Driving Economically/Green - A Test

I do quite a few miles per week, not least because I live about 18 miles away from work. A good part of the journey is dual carriageway busy road - yet still heading away from the main traffic. I do like to use the power of my car to the full (that doesn't mean speeding mind) but I found that impossible in the recently-poor weather. So, I decided to do a little experiment and drove more in the style of an economical driver. I did the following:

• Slowed my average motorway speed
• Reduced my acceleration to a lower level
• Changed up gears faster
• Checked my tyres for pressure
• Smoothed out my turning
• Looked further ahead to better judge slowing/stopping
• Genuinely tried to minimise the amount of journeys taken

I found, to my absolute horror, that it so far has made very little difference on the fuel consumption of the car. Of course, 18 miles there and then 18 miles back again is a reasonable way to go, but still you'd expect some change. However, a cold engine will always gulp more fuel and so this will have to be a longer term test, especially in the summer. Whether I'll be able to stick to this style of driving when the car actually has something to grip however remains to be seen...