Eco driving from 28 to 41 mpg

Having just travelled a monster 2500 mile trip around many destinations in Europe in my Audi I am pleased to say I managed to adjust my driving style and cut my petrol consumption by 32%. In the UK I was achieving around 28 mpg (10 km per litre), with my new approaches I increased that to 41 mpg (14.5 km per litre)!! So over my 2500 miles this saved me £128 pounds (1280 km saved, 10 km per litre at £1.2)

Top tips:

1. Don't leave the engine idle, turn it off if in stationary traffic.
2. Cruse in 6th gear, watch the revs and take it easy.
3. Follow lorries in the slow lane.
4. Don't overtake cars to gain 20 metres.
5. Roll down hills, take out of gear and watch the engine on revs saved ;)
6. Coast up to lights that are on red, rather than racing and then braking. If you're lucky they will change to green and you will have saved momentum.
7. Deal with motorways which are racing, then braking, then racing along again by cruising and evening out the traffic flow. Saves the brakes as well as fuel!

Driving a UK car in Europe on the right side of the road is quite easy actually, I was surprised, the hard bit is usually positioning the car between the line markings in a LHD car, but as RHD I didn't have any probs at all. Overtaking a parked bus is bit harder as view is obscured looking left through. It is a shame Germany does not have cats-eyes on any of its autobanns, especially as some are not lit!

The BBC has recently published an eco-driving article.

If the UK switched to drive on the same side as Europe it would make sense..