Facing with the raising petrol price, i think its good time to discuss about how to increase the fuel efficiency of our car. I'm not talking about driving behaviour (ie light foot driving style), because that is commonly known already. What would like to discuss are other methods.

1) Engine Oil.


2) Tyre Pressure.


3) Low Rolling Resistance Tyre. (LRR)


4) Use of friction reducing Engine Oil Additives


5) Myth Fuel Saving Devices.


6) Updated: Iridium Spark Plug


7) Updated: High Flow Air Filter


My setup currently:
1) Shell Helix HX-7E 5w-30 SS (next candidate: LM MOS 10w30 SS)
2) 36-37 psi (my car's recommended pressure is 33-35 psi. pump over a bit because tyre is 'hot' when arrive at petrol station)
3) Bridgestone Ecopia EP150 165/65R14 (i heard that Mirage comes with EP150 as OE tyre. I bet it is one of the factor to achieve its claimed 21km/l )
4) Bluechem Oil System Care
5) duh. none.

The problem is I've serviced the car with HX-7E, changed to EP150, and used the EO additive in a relatively short period. So if the FC has improved, i dun really know which is the contributing factor.. note that all the calculations above are assumptions only... please take it with a pinch of salt. if got mistake.. please point it out and forgive me ya.

so guys.. any comment, disagreement, or better suggestion?? or do you think those i invested is more costlier than the fuel saved? opinion opinions

This post has been edited by efaceninja: Dec 4 2013, 03:30 PM

engine oil should be 0w20..

Not many cars can use 0W20, expecially older cars. But I know Honda Malaysia have cleared their cars to use 0W20 except Civic Type R. Dunno about Toyota & Nissan. VW recommends 5W40 in their cars, as do BMW & MB. Ford if I'm not mistaken recommend 5W30.

Anyway, some tips to save fuel: http://www.wikihow.com/Hypermile

True. wanted to save fuel but at the same time have to take note don't go too extreme until damage engine. If the car is recommended 0w20, then can use lo.

Hypermiling need behaviour changes. and human behaviour is.. kinda difficult to change

sell the car la...ride bicycle...saving more...aiyo!

not all cars can take thin oil...

Don't need to be so complicated.

1) Avoid roads with traffic jams
2) Be gentle with your footwork
3) Use light and small cc cars

1) not always able to do this
2) already very gentle with footwork, but wanted to push the FC FURTHER
3) already use light and small cc cars, but wanted to push the FC EVEN FURTHER

Just back to basics, train your foot especially if you're driving an automatic transmission car. How you step on the accelerator can also influence the shifting point and all. Maintain low RPM as much as possible, preferably below 3,000.

Bear in mind you may be spending more money by considering the methods in your 1st posting above to gain perhaps minor or negligible savings in fuel consumption. If you want to go to the extreme : -

4) Turn off engine when at traffic lights for long periods
5) Don't use air-con
6) Side mirrors folded to minimise drag (you won't be able to use side mirrors anymore) - negligible effect to FC anyway

In the end, it is a better idea that you ride a bicycle to work, provided your house is near to your workplace.

I agree, faster to top gear, lower fuel consumption.. right foot and left foot is also important, accelerate smoothly, and cruise to stop.. less brake usage, less energy converted to heat.. engine brake when possible.. been getting 17-18km/l on my '00 kenari, cruising @2.8k to 3k rpm @ 80-100kmh.. ard 5.5 - 5.6 l/100km.. official is 4.9l/100km... mirage sure can do better ...

Get a night job, no traffic jam, temperature lower use lower or no need air cond ...lol...

First of all don't over inflates ur tyre, u may lost grip & brake power not forgetting high chance of aquaplaning, the most important thing to save is ur own life.

Secondly stop believing those crap additives, it waste of money & in fact increase the oil viscosity thus more fuel consumption, if not causing sludge buildup in ur engine, use additives only when ur engine getting old & need a thicker oil to prevent engine oil lost.

Lastly do store unessary item in ur boot, alway inflate ur tyre in accordance with mfg recommendations at lease every 10 days, if u need to wait long in a traffic switch to neural gear pull the handbrake instead of stepping on brakes.

Get a night job, no traffic jam, temperature lower use lower or no need air cond ...lol...

First of all don't over inflates ur tyre, u may lost grip & brake power not forgetting high chance of aquaplaning, the most important thing to save is ur own life.

Secondly stop believing those crap additives, it waste of money & in fact increase the oil viscosity thus more fuel consumption, if not causing sludge buildup in ur engine, use additives only when ur engine getting old & need a thicker oil to prevent engine oil lost.

Lastly do store unessary item in ur boot, alway inflate ur tyre in accordance with mfg recommendations at lease every 10 days, if u need to wait long in a traffic switch to neural gear pull the handbrake instead of stepping on brakes.

Don't drag race with other road user ..lol...

I'm aware that i shouldn't invest more money to push the FC that wouldn't save my initial invest cost. a) i changed the engine oil to 5w-30 only when the service is due, not when my previous 10w-40 is still fresh. b) i changed tyre to Ecopia EP150 because my previous tyre set already reach the tread wear indicator already. in fact has been running on wear indicator for a few months already. So in this way, i don't consider myself "spending more money".

4) this is one of thing i wanna ask, is it okay for normal car (aka car that don't comes with stop/start system) to do manual stop/start too?? i know this is fuel saving but some ppl said the engine starter will very fast rosak.. and maybe the battery strain is higher also because i'll be using air-con when the engine is stop. Anyway i did this once because stuck in super traffic jam, didn't move for like 10 mins ++, off engine, off air-con, very hot
5) malaysia is too hot, i cannot give up air-con. but i do tune the temp knot to what i feel ok
6) i don't have electric self-closing side mirror.. and not to mention its super dangerous to do so. not feasible


Do you consider me over inflating already?? i dunno, because my theory is that, the car's recommended tyre pressure printed at the side of the door is "cold" pressure *Source-Wikihow*. But for me, i drove a long way and when i reach a petrol station, my tyre is "hot", and so i should pump "hot pressure" aka pump a bit more than the cold pressure stated.

fuel additives, i dunno, but my eagerness to try out this particular brand is just too strong

for my car, when going downhill, if i using D gear.. it will automatic to down shift gear and my rpm will suddenly go to 2 to 3k.. should i engage it to N gear??

for me, my weapon of choice would be a diesel car/pickup/suv

Can no problem to engage N during downhill, those longkai will be happily awaiting u in front, so that they can toll ur car & sent to their workshop to slaughter u (figurative speaking offcoz. .lol.)

Don't do that u may lost control of ur car, not mentioning causing damage to ur gearbox, guess I don't need to remind u gearbox been the most expensive part in ur car, by doing so have u ever think that ur car is still in motion when u re engage into D gear later ? since auto car had no clutch for u to temporary release the gear from clutch, u gearbox may be damaged by such move.

If u worry on the cold/hot pressure, just release some air from ur tyre before pump, anyway from what I "heard" not confirmed modern electronics air pump will calibrate ur tyre pressure automatically.

Can consider installing 4 Tayar Sotong "or Space saving spare tyre, cannot go above 80 km then sure save fuel ...lol..

Can try but "hopefully" no harm done.. ;-)

You're probably right. Normally what I'd do is to release air from the tyres by pressing on the valve by about 10 ~ 15 PSI or until I feel the air coming out is not hot, then I'll pump slightly higher than the recommended, which is also 34 ~ 35 PSI for the front wheels for mine.

No. No throttle input while car is moving higher than a certain speed should mean that no fuel is being supplied to the engine since the movement of the wheels should keep the engine spinning if the gear is engaged.

so u guys means i should let it on D when going downhill rite? forgot to mention that my gbox is cvt gbox.. but when i going downhill by using D, it make my car more slow to go down n the rpm straightly go up.. i think that is wasting fuel... haizz

u want more better FC? maybe you should perform weight reduction. throw out unwanted seat,change bodypanels to carbon fibre. change to smaller alloy wheels,smaller tyres needs less torque to roll.