Stupid things Indian drivers believe about fuel efficiency

Many people who drive on our roads lack manners and that is one of the reason why we see many of them driving rashly through busy roads or even honking continuously while caught up in a traffic jam. Many of them have managed to get a driving license through Jugaad and many of them lack proper training. Fuel efficiency of a car matters a lot to many buyers and people often follow many things to get better fuel economy from their car. Some of these things about mileage are stupid and here we have a list of such things. Ford Motor Company carried out a survey that covered 9,500 drivers in 11 countries of the Asia Pacific region. 1,023 out of these 9,500 drivers were Indian respondents.

Harsh acceleration has no effect on fuel efficiency

Almost 40 percent of the drivers on Indian roads are unaware of the fact that harsh acceleration has a negative effect on fuel economy. Accelerating hard may give you thrills but that is not god practice if you want good fuel economy. harsh acceleration or unnecessarily revving the engine would lower the mileage.

Also read: 10 DC Design cars & how they look in the REAL world: Maruti Swift to Mahindra XUV500

Keeping the engine on while idling doesn’t affect mileage

Around 26 percent of Indian drivers believe that keeping the engine on while idling does not affect the mileage. If the waiting time is more than 15 seconds it is always a good idea to turn the engine off as it saves fuel and hence increases the mileage.

Cruise control has nothing to do with mileage

This is something that around 78 percent of Indians believe. Cruise control helps in maintaining a constant speed while driving on highways. When you engage cruise control, it takes off unnecessary pressure from the engine and it relaxes. This results in better efficiency.

GPS has no role to play in fuel efficiency

Many people in our country still do not know how to use GPS. Checking GPS before leaving house means one can plan his route and can also look for alternate routes if there is traffic on his usual route. I you get stuck in traffic, your car will burn fuel unnecessarily as you will be accelerating and braking quite often. This will affect the overall fuel economy.

Driving on mountain roads does not affect fuel efficiency

52 percent of drivers are not aware that mountain roads have negative effect on fuel efficiency. When a car is climbing a mountain road, the engine is constantly under pressure and is working to keep the car moving forward. As compared to plains, these roads bring down the fuel efficiency drastically.

Weather does not affect mileage

This is a fact that most people are unaware of. 73 percent of people did not know that cold weather affect mileage and 63 percent people were not aware that hot weather affects mileage negatively. Every engine still has an optimum temperature at which it can perform best. However, in winters, reaching the optimum engine temperature takes much more time, which, in turn, reduces the mileage. This, however, doesn’t mean that you will get good mileage in summers. On the contrary, summers lead to car owners using air conditioning to beat the heat resulting in lower fuel efficiency.

Weight and fuel efficiency have no connection at all

65 percent of the drivers did not know that removing heavy objects from the car can make it more fuel efficient. As the car is lighter, the engine has to make less effort to make the car move. So, it is always a good idea to remove unnecessary items from your car.

Regular servicing has no role in mileage

only 33 percent of the drivers are aware that regular servicing of the vehicle is necessary to ensure good health of the car and that would in turn result in better fuel efficiency. Only one-third of the car owners do timely service to their vehicle.

Also read: Upcoming 2022 Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza rendered