Drivers in the UAE can maximise fuel efficiency by following some simple measures and they don’t have to change driving behaviours drastically, a senior Ford executive has said.

The comment from Trevor Hale, director of communications for Ford Middle East and Africa, follows the recent UAE decision to increase the gasoline price.

““There are many simple things you can do – and you should do – that will help you go further with every fill-up and reduce the number of trips you make to the petrol station,” he said.

Small changes to driving behaviour can lead to significant gains in fuel efficiency and driving more sensibly not only improves fuel economy but is also safer, he added.

Below are some tips offered by Ford to optimise the amount of fuel usage and increase mileage in any car:
• Put the windows up and use air conditioning when driving at high speeds. Keeping windows open creates drag on the car and thus more fuel is used than driving with the air conditioning on.
• Reduce fuel usage by driving with properly inflated tyres; doing this reduces the demand put on the engine and thus the need for fuel. Recommended levels can be found in the user’s manual or on a label inside the driver’s door.
• The faster a car drives, the more fuel it uses; use cruise control while driving on highways, which will avoid unnecessary braking or accelerating and maintain the vehicle’s “sweet speed”, which will save money on long drives.
• Make the car as light as possible; this can be done by removing heavy things such as golf carts, strollers etc. from the car, when not required.

The best way to save fuel is to trade in your gas guzzler for a more efficiently designed car, he said. “Modern cars such as Ford’s come with EcoBoost, turbo direct injection technology which offers considerably better performance and power than many larger engines, while burning a fraction of the fuel,” he added.