06 Aug 07
Braking is the enemy
I've got one more go, and this time I'm determined to improve. The tips are essentially these: plan ahead and don't waste valuable energy by braking. It's all about anticipation.
I get in and immediately switch off the air con. I change gear religiously at around 2,000rpm and lift off early so I can gently roll to the mandated stops. On the steeper hills I change gear early to avoid grinding to a halt and having to rev hard in second to get going again.
At the top of the tallest hill I resolve to keep off both the accelerator and brakes as much as possible, which means taking the shortest line (ie a racing line) through the bends. The S-Max handles well for a people carrier, but I have to brake to avoid a nasty economy-related crash. A gentle run at 40mph on the dual-carriageway section (it's not exactly real-world) and I'm done.
A huge improvement. Instead of 19.8mpg, I've achieved 29.5mpg. Still behind the best run, but instead of using 1.8 litres of fuel, this time I only consumed 1.2 litres. I only break the four millilitres per second barrier once, instead of 15 times. And 220g/km of CO2 is a sight better than 328g/km.
'Too many people think it's the car that uses the fuel and not the driver,' says Cutler. You'll still pay the same CO2-based road tax, frugal or not, but there is one environmental tax that does reward momentum management: fuel duty.
