• Advertise
  • Newsletter
  • Magazine
  • Important Dates
  • About
  • Trust
  • Survey
  • Contact
  • Support Us
01295 367 008
No Result
View All Result
Read This Magazine
  • Culture
  • lifestyle
  • Food & Drink
  • Reviews
  • Culture
  • lifestyle
  • Food & Drink
  • Reviews
No Result
View All Result
Read This Magazine
No Result
View All Result
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter
  • Magazine
  • Important Dates
  • About
  • Trust
  • Survey
  • Contact
  • Support Us
Home Lifestyle Environment

Saving Fuel

Read This Magazine by Read This Magazine
4 July 2023
in Environment, Lifestyle, Motors

The peril of short journeys, and how to subsequently make the most of the fuel in your tank.

Many of us are stuck in cycles where short journeys are a necessity. A parent with school runs, or someone whose job requires a few short journeys each day, relies on a car to be able to stick to a schedule.

Yet with soaring prices at the petrol and diesel pumps, motorists are finding themselves becoming increasingly cautious about the way they use their vehicles.

While a generic shift towards electric or hybrid vehicles is something that, in the long-term, can reduce cost and produce greener, more efficient vehicles, for those of us stuck with traditional fuel run-arounds, the realities of everyday short-distance use can be a concern. That’s because there’s nothing worse for your car – or your pocket – than short car journeys.

While a trip of less than, say, 10 minutes will not damage in any obvious way, it does fail to allow the engine to reach operating temperature. These sort of outings, in a cold environment, allow excessive condensation in the crankcase and other parts. Only when an engine warms up does the oil lubricate better, boiling off that moisture.

If the moisture doesn’t ever reach a temperature to condense, the lower temperature will impact the air/fuel mix, which reduces the oil’s effectiveness as a lubricant and can cause excessive wear on moving parts, such as the piston rings.

Short trips, and the nature of driving around built-up areas and tight streets, will also impact wear and tear on tyres in a way that won’t happen with longer journeys on straighter roads with fewer stops.

In addition, users may also find battery performance dips badly over time. At no point on short journeys is the car in motion long enough to sufficiently recharge the battery – this means you’re using a lot of power starting the engine frequently, without fully replenishing its charge.

Remedies

Where short journeys are concerned, there is little you can do to prevent some of the ills that are occurring inside your engine. Yet you can prolong a car’s performance in other ways with a close eye on fuel management that will negate some of the negative effects:

General maintenance

The greater the burden you place on your car, the better it will respond if properly maintained. From changing the oil regularly – which will be much more necessary for a car performing a number of short trips than a few long ones – to ensuring tyres are inflated to the correct pressure, better fuel consumption can be achieved.

Excess weight

Everything in a car that offers weight will lead to greater fuel consumption. From objects left in the boot to unoccupied children’s car seats – the more you can remove, the lighter the car and the more money you will save at the pump.

Gear high, revs low

If you are forced to make a number of short journeys, try to use a high gear, whilst staying within the speed limit.

You should change up through the gears as quickly as possible because logic says the faster an engine runs, the more fuel it uses.

While a car’s optimum speed for fuel efficiency is usually around the 50mph mark – a speed that’s unsafe in urban areas – it’s obviously true that lower speeds ask more of an engine, so if you find yourself operating at lower speeds, use smooth right-foot control, with gentle acceleration; and never break hard, instead cruise to a stop whenever possible.

RelatedPosts

How to Talk to Children About Global Issues
Lifestyle

How to Talk to Children About Global Issues

15 July 2025
Manual Gearbox Tricks
Lifestyle

Manual Gearbox Myths: Do Driving Tricks Actually Work?

14 July 2025

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Newsletter

Join Our Newsletter
  Thank you for Signing Up
Please correct the marked field(s) below.
1,true,6,Contact Email,2
How to Talk to Children About Global Issues

How to Talk to Children About Global Issues

by Read This Magazine
15 July 2025

Children today are growing up in a world filled with big questions, from climate change to inequality and global conflict....

Manual Gearbox Tricks

Manual Gearbox Myths: Do Driving Tricks Actually Work?

by Read This Magazine
14 July 2025

Driving a manual car comes with a certain satisfaction—feeling the gears engage, mastering the clutch, and being in full control....

Disney+

Disney+ Surges as UK Streaming Market Enters a New Phase of Competition

by Read This Magazine
14 July 2025

The UK’s streaming video-on-demand (SVOD) landscape remained as competitive as ever in Q2 2025, with shifting viewer preferences, rising mid-tier...

Pets and child development

How Pets Help Children Learn, Grow and Thrive

by Read This Magazine
10 July 2025

Bringing a pet into the family home is an exciting milestone for any child. But beyond the fun and cuddles,...

Newsletter

Join Our Newsletter
  Thank you for Signing Up
Please correct the marked field(s) below.
1,true,6,Contact Email,2
Read This Magazine

© 2023 Read This Magazine

Navigate Site

  • Business Terms & Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies Policy

Follow Us

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

Local Adverting in Banbury, advert in magazine
Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}
No Result
View All Result
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter
  • Magazine
  • Culture
    • Charity
    • Community
    • Education
    • Entertainment
    • Events
    • Film
    • History
    • Interviews
    • Music
    • Reading
  • Lifestyle
    • Beauty
    • Environment
    • Fashion
    • Finance
    • Gardens
    • Health
    • Homes
    • Motors
    • Parenting
    • Pets
    • Sport
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Wellbeing
  • Food & Drink
    • Baking
    • Recipes
    • Restaurants
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • Product
  • Important Dates
  • About
  • Trust
  • Survey
  • Contact
  • Support Us
01295 367008

© 2023 Read This Magazine