Anyone give a shite about fuel economy?

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I like to say I don’t care, but always use my e220 diesel for long trips even if it means moving cars around on the drive to get it out. Cruising at 90 it does 50mpg, whereas the ML does 30 cruising at 80. These figures all from On board readout, I’ve never felt that interested to work it out accurately.

Before my enforced and hopefully temporary early retirement , buying fuel was a good thing- the more I bought the more I was earning. It was annoying in April when diesel was down to just over a Quid a litre, I went and  filled both diesels up , the ML had never been filled right up before because Tesco Pay at Pump stops at £99!  By the time we’d used that fuel the prices were back to normal.

[bunglebus]

I like getting decent MPG out of my cars, I get about 55MPG on average out of the Passat, which equates to 600+ miles out of a full tank, and I fill it every single time. I see driving economically as a way to "pay" for the old blat around the lanes or quick getaway from traffic lights if neccessary.

I did manage to squeeze 50MPG over one full tank from my 1.4 Renault 5 being very careful, usually well in the the 40's in any case.

Worst I've had was my Cosworth Scorpio, refused to crack 20MPG no matter what I did, and I was using it as a daily. Fun factor made up for it though.

[Tamworthbay]

Swapping from a 3 series and Mazda 6 to a V70 2.5tdi and Fiat 500 for the wife and myself has saved us an average of £70 a month on fuel and £250 a year on tax. A nice sum over the course of a year. I like the fact that I can fill up the V70, drive to Cornwall, drive around Cornwall for a week, drive back, and still have a two or three gallons to spare. The Capri won’t be great on fuel but I don’t do enough miles on it to worry. The 205 is ridiculously good even when you thrash it.

[juular]

I have pretty strong mpg anxiety which I keep having to have a word with myself about. Sometimes I manage to successfully not give a shit and it's great, but more often than not I find myself thinking about my bank account being funneled into fumes in the atmosphere. 

At the same time I can completely rationalise spending money on fuel when I drive cheap cars, don't have to shovel my money into endless PCP payments, depreciation and gap insurance, and avoid garage servicing and repairs that most people have to shell out for. Over a year I could drive like a lunatic, achieve 15mpg and still be money up.

It stems from me always being pretty poor growing up and having a very strict attitude towards wasting money. Now that I can afford things I still beat myself up for spending money.

[danthecapriman]

Can’t say I care about mpg either. To me, it’s far more important to have a car I want and like the looks/size/comfort etc etc of. Mpg is never a consideration when I buy a car.

My Mercury, Capri and Transit are all toys so it’s irrelevant anyway, but the Volvo is my everyday car. Even then a 32 year old 2.3 with a slush box in a car with the aerodynamics of a block of flats with a parachute doesn’t exactly say I’m bothered!

If we’re talking about environmental credentials, I balance it out by not buying new cars every few years and make my old ones last far longer. Plus, I don’t use the car when I could walk instead etc etc. Of course, I look after my cars well too so they’re not just tired old bangers.

[DoctorRetro]

I do care, but I'm too scatterbrained to keep up with monitoring it. 

I did once try hypermiling in a 1996 Lada Riva with weber conversion. Was travelling from Southend to Bristol. 42mpg! 

[Spiny Norman]

I keep a rough eye on how far I go per £30 which is usually what I put in at a time, don't see the point in brimming a tank when I'm never more than 5 miles from a petrol station, but that's more as a check on engine health than anything else. If a car that usually does 30mpg starts doing 20mpg and it's not been sitting in traffic for  most of that fill-up then I know something's wrong but apart from that no, I DGAF about fuel economy so long as it's not something ridiculous like into the low teens.

It's one of the main reasons I don't do tractor engines, I don't do enough miles to care whether I get 20mpg or 50mpg. I'll happily chop and change between a Micra and an XJ6.

[SRi05]

I'm lucky enough to have a short commute so tend not to buy anything under 200hp and auto these days, so an emphatic no on the MPG's. However, I've been driving a R50 mini the past couple of weeks and the amount of juice £30 has got me has been rather pleasant. Has got me thinking about the long term future of the Jag 🤔

[sierraman]

I’ve known people in the past get rid of a car that does 30mpg, borrow £xxxxx in the chucky to buy something that did a claimed 50mpg. Not cause they wanted a new one, but to save money on fuel. Cant quite get my head round that...

Petrol/diesel is just one bill in amongst many with a car I guess, you’ve got tax, mot, servicing, tyres, repairs etc. That said you should budget for all this, again I’ve known people who will run round on bald tyres for months cause they’ve other bills like fags or holidays to pay for. If you can’t stretch to a pair of tyres you shouldn’t be on the road quite frankly. 

[drewd]

I've always had a rough idea on what my cars MPG figures are as I find it helps budgeting and it's a good indicator if there are any underlying engine problems. I've never gone as far as keeping a spreadsheet but I do reset the trip each time I fill up and I pretty much always brim the tank. This allows me to do a quick: litres/4.55 = gallons. Trip mileage / gallons = MPG calculation. I can also see how many miles I'm getting to a tank and therefore plan ahead so I'm not likely to need to fill up partway through a long journey and pay over the odds for fuel at a motorway services.

In terms of actual MPG I've always been satisifed with 35+ mpg but having had a 307 1.6 HDi that can easily exceed 60 MPG without trying I do think I'd miss it when I change car again. It does close to 800 miles to a 60l tank of derv so the thought of going back to 400-500 miles to a similar size tank doesn't fill me with joy. The 307 is great economical transport, it does well for short trips and long journeys but it's not a fun car to drive. When I got it I needed cheap transport more than fun and I have enjoyed the fairly low running costs.

So yeah I guess I do give a shite about fuel economy but it's just one aspect that I'd consider when buying a car.

[2MB]

7 hours ago, paulplom said:

I don't take an interest from a money point of view. I do keep a check on it though.

I think your average mpg can be a good way to keep an eye on the health of your car. A rise can be a good indication of a problem.

Aye, mpg will tend to rise if you have to push the bastard 

[NigeT]

Don't give two hoots about the XJ-S and Mondial's voracious thirst, why anyone would buy such a car and care about MPG is beyond my comprehension. Do give a shite about CLK320, if I'm not getting upper 30's on a run then I know it needs some love.  Filled up in Edinburgh last week. Now in Surrey on the same tank 440 miles later so know the old V6 is running factory-perfect at 140,000 miles. 

[flat4alfa]

37 minutes ago, sierraman said:

I’ve known people in the past get rid of a car that does 30mpg, borrow £xxxxx in the chucky to buy something that did a claimed 50mpg. Not cause they wanted a new one, but to save money on fuel. Cant quite get my head round that...

Petrol/diesel is just one bill in amongst many with a car I guess, you’ve got tax, mot, servicing, tyres, repairs etc. That said you should budget for all this, again I’ve known people who will run round on bald tyres for months cause they’ve other bills like fags or holidays to pay for. If you can’t stretch to a pair of tyres you shouldn’t be on the road quite frankly. 

That's just described my entire town

[N19]

Capri usually returns about 27mpg but on a long motorway stretch has hit 35.

Bluebird is pretty naff on economy, 25mpg is good for it. Although in fairness it mostly pootles around town traffic on local runs. 

Mondeo returns 32 odd mpg on average. The benefits of fuel injection? 

[dozeydustman]

I have always kept an eye on economy since I first learned to drive. I used to drive like a bit of a looney, my driving habits changed in my mid 20s as I was doing a 120 mile a day commute between Ramsgate and Gravesend, and used to make a full tank in my 306 DTurbo (and later Skoda) last 4 days and averaged 50+mpg while living on sweet FA. In 2006 I was taught to hyper-mile as part of a 'driver improvement course' work made all the HGV driverts take in order to eke an extra 0.5mpg from a freighter.

The Ignis returns high 30s urban driving but doesn't improve much on a long run because it needs an extra gear and gets blown around quite a bit being tall and not that aerodynamic. Corolla is mid-30s but better on a long run - 45mpg easily but it's feeling tired now and I think the timing might be a tooth out after I did the belt last year - she struggles with hills or a load. I have hyper-miled the Corolla and got 52mpg from it, and I hit 65mpg in the Saab when I ran that.

[anonymous user]

I'm less bothered than I have been. I used to do 30000 miles a year, most of the fuel being paid for by me. My mileage has now dropped significantly so only do about 18000 miles a year now. I did swap to a diesel for a time, a few years back, when I realised that I had used 1000 gallons of petrol in six months. (17000 miles in a Jeep 4 litre Cherokee)

It all depends on your circumstances and how you think. Some are desperately frugal when they don't need to be, others will not care and spend on fuel at the expense of something else. Public transport/cycling/walking are not always an option and for some the difference between 25mpg and 45mpg may be the difference between surviving reasonably comfortably or struggling to put food on the table.

 

[sierraman]

Next topic... who gives a fuck about the pollution your car creates?

[Daviemck2006]

I’ve known people in the past get rid of a car that does 30mpg, borrow £xxxxx in the chucky to buy something that did a claimed 50mpg. Not cause they wanted a new one, but to save money on fuel. Cant quite get my head round that...
Petrol/diesel is just one bill in amongst many with a car I guess, you’ve got tax, mot, servicing, tyres, repairs etc. That said you should budget for all this, again I’ve known people who will run round on bald tyres for months cause they’ve other bills like fags or holidays to pay for. If you can’t stretch to a pair of tyres you shouldn’t be on the road quite frankly. 

That's most of the folk where I live too. The place is full oh high end cars like x5, q7, discos and the like. But if they are in a carpark and you look at the tyres most are on mixed third rate tyres. Why buy a 50 grand motor and put on the cheapest tyres? Probably because they cant afford decent ones as they spend so much on their PCP and mortgage on their unnecessarily big posh house that they cant afford them.

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk

[sierraman]

2 minutes ago, Daviemck2006 said:

That's most of the folk where I live too. The place is full oh high end cars like x5, q7, discos and the like. But if they are in a carpark and you look at the tyres most are on mixed third rate tyres. Why buy a 50 grand motor and put on the cheapest tyres? Probably because they cant afford decent ones as they spend so much on their PCP and mortgage on their unnecessarily big posh house that they cant afford them.

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk
 

Why save when you can borrow! 

[S2000]

25 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Next topic... who gives a fuck about the pollution your car creates?

That would be an interesting thread to read....... personally for me Cars are way down the list after Planes, Boats, Trains and HGV’s. If I gave a shit I’d become a muesli eating Nissan Leaf driving Vegan, I work from home and do minimal miles so it’s safe to say the Posty and Amazon delivery peeps have a larger carbon foot print than me........ however I do like to lay coal in the L200 when I want the car behind me to disappear 😈

[willswitchengage]

For me car ownership is all about maintaining a good ratio of enjoyment and benefit : total cost of ownership. Gas mileage forms part of the latter, but not much as I hardly ever drive anyway. I do monitor it however as it's something interesting to try and get as good as possible, and because if it's poor it can be an indicator of something going awry.

Looking at most cars on the road nowadays I am fairly sure most people aren't that fussed. Fuel has never been cheaper before as a proportion of incomes.

[flat4alfa]

46 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Next topic... who gives a fuck about the pollution your car creates?

No one anymore

The lockdown did that

[iainrcz]

Yes and no.

No because it's not really why you buy a Subaru BRZ Toyota GT86, yes because it can point to issues if it's way below what you're used to.

I'm quite happy with my average of a touch above 34.

 

Although, the more sensibly you drive it the more you realise the interior rattles like a bastard.

 

 

[Split_Pin]

I do sod all miles amongst 4 cars so fuel economy is not something I have every had any interest in.

[GeordieInExile]

I used to have a 70 mile round trip to work. In that time I drove:-

Rover 75 2.0 V6 auto

Saab 9-5 Aero

Peugeot 306 GTi

None of which are especially frugal. At one point the Saab was costing me £75-85 a week on fuel.

And you know what? It was worth it and I'd do it again. It was worth the extra few quid a week to sit somewhere nice and have a car I genuinely looked forward to driving.

[Pete-M]

If I was still doing 50k miles a year I'd probably buy something better on fuel to do the big miles in, but I'd keep the C32 for personal use. 

Many years ago I was a Nissan salesman. Unfortunately my company car was an Almera 1.4 and my own car was a 24v Carlton auto. My commute was 20 miles each way. The Carlton was better on fuel on the 20 mile each way run (32 mpg), but the Almera was more economical on short city scuttling runs. I had to use the Almera for going to work as they didn't like me using the Carlton. They understood why I preferred using it, but it doesn't look good when you're trying to sell Almeras and prefer to drive a 10 year old 3.0 car as its better on fuel. 

I replaced the Carlton with a 3.0 Alfa 164, which was also more economical than the Almera. 

That's the thing with some small "economy" cars. Some are truly dreadful on fuel. My mum had a 1.2 Nova for many years, I used to use it to go and visit my gf who lived in Penrith (216 mile return trip) and my regular car was a 73 Chevy Malibu with a very lazy 350 V8. It used to cost around £25 return in the Nova (mid 90s fuel prices) which wasn't very good. One day I did the run in the Malibu.... £30 return. After that I used the Chevy, it was far comfier and didn't suffer from carb icing on the motorway. The Nova used to be a bugger for the carb icing up at 80 on the motorway 

[richardmorris]

I used to, but don’t bother religiously apart from the 2cv where I use a mini post it note block stuck to the dash to record the mileage. On full ups. It’s been doing 200 miles on 22litres for years. The fiat will do an excellent 45mpg on shell vpower and if I’m on a long journey with no stop start traffic the Mercedes will manage 30mpg. I once got to my parents in north wales and back to surrey on one tank, but it was very stressful as the last 40miles the fuel light was on. Put 65 litres in the 68 litre ( I think ) tank!

[Jerzy Woking]

Not now. Pre retirement I was  commuting 20,000 miles a year on the bike, so kept a note of fuel consumption to check all was well. I rarely used my own car (Saab 9-5 tuned to around 300bhp and 22 mpg because driven to use all 300 horses).

In Spain now where I have bought a Fiat Doblo as it suits my needs. It's a 1.3 diesel but dont think it's very economical. Maybe 40 mpg?

My Triumph Street Triple and Royal Enfield Himalayan are miles apart in fill ups, but then the Triumph is thrashed on the roads, and the Enfield potters around on unpaved roads.

Fuel here is cheap still, about 90p a litre for diesel, and 96p for petrol (depending on exchange rate).

[Jerzy Woking]

I keep getting an ad up about how to sue Mercedes for mis selling their diesel cars based on their emission figures.

I would like to know how many buyers made emissions their top reason for buying a Mercedes over another make of car, and did not make their choice based on the cars image, colour, interior, in-car entertainment etc. 

I bet the number isn't high. I have never chosen a car or motorbike based on emissions, or even fuel economy come to think of it.

[Lacquer Peel]

I care a lot because I don't have a lot of money. I suppose I could have a more economical car than a 23 year old Volvo diesel but it does 45-55MPG in good comfort and just doesn't give up.