Fuel efficient driving tips from the Taylors
March 6, 2008 by George Skentzos
You asked for it and – eerily – Chrysler has delivered, publishing the tips and strategies employed by husband and wife team John and Helen Taylor on their fuel economy challenge in the Jeep Patriot and Jeep Compass.
Despite manufacturers producing increasingly efficient engines, by far the most important factor in the reduction of fuel consumption is the driver.
“We used simple fuel economy driving techniques that any driver could replicate,” said John Taylor. “There is no hidden secret to what we achieved on this drive, and by following the same simple actions, I am confident that any motorist can achieve outstanding fuel efficiency gains.”
Traveling on normal roads, at realistic speeds and in a variety of weather and traffic conditions in an unmodified production Jeep Patriot and Jeep Compass, the Taylors offer the following tips and guidance on how motorists can obtain the best possible fuel efficiency from their vehicle.
Drive Smoothly
Aggressive driving can use as much as a third more fuel compared to conservative driving. Avoid accelerating or braking too hard, and try to keep the steering action as smooth as possible.
Use Higher Gears
The higher the gear, the lower the engine speed. This can improve fuel efficiency, so use the highest gear appropriate, without causing the engine to labour at an ultra-low rpm. Automatic transmission vehicles will upshift through the gears more quickly and smoothly if the driver eases back slightly on the accelerator when the car has gathered sufficient momentum.
Tune and Service the Engine
A well tuned engine can improve fuel economy by up to four percent. Change the oil and always follow the car manufacturer’s recommendation on servicing.
Keep the Tyres at the Correct Pressure
Correctly inflated tyres are safer and last longer, and they also reduce the amount of energy required to keep the vehicle rolling. A tyre that is under inflated by one psi can reduce fuel efficiency by as much as three percent.
Avoid Carrying Excess Weight
For every extra 45 kilograms (100 pounds) carried in a vehicle, the fuel efficiency can drop by two percent, so keep the trunk and rear seat clear of any unnecessary items that just add weight to the vehicle.
Take the Roof Rack Off
If the roof rack or roof bars are not being used, then remove them. They adversely affect the aerodynamic efficiency of the vehicle and create drag, reducing fuel economy by as much as five percent.
Use the Correct Engine Oil
Always use the recommended grade of motor oil. Using the manufacturer’s recommended lubricant can improve fuel efficiency by one or two percent. Higher quality motor oils can also help your engine operate more efficiently.
Avoid Excess Idling
Idling gets a vehicle nowhere but still burns fuel. Turn the engine off when you’re in a queue, or waiting for someone, until you need to drive.
Avoid High Speeds
The faster you travel, the more wind resistance you’ll encounter and the more fuel your vehicle will consume just to maintain speed. Driving just eight km/h (five mph) over the speed limit can affect fuel economy by up to 23 percent.
Maintain the Distance
Leaving a sensible distance between your car and the vehicle in front gives the driver ample time to anticipate obstacles and to brake evenly.
Use Air Conditioning Sparingly
Air conditioning puts added strain on the engine and uses additional fuel when operating, so limit its use to particularly hot days. On temperate days, use the fan instead of air conditioning.
Check the Air Filter
The air filter keeps impurities from damaging your engine. Replacing a clogged air filter can improve fuel economy by as much as 10 percent while helping to protect your engine.
Avoid Rush Hour or Traffic Jam Hotspots
If you can travel outside of peak times and avoid known areas of heavy traffic, you’ll spend less time stuck in queues and slow-moving traffic, thus consuming less fuel.
Conserve Momentum
Think ahead when driving. For example, slow down early to let red traffic lights change to green, rather than stopping completely. Also, speed up a little before reaching the start of a hill and then allow the vehicle’s momentum to carry the vehicle up the hill without working the engine harder.
Keep Calm
When drivers are not calm, they are more likely to make judgement errors. Fuel efficiency is all about smoothness. Judgement and keeping calm is absolutely crucial to achieving fuel economy.
Use Handbrakes on Slopes
Some motorists do not use the handbrake when stopping their vehicle on a slope. Instead, they either partially disengage the clutch (on manual transmission vehicles), or use the accelerator (on automatic vehicles), to keep the vehicles from rolling back. Both actions use fuel unnecessarily.
Print it: 
The speed point is interesting. I can vouch for that though
The ‘Drive Smoothly’ tip recommends avoiding accelerating or braking too hard but to what measure did the Taylors practice this to achieve their results?
e.g. did they do incredibly slow take offs from 0 to desired speed & commence stopping from very long distances that allowed coasting to a stop?
I agree that all of these tips work and have proven them in my own car on many journies. Butr many are impractical. Conserving momentum in many cases is impractical on most roads with heavy traffic and I reckon extremely annoying to others drivers. There is nothing worse than a person slowing way too early for red lights and accellerating away too slowly.
I believe you should at least keep up with the traffic flow
I agree. All this talk of fuel efficiency is a bit too alarmist. If you want to save fuel, don’t drive or catch public transport.
Otherwise please keep up with traffic in a courteous manner.
Some tips like tyres, smooth driving, weight, air con etc are all well and good.
I love how all the figures quoted are “up to”. So driving 8kmh over the limit can cause up to 23 percent more fuel usage. At what speed exactly? 20-28kmh or 100-108kmh? Wind resistance is not linear.
so driving 8 kmh over the speed limit can cause up to 23% more fuel usage. I think someone has been talking to much to the RTA and the RTA or the Pedestrian Council (that damn Harold Scruby) have just plucked a figure out of the air. The only possible way that could be true is if the speed limit was 10 and you were doing 18.
For instance my XR6 turbo uses less fuel doing 110 than 100 by about 0.5 – 1 ltr/100km. Also from Brisbane to Newcastle on the New England Highway via Walcha & Gloucester which is very hilly and steep it averaged 9.1 ltr/100km and to be honest it wasn’t quite below the speed limit :)
end of the day guys they have done the drive and produced the figure, they arent asking for approval, they simply wanted to prove it could be done. Perhaps to stick it to people who give u the evil for driving a v8 or suv, simply demonsrates that it is realistic that they could drive those vehicles very efficiently, and only use the potential power and fuel economy available to them when needed(unlikely) but never the less it proves a point.
This is nothing that I already know.
It has “Avoid Excess Idling” but that doesn’t mean turning off the engine all the time would save fuel. e.g traffic lights. There should also be “Avoid Excess Stop-Starting Motor” in there too.
Typo in my last post, I meant “this is nothing I didn’t know” not “This is nothing that I already know.”
I’ll ask it again, I’ll ask it again, and I’ll damn well ask it again. HOW BLOODY SLOW WAS THEIR CRUISING SPEED?
I’ve done lots of economy driving (at normal traffic speeds) and it is a physical impossibility that these square-arsed Jeep clunkers could do that sort of economy unless they were faffing along at 65-70km/h.
Also, to a certain degree, winding down the windows can also create drag, thus using more fuel too – especially in the high way. So using air-con and having the windows down is sort of a double edged sword IMHO.
Tip 17.
take 2 vehicles the shape of bricks and drive in the draft of the lead vehicle. alternate leaders for best averaged outcome.
ECTO,
you beat me to it,
as far as i know having the aircon on is just as efficient as having the windows down due to the extra drag created on the vehicle.
Captain Mainwaring,
mate they averaged 53.5kmh.
obviously chosen as it was fast enough to warrent 4th or even 5th gear
im not sure of the gearing on these things but it is possible in some vehicles to drive in 5th when cruising aroung those speeds.
needless to say though when you are doing the 100kmh limit they absolutely chew the juice as they are geared bottom end
Thank you Andrew. This means that factoring in towns, traffic jams and roundabouts they would have been cruising at 70 or just under. In other words about 1700rpm, just shaving the point at which the diesel engine falls completely off the torque curve.
A totally meaningless exercise then, as nobody in the real world drives like that.
Another way to save fuel is drive down hill, he didnt metion that one. What about tail gating to take advantage of the slip stream?
Want to get fuel efficiency? Buy an Aurion
Oh for f*ck sake TP. What will the Aurion do. Urban/COuntry/Combined…please answer a reasonble question if you are capable.
Anyone got the name of a good therapist for Toyotaritis..
I was going to suggest a large glass of red to relax you No Name ..but its a bit early over there for that I guess?
Captain Mainwaring,
mate i dont even think they would have had it cruising at that high in the rev range.
i could safely bet they didnt do laps around london where the lovely photo was taken either.
they say they crossed 6 countries so i doubt they were on a route that had roundabouts or town centres. also rule out traffic jams as it is one of their tips to avoid peak hour. they wouldnt be silly enough to map a route that posed a risk of problems. they were just driving for the sake of it so i doubt they had an itinery to go places where people normally would.
my guess is 60kmh cruising speed in 5th gear
Hey Bavarian – We have a real problem with binge drinking in the UK. Not me though I drink all day everyday…Tee hee
Come TP answer my question you lilly livered wimp
What a bunch of envious diesel haters!!!!! Lets try and stay positive why so much negativity is it a full moon or something????
Hoooowwwllll..yap yap yap.
In regards to aircon, its more fuel efficient to have to windows down & aircon off below 80kays but more efficient to have aircon on and windows up over 80kmh. But if the car has been sitting in the midday sun in summer im still gonna use the aircon.
Why is it that Toyota manage to lie consistantly about their fuel consumption figures? I recently tested an Aurion AT-X, and a Commodore Omega. I drove both so to get maximum fuel economy, over the same stretch of 50km, with no trafic, and the VE returned 0.6 l/100km better than the Aurion. The toyota may have more power, but this is unnoticable in the performance of the vehicle compared to the VE, especially when driving the high output V6 model commodore’s. Good to see that with the introduction of the Commodore Sportwagon, the VE range is recieving some much needed safety and styling upgrades (Alloy wheels standard, Body coloured mirrors/door handels) as well as Air-con Standard on Omega as well.
Glen,
yep i assumed there would be some sort of transition period between where windows down out weighed A/C on.
of course if you are plodding at 10KMH (hypothetically) A/C would be a bigger strain on economy.
but in saying that i suppose windows down has little or no effect in cooling the occupants either at those speeds.
windows down in low speeds or stop start traffic isnt beneficial to to cooling the occupants and nor would it strain the economy figures
You bet you can get better mileage from an existing vehicle if you allow it to inhale and exhale with ease. Due to design constraints most of the vehicles have compromised bare minimum sized air filters, intakes and exhausts. If you can just once invest in a larger filter box with larger area air filter with bigger dia tubes and a snokel to suck ambient air from outside engine compartment and on exhaust side if you could possibly use a bigger dia exhaust pipe with minimum restrictions to it you will get better torque resulting in driving in higher gears even at low vehicle speeds without hesitation thus getting desired permanent increase in fuel economy. I have tried this in mine without using any after marker parts and got good results.