Fuel Efficiency & Economy: A Key Consideration in Choosing Your Next Car

10 Ways To Drive More Fuel Efficiently:

Your driving style plays an important part in your fuel consumption, and considerable savings can be made by following these guidelines:

  1. Plan Trips – organise yourself to minimise errand-related short trips and map out fuel-efficient routes for long trips.
  1. Be Relaxed – aggressive driving – accelerating fast and braking heavily to stop – can cost you 40% more fuel per trip.
  1. Drive Smoothly and Observe the Speed Limit – use cruise control, if you have it and remember the faster you go the greater your wind resistance - meaning you will use disproportionately more fuel.
  1. Engine Brake – release the accelerator early to slow down.
  1. Minimise Idling – turn off the engine if you are stopping for more than 10 seconds, unless you are in traffic.
  1. Warm Up By Driving – modern vehicles need no more than 30 seconds to warm up in winter.
  1. Inflate & Align Tyres – properly inflated tyres make your engine’s job easier.
  1. Take the Rack Off – roof racks increase drag, remove them when they're not needed.
  1. Minimise Air Con Use – flow through ventilation or an open window round town can do the job a lot of the time.
  1. Service Regularly – if your car is in good shape it will run more efficiently.

Fuel efficiency means fuel economy... More dollars in your pocket at the end of the week. And less environmental impact. You win; the environment wins.

Whatever your transport needs, with the cost of fuel likely to increase in the next five years, you should be thinking about how much fuel your new car will use. There are all sorts of things you can do to drive more fuel efficiently. But your choice of car will be the key to spending less on fuel.

All cars now have well documented fuel consumption characteristics. Knowing these characteristics will help you understand the running costs of a car you are considering buying. (Knowledge that is an essential part of understanding the total cost of ownership and environmental impact of your new car.)

Understanding Your Fuel Options

Before we dive into fuel ratings and fuel economy considerations, we should look at your fuel options. You have three main choices when you pull into your local petrol station: 91 octane, 95 octane and diesel.

Modern vehicles will perform best and most fuel efficiently with the recommended fuel type. Using the wrong fuel may lead to increased fuel consumption and engine wear so it may end up costing you more – see AA's motoring tips. Stick with the manufacturers’ recommendations.

Don’t forget to factor in the type of fuel recommended for your car in determining fuel costs. But type of fuel is only one factor to consider.

Fuel Efficiency Varies

Knowing the type of fuel the vehicle you are considering uses means little, if you don’t know how much fuel the car will use.

You need a vehicle that satisfies your requirements – long versus short trips, likely passengers, likely load, towing requirements... These requirements will determine your choice of vehicle type and size.

The secret to choosing the car with the best fuel efficiency is knowing how cars that satisfy your requirements perform. It varies: a recent test by Waitakere City found that the litres of fuel used per 100 kilometres (L/100) for the four small cars tested varied from 11.69 l/100km's for a Daewoo Lanos to 6.78 l/100km's for a Toyota Prius.

Fuel Economy Labelling Explained

And that’s where fuel labelling come's in. Based on independent data and offered through government agency EECA (the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority), recently introduced fuel labelling will tell you:

  • How much fuel the vehicle uses – ‘fuel stars’ 1-6
  • Fuel consumption in l/100km's
  • Estimated annual fuel economy.

Compulsorily displayed on newer cars since April 2008, labels are based on data collected since 2005 and are available from the Fuelsaver website. A website that also offers a very useful fuel efficiency calculator drawing on the same data to indicate fuel economy for cars manufactured after 2005.

Taking the time to investigate the fuel efficiency of the vehicle options you are considering could mean significant savings in running costs and significant gains in the sustainability of your travel.

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We believe in trying to make a difference

At Toyota we believe in trying to make a difference and improving fuel efficiency is a big part of making a difference to the total cost of ownership and environmental impact of our vehicles.