Can you really cut your car fuel costs?

The short answer is no you can't. If you buy a small car that returns a combined 40 mpg there's not a lot you can do to change that other than change your car for a more economical one.

Some car buyers consider diesel but you have to calculate the saving in fuel costs exceeds the extra you pay for a diesel car and diesel fuel.

Another important point is DVLA fuel consumption figures are the result of lab' tests not what you'll necessarily get on the road. If you make a car comparison and cars rank closely for mpg - and performance - there may be no difference in real driving.

You might also be surprised some of the latest MPVs and new Crossover SUVs are reasonably economical -compare Kia Sportage vs Hyundai iX35 and check out the new Mitsubishi ASX.

Once you buy a car - check the new car insurance groups 1-50 - the only saving you can make is on car insurance renewal. You can do this by directly phoning a huge list of car insurance companies for the cheapest quote whilst detailing the features in your car insurance comparisons so you get value and don't get upsold with add-ons.

Let's look a some fuel saving tips

1. Try to avoid using your car on short trips, take the bus, ride a bike or walk. Have you seen the price of a bus ticket? By cyclists own complaints and video evidence - it's dangerous. Walking is only an option if you live in town and don't intend to carry anything.
2. Choose unconjested routes - no such thing these days.
3. Keep your tyre pressures correct and your car regularly serviced. This only works for hundreds of miles and then the car returns to normal for the next 19,000 miles when a service is due.
4. Driving tips include a light touch on the accelerator, use the highest gear possible which both can work but require continuos concentration, one lapse and you're back to square one.
5. The two main tips are lose weight and keep your speed down. I've found even this doesn't make much difference. My MPV returns 39 mpg on the B roads of Sussex. I recently loaded it with 50 stone of family and cruised across France at 90 mph and returned 36 mpg - not the difference you'd think. Also travelling at 60 mph would add half a day to my 1,200 mile journey.

Once you buy a car you've no real option other than to accept its fuel consumption. Todays cars are so high-tech they perform consistently or they don't run at all.

Fortunately cars announced or updated over the past year seem very economical and green plus most perform well.

Regards
Ralph