SUE’S GUIDE TO Getting More Miles For Your Money
Our cars can come in for a battering over the winter with all those cold starts and short trips so here’s how to boost its performance and save yourself some money.
Lots of short 10-minute trips to the shops and back all put pressure on the battery, so it’s worth taking your wheels out for a longer half-hour spin at the weekend to protect its life span.
Declutter your car! Driving round with your boot jam-packed, especially if you’ve got heavy stuff in there, puts extra pressure on the engine and means you’ll use more fuel.
Drive at a steady speed. Slamming on the brakes can use up to 60% more fuel than taking a measured approach. And sticking to 60mph instead of 70mph on motorways saves around 10% in fuel bills.
Check tyres. The legal tread depth limit is 1.6mm in the UK. Under this and you can be fined £2,500 plus be given three points for each tyre. There’s a quick and easy test you can do to check your tyres using a 20p coin. You can find the video explaining how at WWW.RAC.CO.UK. Also, shop around for tyres at WWW.MOTOKIKI.COM.
Unless you’ve got a high performance car, don’t worry about filling up with premium fuel. It can cost around 10p a litre more, so save the cash.
Last thing at night, back your car into your garage or parking space. It makes life easier as you can just drive out in the morning – and once again, it’s less pressure on the engine.