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-   -   ARTICLE: How to get the maximum Fuel Efficiency (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/owning-car/17748-article-how-get-maximum-fuel-efficiency-52.html)

Luckily I`m in India - Here I would rather just buy a Maruti, preferably one with AMT and drive at moderate speeds.

Affordable to purchase, maintain , run and most importantly I get most of the money back when I sell it too after a few years of very forgettable driving experience.

On a serious note, I do think that driving at moderate speeds when there is no need to be in a hurry is a responsible thing to do, save the fuel for when there is really a need to push the pedal to the floor.

There is a whole website dedicated to hypermiling and fuel efficiency https://ecomodder.com/forum/

I have one regarding safety -

I've tried driving to get some really high mileage for fun. In the pursuit of extracting every possible meter from every drop, I noticed that I tried to avoid braking as much as possible in order to maintain the momentum. I soon realised that it was as dangerous as driving over the speed limit after putting myself into a number of incidents for which I would usually try to brake in advance for.

Long story short, don't get carried away with mileage or adrenaline cause you can lose way more than you gain:)

Does Cruise Control decrease FE?

Suppose I have set CC to 80Kph and driving on a down slope. The speed of car would try to increase over 80Kph due to down slope but CC will apply brake and try to maintain the speed at 80kph. So fuel gets wasted.

Opposite happens for Upward Slope.
The speed of car would try to fall below 80Kph due to up slope but CC will increase and try to maintain the speed at 80kph.
So again Fuel gets wasted as car tries to accelerate in the higher gear.

Experts, am I wrong here?

You are NOT supposed to set 'cruise-control' on slopes.

Here is what my Honda-City manual says:

"Use cruise control on motorways or open roads where you can travel at a constant speed with little acceleration or decelaration".

"Warning: use the cruise control only when travelling on open motorways in good weather. Improper use of cruise control can lead to a crash".

That said, I use a lot of cruise-control in my new Honda-City. I set it at about 80 or 90 kmph whenever I can.

A little to late to reply! Sorry about that!

You are making my eyes go watery!
I recently purchased Kwid Easy-R. The best fuel consumption I have seen on it is around 18kmpl. That was the first drive on open highway with car still in running-in period.

Hopefully,I will see better milage in future, especially given tne eminent increase is the petrol prices!

In any case, thanks for sharing! Has surely raised my hopes with the car. :P

I always follow the guidelines and inputs in Team-BHP forums. The most important one I see is:

My previous Ertiga ZDi used to give me ~24kmpl in Kerala's MC road with occupants + luggage + AC during my weekend travels of around 300km. Many a times I get 25+ as well checked on a tank to tank method.

The same in my current Crysta 2.8ZX during the same trip is ~15kmpl.

I always fill from a known Indian Oil petrol station(s) and during all rides mostly keep ~80 kmph, though difficult in our roads. And what I felt more important is not about keeping a smooth riding position, rather release the throttle frequently for a better fuel economy.

Having said this, the ride might feel monotonous or without soul if we ride like this.

/Govind

Hi fellow bhpians, I bought a Kiger CVT last year with a 1ltr turbo charged engine. I have clocked around 39xx kms and am getting an abysmal mileage of 8-12kmpl, when I don't even drive with vigour most of the time.

After some research, I found that I should've chosen the NA engine because 95% of my running is in the city and the bumper-to-bumper traffic of Hyderabad. This would also have never made me experience the rubberband effect or turbo lag, but I love the performance(in Sports mode) when I drive enthusiastically, so I guess that's just life. Crying over spilled milk won't do much, but if anything, the ONLY bad thing about this awesome car is the mileage. For instance, when I was driving 26km a day, 5 times a week, I'd have to fill 14litres (₹1500 worth, priced at ₹108.20 per litre)of normal unleaded petrol, every week before the low fuel light came up.

A few things I have learnt regarding driving style and owning the car -

1. Stay below the turbo range, in city - but this was hard to realize because I was uninformed and Kiger doesn't have an RPM meter unless you're in Sports mode, which chugs more fuel obviously (right?!)!
2. Give love to the throttle smoothly and gradually.
3. Let go off the throttle from an earlier point to avoid unnecessary braking(this practice led me to get 10/11kmpl.)
4. When you have open roads/can't go slow, try to manipulate the throttle to stay within the turbo range i.e., ~50-80kmph is the sweet spot but I've only tested this once.
5. Idle(30-60secs)/go slow until optimum temperatures and do the same before coming to a complete stop/end of drive.
6. Use specified fuel, which is 91 octane.

Anything else I can do? And is the normal petrol called 91 octane or that's the premium? Google says 91 octane is the normal octane rating in India, but it's confusing.

Quote from Cars24 -
In India, the minimum octane rating for fuels as prescribed by Government through Bharat 3 emission norms is 91 Octane. The normal unleaded fuel sold through any company in any city has an octane rating of 91. The premium fuels like Extra-Premium, Speed and Power also have the same octane rating of 91. They, however, do consist of extra additives and detergents that clean the insides of the engine and prevent sludge formation on prolonged usage. As such there are only two types of fuels in India with a higher Octane rating than 91 namely, 93 Octane from Indian Oil and Speed 97 from Bharat Petroleum. Both are however only available in limited outlets across a few metro cities.

Great post. One usually see this extreme fuel-saving behaviour from some Taxi drivers ( not generalising, but just a personal observation ). This results in them swerving around potential obstacles to avoid braking and downshifting, and basically leads to unsafe driving .

I would say, just stick with some basic hygiene - keep the car in good shape, maintain correct air pressure, give moderate acceleration, avoid sudden spurts, stay in the correct gear, and anticipate in advance so that you can let your foot off the accelerator and avoid last-minute breaking. I generally avoid swerving as much as I possibly can, so I use the brake option as a default when I encounter obstacles on the road at the cost of some FE)- unless the road is very clear and devoid of traffic (all of these will also mean that the passengers will have a better time, especially in the back seat). Also, with experience one gets to have a good feel on the "right" speed for a certain type of road, from a safety and FE perspective. One also feels less tired driving in a defensive, relaxed manner during long road trips. This doesn't necessarily mean that one has to go very slow though.

As you rightly mentioned, being obsessed with FE can lead to some dangerous habits. So better to stick to good driving habits, maintain your vehicle well, and be happy with the FE you get.

Inspired by the TopGear segments on the Nurburgring, I always try to drive/cruise behind a bus on the Yamuna Expressway. The kmpl certainly shoots straight up. They drive faster than prescribed, easily in between 80-100 kmph. I get clean and. turbulence-free air.

The downside being, they could just stop or swerve at their whim. That's a bit dangerous.

On good E-ways like Yamuna Eway, it can be done but certainly not on other roads. Chances of your car getting stone chips are high. Or worse, the Bus due to it's high GC may cross a boulder or carcass and you may not be able to avoid it at such speeds.

Regards,
Shashi

I was not aware of this. One more new thing learnt, thanks to Team-BHP!

Earlier I used to ease off the accelerator only when there was reason to slow down, but this time I tried occasional coasting - and I could see an increase in FE.

To stay in the slipstream of a bus, you can be upto 200 ft behind and still reap benefit. Air acts like a fluid. Well placed to avoid/ brake any obstacle.
The true challenge will be other users leapfrogging your convoy. Especially if you're at 80-100.

Seconded. 2018 CNG Alto I have did 31 km / kg on a Pune - Kolhapur drive I did back in January. In DENSE, bumper to bumper Pune traffic, it does 25km/kg with the AC On.

Costs me ₹2035/ 1000km in fuel.
For reference, for my harrier it's ₹8000/ 1000km rl:

To update the latest on this:

For some personal reasons, I had to travel to Bidar on Friday. Returned back yesterday late evening.

I did not baby around the car and was maintaining higher 90's on the odo.

The tank full to tank full economy was around 21 kmpl. I would say it's not bad at all, given that the car is just 3k clicks as of now.