Engine Oil Change: When, Why & How Often?
Engine oil is the cheapest insurance your engine has. Here is how to know when it is due, which grade to pick and what a proper oil change includes.
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10 Simple Ways to Improve Fuel Mileage
Small driving and maintenance habits can cut your fuel bill by 10–20%. No gadgets needed.
Fuel is the biggest running cost of almost any vehicle. The good news is that you can control a large part of it with habits, not hardware. Try these for a month and compare your mileage.
Driving habits
- Accelerate gently and shift up early; hard acceleration burns the most fuel.
- Keep a steady speed. Most cars are most efficient at 50–80 km/h in top gear.
- Look ahead and coast to a stop instead of braking late.
- Switch off the engine if you will be stopped for more than a minute.
- Do not ride the clutch or rest your foot on the brake pedal.
Maintenance habits
- Check tyre pressure every two weeks; under-inflated tyres can cost 3–5% in mileage.
- Replace a dirty air filter and keep the engine oil change on time.
- Get wheel alignment done if the car pulls to one side.
- Remove extra weight from the boot and take off an empty roof carrier.
- Use the AC sensibly; at highway speeds, closed windows with AC are better than open windows.
Measure, don't guess
The dashboard's average figure is an estimate. The accurate way is the full-tank method: fill the tank completely, note the odometer, and at the next full fill divide the kilometres driven by the litres filled. Do this every time and you will see trends that point to a problem early, like a sudden drop in mileage before a part fails.