Besides keeping your tyres properly inflated and treading lightly on the accelerator, there are a few other tricks to improving your car’s fuel consumption. With the introduction of hybrid cars making the news lately, environmentally friendly motoring is very much in the news and so it should be. With fuel prices spiralling, it definitely pays to go green. However, if you don’t drive a hybrid car, take heart, there’s still plenty you can do to stretch that petrol dollar.

Choose the right octane. Unless you’re driving a high-performance or luxury machine, chances are that your car’s engine is designed to run on 95 octane petrol. If you’re not sure, refer to your car’s owner’s manual or dealer. Using the correct grade of fuel allows the engine to run optimally and return better mileage.

Switch to synthetic. Fully synthetic engine oils can cost more than three times the price of conventional, mineral or semi-synthetic oils but their benefits can pay off in the long run. Friction among an engine’s moving parts takes away energy (and therefore uses more fuel) that would otherwise be used to move the car. As synthetic oils have superior friction-reducing properties, an engine that’s lubricated with it will run more efficiently than one that uses an inferior oil.

Tint your windows. The latest window tinting or solar films on the market can dramatically reduce the amount of sunlight that heats up the car’s cabin. This in turn, requires less effort from the air-conditioning system, which is powered by the engine, to cool the car.