Yahoo! Cars takes its green driving test
I now remember vividly what it was like to be 17 and sat beside a driving examiner. But today I've two people in the car and a laptop to monitor my driving, this obviously not just a regular driving test, but one to see how green my driving is. In truth I'm usually pretty lead footed, and as much as I'll try to drive as normally as possible today to compare my driving to the best possible, I'm finding myself driving a bit more circumspect when being so closely scrutinised. I'm at the Millbrook test facility with BP Ultimate, rather than being on the road, and I'm going to find out just how green my driving could be. Unusual as it may sound, BP is encouraging us to use less fuel, and its Ultimate fuel should help too, as it works by cleaning up the engine - a clean engine being a more efficient one.
Clever fuels aside it's the driver that makes the biggest difference, and today that's me. I've a variety of roads to drive; everything from a tortuously twisty stop-start city route to a massively undulating alpine hill course. It's all topped off by an unrestricted two-mile high-speed bowl. Tempting as it is to drive the Ford S-Max at full speed around that two-mile circle at high speed, today is about driving sensibly. Driving as greenly as possible.
So I'm taking a bit more care to plan ahead, being smoother with the throttle and avoiding the temptation to drive quickly around the hugely enjoyable hill route. Everything's being monitored, and I'll soon be facing a computer screen to tell me how well or badly I've done. I've covered the route, and although initially fearful of my companions in the car monitoring me, the mood is jovial; it seems I've driven reasonably well.
My relief turns into disbelief when I'm told I that Millbrook's and BP's experts have managed the exact same route as me with a consumption figure of 34mpg. And my result? 25.25mpg. Apparently that's not too bad, but it's a difference of 8.75 miles per gallon and 35%. Over 10,000 miles, if I were to drive as effectively as the perfect run I'd save 463 litres of fuel, which at £1.07 per litre, would save me £495.67. My CO2 output would be 496kg less too. That's incredible.
So where was I going wrong? How could I improve my driving to be greener? The key says BP's Ben Leach is anticipation and smoothness. Drive as smoothly as possible and the savings can be remarkable. Slowing down a bit too can help, but it's not as important as you might think, the testers achieving that significantly more frugal figure than me around the same route within a few seconds of my time. Using momentum is also key; on the hilly part of my test letting the gradient do the work helps enormously. However, don't knock the car into neutral and coast as it means the engine is idling and using fuel - it wouldn't if you were off the accelerator and in gear - and you're not technically in control of the vehicle either.
It's not difficult to drive greener, and the savings you make can be tremendous. It's also enjoyable, anticipating the road ahead, using the contours of the road to help you to squeeze every extra mile you can from the tank. Try it; you might find you enjoy it, and not just because you don't have to stop for fuel so often.
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