On one fine evening, a subscriber of mine wrote me the following, "Dear Sunny, I bought my first car, a Nissan Sunny 130Y, three months ago, It runs extremely well and I've had no major problems since. But I'm curious as to its actual fuel consumption. Can that be measured without sophisticated electronic devices so I could learn to start increase gas mileage of my car in more efficient way? What are the methods a layman like me can use to measure fuel consumption? Janice" To be frank, fuel consumption varies widely.
It all depends on the way you drive your vehicle, your car make, and the type of traffic condition it encounters. These circumstances affect the actual fuel efficiency of your car. For instance, if you drive mainly in urban areas where you'll see lots of traffic jam, you are likely to lose up much more gas money compared to when you are cruising along the highway. Enough said, your fuel economy will suffer when you are stuck in the jam.
Jack rabbit starts and heavy braking of your vehicle may contribute to your increased fuel consumption as well. All these factors may not contribute to your ways to save fuel. Here's my tip to measure your fuel consumption of your vehicle and to get the best possible gas mileage reading of your car.
First, you would start by filling up your vehicle tank to the brim and then adjusting the trip meter to zero. You could do that just by resetting the meter. Next, drive the vehicle until at least two-thirds of the tank has been used before you fill up again. During this time, please take note of the amount of fuel you are filling up against the distance that you have travelled since the last time you topped up. Fuel consumption, in kilometres per litre, is calculated by dividing the reading on your trip meter by the amount of fuel that you have filled up. Based on my experience, it is best that you average out the results by repeating the same procedures and take measurements over a few weeks to obtain the average of the best consumption figure for your vehicle.
Some car manufacturers will state the fuel consumption figures of the cars in the manual. Please be aware that these figures were obtained under strict test conditions and surveillance and also on an almost perfect road surface. So don't be alarmed when you notice the variance of the actual fuel mileage result you get against the manufacturers' figures.
To really find out your actual car fuel consumption and to diagnose any sudden drop of fuel efficiency, you should keep track of your fuel consumption regularly as it is the best and surest way to tell when something is going on with your car. Once you've realized how easy it is to keep track of your car fuel consumption, you should be on your way to seriously consider some of the ways you could do to increase gas mileage even when you are pumping gas in the gas stations. Believe me, not everyone is aware of some of the stuff you could do to top up additional gas mileage.
All these have been documented in my book "Gas Mileage Tactics" available at my site.
Sunny Tan is the author of "Gas Mileage Tactics", the ULTIMATE Gas mileage saving resources consist of many top notch tips and tricks the PRO drivers use. Pick up YOUR copy of this ground-breaking ebook with absolutely NO RISK at http://www.extragasmileage.com now...
