Make your Motorhome More Fuel Efficient

If you’re planning to travel lots of miles on a particular trip or are just concerned about costs then putting a bit of thought into how you can improve your fuel efficiency is a worthwhile exercise. There are some basic steps you can take and some are slightly trickier; here’s a quick guide to improving the fuel consumption of your motorhome.

Weight and Resistance

Without getting too mechanical, your engine has to use fuel based upon the weight it’s dragging around and the resistance it experiences in doing that dragging. Motorhomes can be very heavy, but getting rid of any excess weight can be a good start. That’s not to say you should strip out cabinets, but don’t lug around bikes or surfboards if you just won’t use them. Secondly, always minimise your resistance to the road by keeping your tyres inflated to the correct reading and make sure you don’t expose any canvas to the air – it will only act like a parachute!

Making Improvements

There are a number of things you can do to your engine that will improve your fuel efficiency. A good clean of the mechanics and your exhaust will improve the optimum performance of your motorhome and it’s possible to fit things like catalytic converters to older models. Any exhaust work should always be done by a professional, however.

Simple Things

Aside from mechanical changes, your driving style affects fuel economy. Always try to use the optimum rev count – around 2000rpm – and use the correct gears rather than the lowest. Also, the less you use your motorhome, the less fuel you use so rather than driving down to the beach, why not go on foot? With less mileage, you might even save yourself money on your motorhome insurance.

A good way of getting fuel economy up is to make sure your motorhome has an accurate fuel gauge so you can test what really works and what doesn’t. Many sat-navs these days have fuel efficiency readings so make use of the tools you have to maximise your savings.