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134
Driving and the Environment
Shifting gears and saving energy
Shifting up early saves on fuel.
Manual gearbox
Drive no more than about one length of your vehicle in first gear.
–
Shift into the next higher gear when approximately 2 000-2 500 revolutions
–
are achieved.
An effective way of achieving good fuel economy is to shift up early. You will con-
sume more fuel if you drive at unnecessarily high revolutions in any given gear. To
shift in a fuel-efficient manner, follow ⇒ p age 13, Shift recommendation for chang-
ing gears.
Automatic gearbox
–
Depress the accelerator pedal slowly. Do not depress it beyond the kickdown
position, however.
Only depress the accelerator pedal slowly if your vehicle is fitted with an automat-
ic gearbox in order to automatically select an economic driving programme. You
will achieve good fuel economy by shifting up early and shifting down late.
General
⇒ f ig. 116
The
shows the ratio of fuel consumption to the speed of your vehicle in
the relevant gears. Fuel consumption in 1st gear is the highest, while that in 5th or
the 6th gear is the lowest.
Note
Also use the information supplied by the multi-functional indicator ⇒ p age 14.
Fig. 116 Fuel consumption in litres/100
km. and speed in km/h.
Avoiding full throttle
Driving more slowly means saving fuel.
Sensitive use of the accelerator will not only significantly reduce fuel consumption
but also positively influence environmental pollution and wear of your vehicle.
You should avoid exploiting the top speed of your vehicle wherever possible. Fuel
consumption, pollutant emissions and vehicle noises increase disproportionally at
high speeds.
⇒ f ig. 117
The
shows the ratio of fuel consumption to the speed of your vehicle.
You will cut your fuel consumption by half if you only make use three-quarters of
the possible top speed of your vehicle.
Reducing idling
Idling also costs fuel.
It is worthwhile switching off the engine in a traffic jam or when waiting at a level
crossing or at traffic lights with a lengthy red phase. Even after just 30 - 40 sec-
onds you will have saved more fuel than that is needed when you start the engine
up again.
If an engine is only idling it takes much longer for it to reach its normal operating
temperature. Wear-and-tear and pollutant emissions, though, are particularly high
in the warming-up phase. This is why you should drive off right after starting the
engine. Do avoid high engine revolutions at this time, however.
Fig. 117 Fuel consumption in litres/100
km. and speed in km/h.
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