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Top-5 fuel saving tips
Towing a caravan can boost your fuel bill dramatically but there are ways to cut the costsBigger fuel bills go with the territory when you’re hauling a caravan around, but you can limit the amount of fuel your tow vehicle gurgles down and get a better touring range while doing it too.
Here are our top fuel-saving tips:
USE A WIND DEFLECTOR
They might make your tow vehicle look a bit like a speedway car but you’ll be the one laughing all the way to the bank with the fuel savings.
Using one of these on tour will cut fuel use by up to two litres per 100km and because it reduces drag, overtaking and hillclimbing performance will be better too.
The idea behind this fuel-saving aid is that it deflects the wind up and away from the caravan’s bluff front end. Clearly it works best with full-size caravans; there’s little point going for one of these if your pop-top sits no higher than your tow vehicle’s roof line.
KEEP TYRE PRESSURES UP
The tyre placard on your vehicle and caravan will have a recommended tyre pressure — if you don’t keep an eye on this you’ll end up not only wearing out your tyres more quickly (and increasing the risk of overheating the tyre and then risking a blow-out) but also increase fuel-burning drag.
Most vehicles have a higher recommended pressure for loaded or high-speed driving — that’s the pressures you want in your tyres. Check and adjust the pressures with tyres cold, and check them later after you’ve been on the road for an hour or so.
Passenger-rated tyres should be 4psi higher and LT tyres 5-6psi higher when hot. If they’re lower, your tyres have been over-inflated; if they’re higher, you need to pump them up some more.
KEEP SPEED DOWN
At higher speeds, wind resistance is the main killer to fuel economy, and when towing with a caravan, you have plenty of wind resistance going on. The Bosch Automotive Handbook says that at around 80km/h a vehicle’s wind resistance will overtake rolling resistance as the chief source of drag so keeping your speed down when towing will cut your fuel consumption.
Cruising at around 90-95km/h in 100km/h or 110km/h zones will not make you a dangerous road block for other road users and your vehicle will use less fuel than if you go faster.
Be sensible about this; if you notice you have a long line of vehicles behind you on a single-lane road, do everyone a favour by pulling over and letting the traffic pass.
DON’T USE CRUISE CONTROL
Cruise control is a wonderful thing, taking the stress out of driving and reducing the chances of getting a speeding ticket. It’s also not very good for fuel consumption when towing, so avoid using it.
Cruise control is reactive so lost momentum on inclines is made up for with big throttle inputs. When travelling downhill, many cruise controls are not very good at holding the set speed even when not towing, so are diabolical with a couple of tonnes pushing from behind.
Even when cruising on the plains, if there’s a headwind the cruise control will be trying to maintain speed with large throttle inputs; making a bad fuel-economy situation even worse.
ANTICIPATE HILL CLIMBS
If there’s a hill coming up, don’t try to maintain speed come hell or high water. Rather let speed wash off a little (with some vehicles a lack of power will give you no choice). That doesn’t mean hit the hill at 95km/h and get down to 20km/h at the top; instead let speed drop to around 80km/h.
If you’ve got a downhill run before the climb and it's safe to do so, let speed creep up to the legal speed limit so you have a bit more momentum up your sleeve. Treating hills this way will save your drivetrain a little wear and also reduce fuel usage.
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Written byPhilip Lord
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Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
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