Advertisement
DRIVING STYLE
Starting
Do not warm the engine with the car at
a standstill or at idle or high speed: under
these conditions the engine warms up
much more slowly, increasing electrical
consumption and emissions. It is therefore
advisable to move off immediately, slow-
ly, avoiding high speeds. This way the
engine will warm faster.
Pointless manoeuvres
Avoid accelerating when waiting at traf-
fic lights or before switching off the
engine. This and also double declutching is
absolutely pointless on modern cars and
also increase consumption and pollution.
Gearshifting
As soon as the conditions of the traffic
and road allow, use a higher gear.
Using a low gear to obtain brilliant per-
formance increases consumption.
In the same way improper use of a high
gear increases consumption, emissions
and engine wear.
204
Top speed
Fuel consumption considerably increases
with speed. Maintain an even as possible
speed, avoiding superfluous braking and
accelerating, which cost in terms of both
fuel and emissions.
Acceleration
Accelerating heavily taking the engine to
a high speed has a considerably adverse
effect on consumption and emission lev-
els; it is wise to accelerate gradually and
not exceed the maximum torque.
CONDITIONS OF USE
Cold starting
Short journeys and frequent cold starts
do not allow the engine to reach optimum
operating temperature. This results in a
significant increase in consumption levels
(from +15 to +30% on the urban cycle)
and emission of harmful substances.
Traffic situations and road
conditions
Rather high consumption levels are tied
to situations with heavy traffic, for exam-
ple in queues with frequent use of the
lower gears or in cities with many traffic
lights. Also winding mounting roads and
rough road surfaces adversely affect con-
sumption.
Stopping in the traffic
During prolonged stops (e.g. level cross-
ings) it is advisable to switch the engine
off.
Advertisement
