fishter wrote:You may have heard of Martin Lews (of
moneysaving expert fame).
He's just published a
blog post in which he extols the virtues of driving economically. In the following
discussion there is much mention of different methods of driving economically, including one which made me think twice....
A quick counterpoint though: brake lights are a warning to cars behind, so using your brakes to illuminate the lights is useful even when you don't actually need to brake yourself. Also repeated engine braking can cause wear to the engine, so should be used moderately (as I'm sure you do) instead of as a replacement for brakes. My driving instructor said, "Which is cheaper to replace: brake pads & discs or a whole engine?"
He starts well, but what's that about engine wear under braking.....
I think he's worrying unnecessarily there. A bit of extra engine braking is not going to cause any noticeable increase in engine wear rates, but a lot of downward gear changes and extra clutch activity will entail some increased wear in those areas, especially the clutch.
To be honest I'm not fully sold on the idea of 'brakes to slow, gears to go' as too much of a rigid rule. I think we need to try and be reasonable in our usage of various techniques, and I certainly use a moderate amount of downchanging, in conjunction with acceleration sense for general speed control purposes.
.... but then I still retain some old fashioned ideas.
Hey, you'll like this:
A week or two ago I had a good run home from a little spot a bit further down the coast. I decided to try and cover a decent stretch of road without use of brakes, but making good progress all the same. This was a road that includes some fairly fast sections, but it also has moderately steep hills, in some cases combined with tightish bends. The starting point was the first of two linked villages, and the finishing point was our arrival at a third village. The distance was 13.4 miles, and it included a maximum speed of about 95, and five overtakes. It was not slow, but it involved no braking whatsoever, and I don't think I used a gear lower than 4th. All a bit naughty, I know, but I felt quite pleased with that. Take care.
Edited to add that the one claim I will make is about being a decent economy driver, but that's all.
Best wishes all,
Dave.