Best way to be fuel efficient in a ford fiesta? or any car?

Question

not a bad joke, i'd just like to know whether going up to 5th gear as soon as pos and lowering the revs is the most fuel efficient way to drive..

Answer 1

Trade your Ford in for a Toyota and you will save a lot in gas and maintenance cost over the next five years.

Answer 2

Some tips for help with mileage:

keep your tire pressure as high as your owners manual allows.

drive carefully. accelerate slowly.

when you see a stop (red light, etc) ahead of you, immediately take your foot off the gas and coast to the stop.

no roof rack

keep the car maintained properly.

If your owners manual says premium fuel required, use it.

on the open highway, drive as slowly as your patience allows. I found that shifting from 75 to 65 increased my mileage by 20%.

Use cruise control. Steady speed helps mileage.

Do not idle. let the car warm only for 30 seconds before driving off. If you are going to be stopped at a long light, shut the engine off.

Don't carry around a lot of useless junk in the trunk of the car.

Avoid long lines at drive-through windows. You'll save money by going inside.

And the biggest one: don't drive.

Answer 3

Only a qualified yes - if you go into a high gear too soon the engine will labour and be less efficient. You can always tell if you have changed up too soon, the car will judder.

The problem about fuel economy in a car like the Fiesta is the DRIVER!  I can guarantee that every day of my life someone on an old Fiesta, Pugeot 206, Saxo, Micra or the like will overtake me (slowly) with the engine screaming! If you are a fast driver it is false economy to buy a small entry level car and then try to make it perform like a more powerful one. People are driving cars like these at the top end of their performance potential and then wonder why their little car is only doing 25mpg.

Answer 4

Yes you are correct.  But here are other ways to save gas.

This was on NBC morning TV show.   The difference is as much as 38% (their claim).  There are very simple rules to save gas:

(1) drive slow - not too much past 55

(2) accelerate slowly

(3) don't brake unnecessarily

(4) use cruise control - whenever it is safe to do so.

Don't coast - it is NOT safe (to coast in Nuetral) and it does NOT save gas.  It only saves gas, if you are planning to slow down (exiting, tolls, traffic).  Coasting then accelerating again is LESS efficient than just cruising.

The above really works. Using those simple rules I was able to drive from Boston to NYC (210.5 miles) on just 5.112 gallon (94 Civic).  That's 41 MPG (94 Civic 187K miles).  Actually I was speeding at 72 MPH so I could do even better at 55.

WOW !!

Good Luck....