In the last six years, the price of fuel has been doubled and filling our tank can increasingly be more expensive. It can be rather shocking how little we get for the same amount of money these days. In general, we measure the fuel economy of our car using the miles per gallon or kilometres per liter. In general, one gallon is equal to 4.546 liters, so we could be able to determine the efficiency of the car depending on where we live or stay. During road trip, both with our own car or rented car, we should have an idea on how to choose proper car and how to drive it.
Before we rent a car, we should calculate how far we could travel with specific amount of money. The official reference should be manufacturer’s provided mpg figures, although this could vary depending on how we drive the car and other external factors. Even so, the value could still give us a rough indication how much money we need to spend during our trip. It should be noted that manufacturer’s provided mileage figure is applicable only during best case scenario. It means, the figures are obtained during carefully-controlled test drive in normal terrain, with no extreme conditions, such as climbing or rough roads. Stop-start traffic, bad weather and low gear driving could lower the overall fuel efficiency.
Choose proper roads. The smoother and the flatter the road, the better. More efficient landscape should have straight and level roads. On areas with plenty of hills, roads could climb and have sharp turns more often. The more time we spend in lower gears to climb and make sharp turn, the more fuel we burn. But despite these external factors, we could still improve the quality of our driving. Before renting a car, we should make sure to choose the one with consumption. If there are only a few people in the group and we bring relatively few items, we should be more realistic with the type of car we choose.
It is a good idea to choose cars with built-in fuel economy counter. It tells us how many liters or gallons of fuel we burn to travel for specific miles or kilometres. This should make us more watchful about the way we drive our car. Once the mileage drops, we will be more encouraged to make adjustments in our driving styles.
We should also choose hybrid cars if it is possible. Clearly, not all rental services offer energy efficient, hybrid models; but we should choose whenever possible. Hybrids allow us to switch to “highly efficient” mode that runs only on battery. This would be useful during less efficient situations, such as urban driving, where people often drive in low gear with stop-start driving pattern. Car makers should ensure higher mileages. Many argue that hybrids are less enjoyable, because they seem underpowered. However, much our trips are not intended to enjoy high-speed trips.