Ten Tricks to Save Fuel When Driving an Automatic Car

AUTO LIFE

20 JUN 2023

Driving an automatic is easy. The whole driving experience is comfortable and convenient, when there’s no having to shift the gears up and down.

However, automatic cars tend to be less fuel efficient than manuals. The slightly higher fuel consumption figure is due to the engine working a little harder, as they use a bit more gas to transmit power through an automatic transmission than a manual one. 

Here are some tricks and tips on how to drive your automatic car to save fuel and money, while keeping your vehicle running smoothly.

1. Even Out the Acceleration 

When driving an automatic car, one way to save fuel is to even out your acceleration. This can be done by gradually pressing down on the gas pedal instead of sudden, jerky movements. It's also helpful to anticipate stopping, easing off the accelerator to slow down, rather than braking suddenly. 

Additionally, try to maintain a steady speed on the motorway and avoid changing lanes and speeding up and slowing down frequently.

Use cruise control (when on flat, straight roads) or the speed limiter to maintain a steady and consistent speed, helping you avoid slowing down or speeding unnecessarily. Remember, the key is to drive smoothly and anticipate the road and traffic ahead.

2. Don't Rest Your Foot on the Brake 

One of the best ways to save fuel is to avoid resting your foot on the brake. Most cars have a footrest right beside the pedal, so get used to putting your left foot there — it'll help you keep your foot off the brake, so you can continue moving forward smoothly. 

Resting your foot on the brake can also wear out your brakes quicker, and increases drag (even if only slightly). 

3. Use the AC Sparingly 

Using your air conditioning constantly can have an impact on fuel efficiency. To save fuel, it's best to use your air conditioning sparingly. One way to do this is by rolling down the windows at lower speeds and using the air conditioning when driving at higher speeds, such as 50 km/h or more. At these speeds, the AC will have a more significant effect on cooling the car, while the drag caused by open windows will have a greater impact on fuel consumption. 

4. Check Your Tyre Pressure 

Flat or under-inflated tyres increase rolling resistance, which means that your car has to use more energy when you are moving. Maintaining proper tyre pressure can boost the fuel efficiency of your vehicle, so be sure to check and set the correct tyre pressure for your car. 

Regular wheel alignments will also ensure safer and more efficient driving, so it's worth making sure you're getting it done with your regular services.

5. Control Your Transmission 

Even though you're driving with an automatic transmission, there are tricks you can use to save fuel. For one thing, you can coax your car transmission into shifting gears earlier by listening for the engine note and watching the needle on the tachometer to track the RPM when you're accelerating. Remember, the higher the engine note climbs, and the higher your RPMs go, the more fuel you're burning. 

Modern cars also come with paddle shifters, so you can control the gears like a manual car while still enjoying the ease of an automatic. 

6. Shift to Neutral or Turn off When Stopped 

This is one of the most obvious ways to save fuel and also one of the most effective. When you stop in traffic, shift into neutral and idle your engine. That way, your transmission isn't working harder to keep up with your idle speed, and therefore uses less fuel than if it were running. 

Modern engines use far less fuel when you start them than if you let them idle for an extended period of time — so it’s better to turn everything off if you’re waiting around or are going to be parked for more than a minute or so.

7. Plan Ahead 

Before you set out on your drive,  prepare for your commute. Google Maps or other Sat nav tools can help you find the best route to take — one that bypasses congestion or school pick-up and drop-off times. Where you can, avoid traffic lights and crossing intersections, as they are likely to cause you to stop and start quickly often. This way, you'll save on gas and your valuable time. 

If you're likely to make multiple trips, try to knock out more than one errand at a time, so you don't have to head out on multiple journeys.

8. Utilise Your Vehicle's Technology 

Alongside Satnav for efficient journeys and cruise control for smoothing out the ups and downs, there are other clever features in your car that help track and control your fuel consumption. 

On the multi-information display, some driver-assist systems will show how much fuel you're consuming in a litres per 100kms figure. You may find it a worthy challenge to adjust your driving habits to see if you can reduce this figure. 

The automatic function of hill-hold control is especially effective when driving from a stopped position up a steep incline. It holds your vehicle temporarily  so your car won't roll back down as you release the brake pedal to accelerate, reducing the use of fuel.

Tyre pressure monitoring systems let you know if and which tyre needs topping up on air, which helps improve overall fuel efficiency.

9. Stay On Top of Maintenance 

By regularly servicing your vehicle and keeping it in tip-top shape, you can ensure that the engine is running exactly as it should — at its most fuel-efficient level. 

Keeping the fluids topped up and replacing faulty components and consumables like oil and air filters is essential. If in doubt, follow the service schedule for your specific vehicle. Staying on top of maintenance will reduce the chances of something going wrong with the car that might cause it to burn more fuel than usual. 

10. Lighten Your Load 

This might seem like a no-brainer, but having excess weight in your car can affect your gas mileage. Additional weight requires more power, and therefore fuel, to move, so removing the items in your luggage area that you don’t require for the trip will save you at the pump.

Also, items like roof racks or roof boxes cause drag which reduces the aerodynamics of the vehicle. Be sure to remove these items when you are not requiring them to keep your vehicle as streamlined as possible

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Civilian Forced To Dig Trenches For Russians: ‘I wanted To Jump On A Mine And End It’

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The following article was gathered and written by Daria Shulzhenko for KyivIndependence, March 24, 2023 12:45 AM, 8 min read

"Editor's Note: People interviewed for this story are not identified by their full names to protect their identities since they or their relatives still remain in Russian-occupied towns in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. The native city of released prisoner Bohdan, which is still under Russian occupation, is also not mentioned to protect his identity."

As he was walking past the Russian-controlled checkpoint outside the occupied city of Vasylivka in Zaporizhzhia Oblast in November, Bohdan thought that he had finally escaped the horrors of Russian captivity. 

The 22-year-old college student was kidnapped from his occupied hometown in southeastern Zaporizhzhia Oblast in August and held captive for three months. On Nov. 28, Russian troops brought him to their checkpoint and filmed Bohdan's so-called "deportation" to Ukrainian-controlled Zaporizhzhia. 

In the video, later published on Russian-controlled media channels, a Russian combatant reads trumped-up charges to Bohdan, hands him his Ukrainian passport, and orders Bohdan to walk toward the Ukrainian-controlled territory. 

Except that he never made it to the Ukrainian checkpoint. 

As Bohdan and another Ukrainian “deportee” were on the road toward the area controlled by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, they came across yet another Russian checkpoint. 

His hopes of getting to Zaporizhzhia and reuniting with his friends were cut short when Bohdan heard a Russian officer saying: "I can not let you go. You have seen our positions." 

"But we will give you a chance. Work and you will live," the officer said. 

And so, yet another ordeal has begun. For almost four months, Russian troops held Bohdan and multiple other Ukrainian prisoners captive not far from that checkpoint, using them as a "labor force" for digging trenches and other hard work of the similar matter. 

During that time, Bohdan was considered missing. His loved ones heard nothing but rumors about his whereabouts. 

Bohdan was one of many Ukrainians who vanished this exact way. 

Many Ukrainian families have reported their loved ones have gone missing after Russian occupiers recorded and published videos of their so-called "deportation" from the occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. 

Inna, a Ukrainian woman, told the Kyiv Independent that her father went missing in the same way on Jan. 14. A video was posted online where a Russian soldier stands next to her father at a Russian checkpoint, reading out a verdict that commands that he is “deported.” He then orders the man to run. His hands tied in front of him, the captive runs away from the checkpoint. 

After that, Inna hadn't heard from her father for almost three months. 

Bohdan and Inna's father were finally released in March. Inna could not disclose any further details due to security concerns. 

Dmytro Orlov, the exiled mayor of the Russian-occupied town of Enerhodar in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, wrote on Telegram in February that over the past several months, only a few Ukrainians who were "released on camera" actually reached a Ukrainian checkpoint in the oblast. 

Orlov said that as soon as the camera is off, Russian troops take their prisoners to some area called "the pit" between occupied Vasylivka and Kamianske, two towns located about 60 kilometers south of the regional capital of Zaporizhzia. According to him, about 200 civilian prisoners were held there as of Feb. 17. 

"Some of them are in captivity around the clock. Some people are forced to dig trenches and perform other work at the demands of the occupiers," Orlov wrote. 

Zaporizhzhia Oblast is among the four Ukrainian oblasts that Russia claimed to have annexed in an attempt to solidify Russia's territorial gains following a sham referendum in late September. Now, the oblast is only partly occupied by the Russian troops. 

Kidnapped After A Complaint 

Bohdan returned to his hometown from the regional capital, where he studies, two days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year. 

He started to regret the decision when Russian forces occupied his hometown in early March 2022. He started spending most of his time at home, where he felt safer. 

In late August, Bohdan decided it was time to try to get out of the occupied town. As he went out one day, looking for a driver to take him to a Ukrainian-controlled city, Bohdan met one of his former classmates. 

"We started talking, and, of course, politics was mentioned. It turned out he was totally pro-Russian, unlike me," Bohdan says. 

In just a day, a group of Russian soldiers "in balaclavas and with guns" came to Bohdan's family house. 

"They pulled me out of bed and took me to the woods outside the town," he says. 

According to Bohdan, Russian troops beat and interrogated him there, accusing him of his pro-Ukrainian position and questioning him about a possible connection to the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the weapons he allegedly possessed. 

Then, they took Bohdan to the former police department in his hometown and locked him in one of the cells. His second interrogation came in about a month. 

Bohdan recalls the cell as small, with one bunk and a toilet. At different times, from six to nine people were held there. The prisoners did not get enough food from the Russian guards. Instead, Bohdan says their relatives were allowed to bring some food to them. 

"When I was (locked) there in the station, the number of detainees ranged from 40-50 in total," Bohdan says. "New ones arrived often." 

For a person to be detained, it was enough for a Russian collaborator to "point the finger at them and complain, and that was it," Bohdan says. 

During one of the interrogations, Russian officers made him sign a testimony claiming that two other prisoners supported Ukrainian soldiers in some local Telegram channels. 

"They (Russian officers) told me they wanted to deport these people," Bohdan says. "Then they said: “Maybe we should deport you too," he recalls. 

"I thought: 'Of course, deport me.' I would want to be on Ukrainian-controlled land." 

Russian officers told him they would "organize" everything, and he just needed to wait. 

Three weeks later, Bohdan was asked to sign some documents saying he refused to take Russian citizenship and didn't support the results of the sham referendum that Russians staged in September to claim annexation of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Everything suggested that "deportation" was just around the corner. 

"I asked them how it would happen," Bohdan recalls. "They said that they would drive me to the checkpoint, and then I would walk on foot for a little while until volunteers meet me  (at the Ukrainian checkpoint)." 

"I returned to my cell so happy that day," he says.

'Work And You Will Live'

Finally, the day of the “deportation” arrived. 

At first, everything was just like the Russian officers had told Bohdan: They drove him and another male prisoner to the checkpoint controlled by the Russian National Guard outside of occupied Vasylivka on Nov. 28. 

After Russians filmed a video of their "deportation," they ordered the two prisoners to walk along the road in the direction of Zaporizhzhia, the regional capital. 

"We heard explosions and artillery fire on our way," Bohdan recalls. 

After walking about two kilometers, they spotted two Russian soldiers standing at a crossing. 

"We approached them thinking it might be the last Russian checkpoint, and the Ukrainian one should be ahead of us," Bohdan says. 

Later he would learn that he wasn't entirely wrong: It was one of the Russian defense lines before the so-called "gray zone" and Ukrainian-controlled territory. But things didn’t go as Bohdan and the other former prisoner had planned. 

After thoroughly checking all their belongings, a Russian captain told them they would stay there and work for his unit. 

"He said he couldn't let us go since we had seen their positions, and upon our return to Zaporizhzhia, we would join the Ukrainian army and kill his soldiers," Bohdan says. 

"Work and you will live," the Russian captain said. 

"We were just a labor force for the Russian Army. The issue of our future lives and salvation was not on the table," Bohdan goes on. 

They were handed the shovels immediately. Bohdan says they joined the four other Ukrainian prisoners who had already been working there. But the number increased soon, reaching 18 people as of January, including three women. 

From early morning until late night, Bohdan says these people were forced to do all the strenuous physical work for the Russian soldiers, such as digging trenches and setting up positions. 

Bohdan says Russian soldiers occasionally made Ukrainian prisoners check the area for the mines before digging the trenches. 

"I wanted to jump on a mine myself so that it all would be over," Bohdan says. 

During the first nights, the prisoners were locked in a basement of an abandoned cafe not far from the checkpoint. Then they were moved to an abandoned house nearby. 

Bohdan says conditions there were quite good, adding that they had running water, gas, beds, and even a TV. 

While the men mainly were digging the trenches, women were often forced to do household work at the houses where the Russian soldiers were based. 

Bohdan believes that only about five kilometers divided them from the Ukrainian positions. He says they often had to hide in the trenches during attacks from the other side and saw many Ukrainian drones, "the ones we have been donating money to be purchased." 

"I had this belief that I couldn't die from a Ukrainian attack," Bohdan says. 

He and the other prisoners were ordered to hide whenever other Russian officers came to check on the company. Bohdan says it happened often. He doesn’t know why Russians wanted to hide them. 

In the meantime, the relatives of those Ukrainians who had gone missing after staged deportations went public and spoke about their disappearance. They started reaching out to Ukrainian government and Russian-installed authorities, demanding that their loved ones are found. 

On March 14, Russian Interior Ministry officers brought Bohdan and four other prisoners from his hometown to the occupied city of Melitopol. There, they were held for two more days for interrogation. According to Bohdan, they signed complaints against the Russian captain who had "kidnapped and illegally detained them, threatening to kill them." 

He was released on March 16. For now, he is staying in the occupied territory. 

Bohdan says he still does not know whether the Russian-installed authorities in the region truly knew what the military was doing with the civilian captives. 

What About Other Civilian Prisoners? 

On March 13, in a written comment to the Kyiv Independent, Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said it’s unknown why Russians stage “deportations” of Ukrainian captives in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. He said that only two families have contacted his office to report that their loved ones, who were in Russian captivity, underwent such a “deportation” and went missing after it. 

According to Lubinets, people whose relatives have gone missing in occupied territories should file search applications to Ukraine's National Police. Lubinets also said that the absence of Russia's confirmation of these people as those in captivity "is not an obstacle to their release and return under the exchange procedure." But the negotiation process is complicated, according to Lubinets. 

"The Russian side is inconsistent. They reject many proposals regarding the exchange and release of citizens and refuse to provide access to their places of detention, as well as humanitarian aid and medicines," his comment reads. 

Bohdan says the number of 200 civilian prisoners in Russian captivity in Zaporizhzhia Oblast reported by Orlov, the exiled mayor of the Russian-occupied town of Enerhodar, "sounds realistic and might be even higher." 

"Considering how easily they were doing that, and that 18 of us were (working) in just one company and there was a whole battalion consisting of multiple companies — people could be there as well," Bohdan says. 

"I'm afraid that after (Russian troops) saw us being found and taken away, they could just shoot dead those prisoners saying that they were never there, to escape possible problems with their leadership," he adds. 

"There is such a possibility," Bohdan says. "Because human life here is worthless."

Note from the author: 

Daria Shulzhenko is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent. She has been a lifestyle reporter at the Kyiv Post until November 2021. She graduated from Kyiv International University with a bachelor’s in linguistics, specializing in translation from English and German languages. She has previously worked as a freelance writer and researcher.

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HAPPY 90th BIRTHDAY MR. MOTORCYCLE DESIGNER

Former Senior Vice President & Chief Styling Officer of Harley-Davidson Motor Company Willie G. Davidson Namesake and grandson of Motor Company co-founder William.

In 1911 the company presented their first V-twins and very soon these models became the customers’ favourites; it seems singles were most popular for utility uses and in the export markets.

In 1910 almost 3,200 singles were sold; in 1913 this number had almost doubled but in 1914 the output of singles had fallen to a little more than 3,200.

That same year some 15,000 twins left the factory, so we can safely conclude that a ’14 single is a rare beast.

The Model 10 was available as a single speeder with belt drive as Model 10A and chain driven as Model 10B. In C-trim the machines had a two speed gear in the rear hub and a clutch, which was new for the 1914 model year. Other novelties included an externally contracting band brake acting on a separate rear drum and a Step Starter, an early form of a kickstart but with a forward stroke.

Bore and stroke dimensions were 84.14 x 101.6 mm and the engine delivered about 5 hp @ 2,200 rpm, good for a top speed of 80 km an hour.

The 1914 V-twin model was good for 9 hp @2,400 rpm. With a weight of 90 kilos the single was as much as 50 kilos lighter than the twin. (Source: “Harley Davidson, all the Motorcycles 1903-1983” by Matthias Gerst.)

The rare 1914 single we offer here has an interesting history.

It was once part of the collection of Otis Chandler, one-time publisher of The Los Angeles Times and was also owned by Bud Ekins, who, in the late 40s, began riding off-road motorcycles daily in the hills above his Hollywood home.

As a result of his diligence, he developed into a highly talented motorcyclist and started entering local off-road races in 1949.

By the mid-1950s, Ekins was the top motocross and desert racer in Southern California, winning the AMA District 37 championship seven times.

By the mid-1960s Ekins owned a Triumph motorcycle dealership in Hollywood which became a popular destination for many young film actors including Steve McQueen, Paul Newman and Clint Eastwood.

Ekins became friends with McQueen and introduced him to off-road racing.

Through his association with McQueen, Ekins began a career as a film stuntman.

He is best known as the actor who jumped the fence on a motorcycle in the 1963 film The Great Escape, and one of the stuntmen who drove the Ford Mustang 390 GT in the car chase scene in the 1968 film Bullitt. After retiring from the film industry, Ekins continued to operate his motorcycle shop in Hollywood which featured his impressive collection of vintage motorcycles.

During the 1980s, Ekins became one of the top collectors of vintage motorcycles in the USA.

One of his prized possessions was this Model 10C, which is a good runner in excellent mechanical condition.

Its stunning authentic and slightly weathered appearance combines eminently with the sturdy and purposeful design of the machine.

Happy birthday to Willie G. Davidson!

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