Hi,
I just got my license and the first car. No one in my family drives cars, so I am really in need of some common senses/tips when it comes to fuel saving. My car is a 2009 Corolla, I don’t commute to work by car so only occasionally drive for recreation and shopping trips. What apps do I need to find the best price on fuel? I have heard some people say they fill up at Costco, do they have the best price? (Considering getting a membership there).
Please explain like I’m 5.
why would you skimp 2c difference to use a worse quality fuel?
Stick to 91.
I read once that you need E10 to be more than 3c/l cheaper than standard 91 to get a cost benefit from it.
For a while my trips were pretty standard, so I compared running 91 and 95 in my car. I found for my car and the trips that I did it was about $1 per tank cheaper to fill up with 95 due to the extra mileage. 98 had no difference to 95
Every car is different, but you might find this worth doing between different fuel types if your trips are pretty standard.
Pay attention to petrol prices as you drive and eventually you'll start to see patterns. I live near a Costco so I fuel up there, the saving is significant enough that it's worth the trip out of my way (80L tank). Our local Woolworths Petrol matches the price of Costco until Costco closes, then they put their price up by 20c!
The next suburb over from us is always 20c more expensive.
A weird one: After I got a sports exhaust installed on my first car I became a lot more conscious of how hard I was revving the engine and when I had my foot on the pedal, it led to extra fuel savings (I've outgrown this and now look at sports exhausts with contempt)
Pay attention to petrol prices as you drive and eventually you'll start to see patterns
Or you can look here
https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/petrol-diesel-lpg/petrol-p…
Do you need to be a member at Costco to get the cheap fuel?
Yes it's a different concept to a regular petrol station, completely cashless and no shop; you insert your member card and then tap/insert your bank card and do a pre-authorisation greater than the amount you think you'll fill up (just to make sure the money's in your account before you fill up, the correct amount is debited later). I think those factors contribute to the lower price (no cash on premises so no chance of robbery or counting registers, no Armaguard to collect earnings). If you don't want to get a membership check the price of the nearest petrol stations, they'll often try to price match.
Fuel saving as in how to not use so much fuel or how to find the cheapest fuel? Your post indicates the latter.
yes - don't plant your foot to race to the next red light - accelerate gently and smoothly and you'll often enjoy seeing the idiot in the next lane who accelerated away sharply - when you pull up alongside them again
to impress your passengers I read this tip from limousine drivers about braking - you can brake hard and most people won't notice - what they DO notice is the point of stopping if their body is lurched forward and then back again - so - brake as hard as you need, then just before you reach a dead stop, lift off the pedal so it slows to an imperceptible stop with no lurching - your passengers will love you for it and call you an excellent driver
further to passenger comfort - don't be the idiot who jiggles the steering wheel back and forth like it's a hot potato - aim to keep it rock steady and move it as little as possible - to minimise side to side passenger body lurching which can make them want to vomit - over you - you may not notice it as you anticipate movements as you steer, but passengers feel it, and may not say anything - but just not want to travel with you anymore.
same for corners and curves - aim for steady minimal movement to minimise passenger lurching - adjust your speed before the corner so you don't need to do sudden steering or brake/throttle changes - typically braking before the apex of the bend, then accelerating smoothly out of the corner
anticipate traffic - if your forward vision is not blocked by pompous and stupid SUV drivers (not my words - those of the original SUV designer of the Range Rover) - stay back from those so you have more time to brake, and always look ahead to the next change point, be it traffic light or intersection, and lift off the throttle so you don't have to brake sharply when you get there
leave at least 2 seconds gap to the vehicle in front - how to tell - look for a landmark on or at the close side of the road - post, stripe, object - and when the vehicle in front passes it, count 'one Mississippi, two Mississippi …' until your car passes that point - so if/when they suddenly brake without warning, a) you don't crash into them, and b) you can simply lift off the throttle to cruise, or brake more gently, again without distressing your passengers.
if in city traffic, cars cut into that safety gap in front of you, don't get angry and speed up risking nose to tail crash (your fault when behind) - just welcome them with a wave, then drop back to re-establish your 2-second gap for safety and comfort.
a/holes who tailgate will get their karma one day when they crash into the vehicle in front and get out claiming 'it was their fault, they stopped too quick !' - yeah, tell that to the police and insurance companies …
'only occasionally drive for recreation and shopping trips'
if like Sydney, try to avoid Saturday mid-mornings, when everyone and their dog is traffic-jamming on the road to the shopping centres, and then queueing and driving around for 15 minutes looking for a parking space in a multi-storey carpark
going later at night like 8pm you can cruise in, no traffic, no delay, and park as close as you want cos it's mostly empty - safer for COVID contagion too as fewer shoppers then
Sundays tend to bring out once-a-week drivers like mothers-in-law who don't know how to drive and are DANGEROUS - so watch out for those - see above advice about driving during the week (perhaps not Friday drunk driver night) when daily commuters know how to drive more safely
so generally - maintain a buffer zone around your car, so yo can drive smoothly to save petrol, and your life !
In terms of fuel, the process for an infrequent driver is pretty standardised:
You check the price cycle on https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/petrol-diesel-lpg/petrol-p…, where they tell you if you should wait to fill up. If you can't wait, you just fill up what you need.
You check your fuel app of preference. I just use the official Fuel Check app in NSW. You decide whether it's worth making a detour for the amount of fuel you need (since at 2 cents/L it normally isn't worth your time or money).
You don't live, work and play in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, since you'll always pay above average fuel prices for Sydney during peak price periods, even at the budget fuel stations.
You fill up after 8 pm since many fuel stations drop prices at night without updating the official app. As far as I know, Metro Tempe drops prices by ~10 cents for E10/U91 every night, except the day before the price rises.
Allow a little extra of time for your trips and develop the habit of not driving aggressively. Bonus will be lower blood pressure, less chance of fines, less funeral bills. As Scomo says "it's not a race"! Let others do that and give them a wave.
It Scomo was, as usual, wrong. It was a race😜
So you are trying to extract a few extra miles from a 13 year old vehicle, with worn piston rings and designed back in 1990's. Good luck.
One, buy a fuel efficient vehicle.
Don't drive it. I haven't for about 2 years now (unsure why..) and have saved a fortune on fuel!
Interesting. In all honesty, I wouldn't really worry too much about fuel prices given the amount of driving indicated. A 2009 Corolla looks to have a 55l fuel tank and runs on 91. Conservatively, let's assume your real world fuel consumption is 10l/100km. Sticker suggests 8.5l/100km. That gives you around 550km per tank. Given you will only use the car for driving to/from shops and for recreation, even if you were to drive 200kms/week or 800kms a month thats around 1.5 tanks of fuel a month - or 18 refills per year. Now, let's take into account todays fuel price for E91 using PetrolSpy - somewhere between 170c and 187c - which is only about $10 difference to refill if you just drove to the closest petrol station. Over the course of your driving year that's somewhere between $1683 and $1851. So this is really only a $200 question. In real world likely less and I don't suspect even 200km per week / 800km per month is realistic given you aren't driving for work. Instead spend that fuel searching time looking for deals elsewhere on OzBargain and those savings will likely be made elsewhere!
cars are cancer
you're not supposed to sniff the fuel!
They do in Philly!
Economy driving? Imagine there is a raw egg between your foot and the accelerator and brake pedals. A slow opening of the throttle will give you are much or sometimes more acceleration than just putting the pedal to the floor, and gentle braking will mean you may never need to replace your brake pads for the life of the car.
Drive like a tai chi master. Press gas pedal slowly. Release gas pedal if you know you have to stop soon e.g. approaching red light.
… ok found this long meme on face book: Basically:
The pumps have three trigger modes (slow, medium, fast) depending on how hard the trigger is squeezed. Fast creates the most vapor and this is returned vs petrol in your car. Best to lightly press the trigger and take a longer time if you can.
The pumps have a return mechanism when your tank is full. Anything over full goes into your overflow or the pumps return. Good to learn what your tank's capacity and not fill over this.
The best time to full is when your tank is half full, as there is less air, so less evaporation. Guess you could keep the tank at least half full to avoid evaporation.
The pump is affected by things like heat, so the best time to fill is when it's cool, eg morning or night.
Drive faster - it'll give the engine less time to burn fuel.
Pump your tyres up to 37psi. Your rolling resistance will reduce significantly.
Get a bus ticket and use other people's petrol
As a new driver on the road.
PLEASE don't break unnecessarily, specifically uphill.
Aside from it resulting in the majority of rear-end accidents, it's a fuel breaker.
Use wisdom when driving, look ahead and anticipate break points, there are many opportunities where you can reach, say a Red Light or Roundabout without the need of jerk braking by simply letting go of the accelerator - win-win.
Find the servo that has the cheapest fuel by a lot and fill up some Jerry cans when you do go there to fill up.
Overinflated your tyres by a few psi.
Yes, ensure tyre pressures are always correct! But my top hint is the THREE SECOND RULE and not just for distance keeping. If you can drive and not press accelerator and brake within 3 seconds of each other you are driving safely and economically. You are anticipating traffic if you take foot of accelerator approaching traffic lights, and only accelerate when road ahead is clear. If you accelerate and immediately need to brake you were not anticipating traffic. It will ensure a smoother and more economical drive.
If you sit 3m behind a semi at 100kmh you can make some decent savings
3m…….im a tradie, I stay a maximum of 1m behind semi's
The 300 IQ tradies have a winch on their utes and hook up to the semi at the lights.
Please explain like I’m 5.
Drive like grandma and you will save a ton of fuel
Drive like cousin bazza, and you will need a full tank every 3 days
Catch the bus every now and then. Especially if you think you might enjoy a drink or smoke while out.
Quit smoking and the petrol will be 'free'
From experience, cruise control appears to consume more fuel than just driving steadily on the highway by letting off the the pedal, let it drift using momentum and stepping on lightly to bring it up to speed once it goes below a certain km/h/
Depends on the cruise control. Some cars are smarter than others.
Take heavy stuff out of your car… not the spare wheel. Like if you're the kind of person that just hoards everything in your car, don't.
make sure you drive around in 1st gear all the time. The higher the gear, the more fuel you use.
Remove heavy stuffs in your car, ie back seat, spare wheel, doors, windscreen so you have less wind resistant…
Fuel cost is only a small part of the overall running costs. Shop around for insurance instead of going for a major one as the difference could be $200+ per year especially for a new driver.
Make sure the tyres are inflated properly (don't over inflate as it can burst from hitting a rock at high speed)
Avoid accelerating too quickly in the suburban areas just because you like the sound of the engine roaring because you will end up at the next light having used more fuel (unless overtaking a slow truck going at 70 in a 100km zone)
You only drive ocassionally don't worry too much about fuel. So check your tyre pressure once a while. Otherwise, top up the fuel tank when it's lowest price will save you much more.
Some say, ride a bicycle, some say walk
but being dead takes less fuel, lol
This might be an unpopular opinion. But always drive in the right lane. That way you are less likely to have to slow down
The best fuel saving tips is to never go out but only for work. A full tank lasts me like 3 weeks. Yeh I have no life.
If you planning to drive in Sydney south west area, first
- Watch a few fast and furious movies
- Play GTA and Gran Turismo Sport
- install a $10k sound system
- Lower your car and install custom exhaust or add whistlers.
Now you are ready to drive in the real world
Fuel Saving Tips for New Driver
Don't drive like a hoon.
My car is a 2009 Corolla
Scratch that first comment, it isn't a Ford Falcon so shouldn't be able to hoon too much. Had a little 4 cylinder in the past and couldn't hoon in it.
Don't drive like a hoon
Drive like a Toretto because Its all about family
Lower your car on coilovers for better handling, so you don't have to brake as much before corners. Saves petrol.
Weight reduction bro.
Do you really need a backseat? If not, look into a rear seat delete.
It's actually quite easy if you have a 2016 model: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-hZlfKc29M&ab_channel=Aaron…
There are some aftermarket performance chips that can increase fuel efficiency, so you can look into that.
If you are wanting to engage in some more spirited driving but don't want to waste petrol on using power to break traction, you can put Maccas trays underneath the rears to get some sideways action (only on private roads though).
Always take the inside line through corners, and consider the next corner when choosing your line coming out (positioning yourself for maximum angle turning in to the next corner apex). Even if you're not qualifying at Silverstone, this will result in beneficial petrol savings as well as a few tenths.
when you are approaching a red light from a distance, just let the car roll providing you're not being a nuisance to others behind you (I tend to do it when nobody is behind me and switch lanes if i have to just to let the other car "race" to the red light). Saves you breaking and accelerating in small ways, not much but it's efficient and makes for smoother driving.
@easternculture: 94 octane E10 is just marketing; E10 has a higher octane than unleaded fuel, so when you mix E10 in it will up your number a bit; ethanol still has lower energy density and will generally give worse economy