make sure they are inflated to the manufacturer’s specs. And keep them there – tyres do lose pressure over time, needing more power to overcome the extra friction.
Speaking of friction, don’t drive with your surfboard on your roof rack if you are not going surfing. Your surfboard, your roof rack, your open window and your elbow hanging out of your open window all add friction in the form of wind resistance. This will lower your aerodynamic efficiency.
So window closed and aircon on? Not if not needed. Air-conditioning needs energy to work, and the only power in your car comes from the expensive fuel your engine burns. But be sensible. When it gets too hot, see the aircon as an essential cost.
One non-essential cost is lugging extra weight around. Clean out your car and get rid of the stuff cluttering up your boot and back seats. Any extra weight in your car will require that much extra fuel every time you accelerate.
It is during accelerating that your manual transmission can make or break your fuel consumption. When you pull away, shift gears up as quickly as practical, at that optimal point before your revs go too high. Note the reference to the optimal point: if you change up too quickly, your gear will be wrong for your speed and you will need to floor the accelerator to try and accelerate. You will pick up the sweet spot to gear up very quickly. If your car has gear change light, use it. It works.
Where possible, skip a gear. On a slight downhill, you can easily go from first to third to fifth.
Pay attention to gearing down as well. If you have to push down on the pedal just to maintain your speed, you are in too high a gear. The rule of thumb is ‘revs as low as possible’, but still giving you adequate power.
Drive smoothly. Keep a decent following distance from the car in front. If the robot in front of it changes, start coasting to your stop. Leave enough space in front of your car so you can accelerate gently and smoothly without getting angry hoots from the cars behind you.
Finally, when stopping on an incline, use your handbrake to keep your car from rolling back. Never ride your clutch. It not only uses a lot of fuel and eats up your clutch, but it also makes you look . . . just don’t, okay?
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Tags: Datsun
