Hi all can anyone tell if i drove in 5th gear every were would i save petrol rather than driveing in 4th gear cheers alan.

No - you need to drive in the gear appropriate to the conditions.

If you drive at 30 in a 5th, going up hill, your engine will probably struggle - and use more fuel than if you were in fourth.

On the other hand, if you cruise at 70 in 4th, you'll be pulling 4000-5000rpm, which will use far more petrol than if you're in fourth.

The ways to save fuel are anticipation - if you have to brake it means that you have to accelerate again - and smoothness without ragging the engine. Cruise control can be helpful, but it can also hurt fuel consumption - as it only ever accelerates at full throttle.

some people also pop it in neutral downhills and coast up to traffic lights. its not recommended though.......

Putting it in neutral can use more because even thought the revs are at idol on the dash the engine has to use more fuel to keep going. Like DanGull said best thing is just to be a smooth driver and i found that on my commute to work if i drive at 60 instead of 70 on a couple days it makes a massive difference

Putting it in neutral can use more because even thought the revs are at idol on the dash the engine has to use more fuel to keep going. Like DanGull said best thing is just to be a smooth driver and i found that on my commute to work if i drive at 60 instead of 70 on a couple days it makes a massive difference

Modern cars use zero fuel when coasting in-gear. Coasting in neutral is ironically using more fuel to keep the engine turning over.

I too find that the odd longer journey sees a huge improvement in fuel consumption. 60 mph gives me 65 mpg. 70 mph sees this drop to around 55 mpg. A pretty drastic change really!

Dangull is right on it there, anticipation etc...very true.

Also the coasting in neutral not good.

If you have a modern engine/car, turning engine off in queues is good...but older cars use a lot of fuel to start so not so worth it.

Block changing is also key....

When slowing down, don't go through the gears, leave clutch up and brake until clutch is needed then select the gear required.

When speeding up, say from a 30-60, use 3rd to accelerate to 55 and then go into 5th.

Or 10-30, accelerate in 2nd to 30 then to 4th.

Works, trust me :)