Fuel saving myths busted

I remember those student days of free-wheeling down the hill to save money, which is a crazy thought in today’s times as R20 petrol used to fill your car up by at least a quarter tank which was ample petrol to get your party wagon from one destination to another.

With fuel prices seemingly always on the rise, people are becoming very creative with ways to save money on fuel. There are some extremely effective methods to do so, but there are also some myths out there than need to be erased from our brains as some of them are actually increasing your fuel consumption, or your wear & tear on the vehicle!

1. Free wheeling downhill saves fuel

If your vehicle is a classic – about 20 or 30 years old, this might still hold true, but it is generally a complete myth. Literally every modern vehicle is fuel injected with sensors that know exactly how much fuel to use and when. Fuel is only injected into the engine when needed – when we’re accelerating – but if you’re driving downhill without accelerating it won’t inject fuel into the engine, which means the engine is essentially at idle speed anyway. Depressing the clutch or putting the car in neutral is just going to cause additional wear to those parts, not save you any fuel.

2. Filling up in cooler temperatures saves money

This one is actually based on the logic that liquids expand in heat, so if you fill up when it’s cooler you actually get more fuel for your money. Fortunately for those of us who live in sunny countries, this doesn’t apply to fuel. All fuel is stored in temperature-controlled and sealed tanks underneath the ground, so they aren’t affected by temperature fluctuations. So no matter how toasty it is outside, you don’t need to wait for things to cool down before filling up. It makes no difference.

3. Keeping the tank full reduces evaporation

Again, this one does sound very logical, but it’s definitely a myth. Fuel tanks are completely sealed and modern vehicles are equipped with evaporation recovery systems that ensure absolutely no fuel vapours can escape, no matter what the level is in the tank

4. Fuel additives improve consumption

This is a fairly dangerous myth as adding anything to the fuel tank – other than fuel – can wreak havoc with an engine. Unless it’s specified by the manufacturer, you don’t want to add any foreign liquids to your tank. In most cases fuel additives have no effect, but there’s always the danger it can damage the engine.

5. Restarting the engine uses more fuel than idling

This myth is probably based on the fact that fuel is injected into the engine every time it starts, and therefore there’s a concept that restarting uses more fuel. This is a complete myth, because modern engines use very little fuel for ignition and you’re actually using more fuel by leaving the engine running. That’s why so many modern cars are equipped with a stop-start function that switches off the engine when the vehicle is standing still at a traffic light – because unnecessary idling uses up a lot more fuel in the long run.

6. Driving faster reduces consumption because you spend less time on the road

Yes, we hear you laughing, but after a (very informal) survey, deemed this one worthy to include. It’s not one of the most prevalent myths, but if you have even one driver who believes it, it could be very dangerous and costly. Fuel consumption is all about balance – driving at high speed is definitely not going to balance out the distance and end up saving you any fuel.