After having a new air filter put in recently, i've seen a huge difference in the amount of fuel i use. A whole tank of petrol now lasts twice as long as it used to.

This isnt the only change i've made though. I now make sure i keep my tyre pressures up (never used to bother too often) and drive a lot slower on the dual carriage ways and motor ways.

I'm so pleased with the difference. I also found this article where i've found some more tips. Hopefully i'm not teaching people to suck eggs here but in the current climate of expensive fuel, it might help some people. Link





Always fill up the car before the indicator drops to a quarter full tank. Thus there’s no panic and you’ve enough time to get to a cheaper petrol station. Leave it longer and you’ll fill up at ‘the next one I see’, and that usually means paying more.


Only use ‘better fuel’ if your car can cope. Many stations sell ‘high performance fuels’ yet there’s little or no performance difference for most non-performance cars; so only fill up with the super-fuels if you've a sports-type car that you've been specifically advised will actually utilise the petrol correctly.


Keep your tyres correctly inflated. Lower tyre pressure increases the drag on a car meaning you need more fuel, so check the pressures are correct regularly.


Fill up at night, but don’t overfill. Petrol pumps are calibrated by volume, so fill up at night when it’s cold and you get a miniscule bit extra. This is also a reason not to overfill the car after the nozzle clunks, as any excess may go out of the overflow and be wasted.

The following tips are courtesy of the RAC on how to drive more fuel efficiently.

Drive smoothly in the correct gear. Always drive in the highest gear possible without labouring the engine, plus think ahead and slow down gradually, rather than heavily braking late. This will increase fuel efficiency by up to 30%.


A lighter car uses less fuel. De-clutter your car as extra weight means more fuel use.


Get into cruise control. If your car offers cruise control, be sure to use it on long journeys. It'll help save fuel.


Keep your filters clean. Dirty air filters increase fuel consumption by a significant amount, so make sure you check and change them as often as possible. They're inexpensive and quite easy to fit in most cars. Full details should be in your owner's manual.


Don’t keep the engine running unnecessarily. Drive off as soon as you start up and switch off the engine as soon as you reach your destination. Air conditioning also uses an incredible amount of fuel so make sure it's turned off unless you really need it.


Take your roof rack off. Take it off when it's not used to reduce the drag on the car and also don't unnecessarily open the window either as that makes driving less efficient.

You must have been listening to Jeremy Vine on Radio 2 on Friday. 'Your money or you life' I was listening to that. I have taken things into consideration. I'm trying to to pull out of junctions like Lewis Hamilton. I'll check the tyre pressure today. I havent got anything in my car that's heavy, got the trolley jack in the boot but that a must have. I'll have a look at what else I can do to cut down on fuel costs.

Is it at all possible that i could use less petrol when i have more in the tank? I did two hours motorway driving today and used quarter of the tank. On Sunday i did the same but travelled slower and used half a tank

Now i'm sure slower is supposed to conserve the petrol but when i did that, i had half a tank left before i set out. When i drove faster i had 3 quarters left. Hope this all makes sense. So is it possible?