|
<snip> The answer is: yes. My first test run was in a diesel-engined Mini Cooper, and I clocked up what I thought was a respectable 39.6 miles per gallon (mpg). Yet automotive engineer Anthony Sale drove the same Mini round the same track – at Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire – completed the course faster than me, and achieved an extraordinary 63.3mpg. In other words, I can get 60% better consumption, produce lower emissions and still drive faster. What's the secret?
Millbrook is familiar to viewers of the BBC's Top Gear: a vast high-speed bowl for extreme vehicle testing, a five-lane motorway, hill routes and mock city streets, all security-patrolled as car manufacturers put top-secret models through their paces. And, last week, there was me, pootling around, an Aston Martin often on my tail, and superbikes scorching past.
But back at Millbrook mission control, the computers linked to the Mini's engine told a different story. I wasn't pootling. I was over-revving, driving in too low a gear, accelerating and decelerating too much, and failing to react properly to road conditions.
The computer spat out its conclusion: I am a rubbish driver, I'm wasting vast amounts of money on petrol and destroying the environment. If I drove efficiently, I could save £7,734 over 10 years, and cut 16 tonnes of CO2 emissions. OK, that's if I were driving 15,000 miles a year at an average cost of 119.9p a litre, whereas I drive around 4,000 miles a year, so my savings would be lower. But I can see the point.
So what am I – and millions of other drivers – doing wrong?<snip> http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/may/01/save-800-pounds-year-petrol |
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
