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Anyone give a shite about fuel economy?


S2000

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My friends, does anyone still focus on fuel economy....

let me explain, I run three cars and don’t work out the overall mpg more if I put X £ in I know it will do X miles, when I had my L322 petrol I knew it would average 15 mpg on the computer but a friend borrowed it one day for a 24 mile round trip and said it cost him 15 quid to do it.... I use to put £90 quids worth of squirt into it every 3 weeks and just cracked on. Following not winning the insite roffle it got me thinking about fuel economy and man maths.

My L200 local driving will do 140 miles on 30 quids worth of Derv

Porsche 911 Local ‘enthusiastic’ driving 120 ish miles on 40 quids worth of shell super juice

BMW 3 litre diesel tells me when I drive it average 38 MPG, but the GF 44 MPG

i know it’s all relative depending on how much you drive and budget etc but do you work out your MPG and does it have a bearing on what and how you drive?
Answers on a post card please my shiters......

 

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Sounds like you need Fuelly in your life. For the van, an integral part of my business, it's a godsend - enables me to work out the cost of fuel per mile, which I subsequently use to formulate my quotations (same day courier).

A rather 'lower than the manufacturer says in ideal motoring conditions (ie not England)' 47.4, but none too shabby, given I drive like I stole the Combo.

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https://www.fuelly.com/car/vauxhall/combo/2015/clayts/1006808

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Nope. I have a lexus rx 350, normally does 18mpg, and a civic 2.2 diesel that does "a lot". 

I think most people know a 3.5v6 is going to be juicy but a 2.2 diesel should be OK.

Also driving style etc.

Folks will always do what they want.  What i don't like is people having thirsty cars and drive fast and moan about how much it costs etc.

Buy a car that suits the usage and budget. 

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2 hours ago, S2000 said:

My friends, does anyone still focus on fuel economy....

I do if it's the dizzler Borat. I'l be driving out to Ceredigion on Thursday for a week, and know that I can do the round trip (about 470 miles) on half a tank of Sainsbury's derv. Done it before.

 

EDIT: full tank is 12.1 gallons (55 litres), so I think that works out at roughly 77mpg overall, or 27km/ltr. That's better than I thought. 🤔

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My Grand Voyager has an on board average-fuel computer which is on all the time.  Yep I'm a cheapskate ..but I also don't believe pumping fumes into the atmosphere for the sake of being a lazy driver is the way to go ..whatever I drive.  So if I get where I'm going in a timely fashion and achieve an average of 38.8 mpg (43 - 44 mpg on open dual-carriage ways) then surely I am not being such an arse. ? 

Any arse can drive fast and at the same time guzzle down a lot of fuel.  But those who drive fast, and politely, and at the same time use the minimum amount of fuel attract less attention, have less pit stops ..and so achieve better than average journey times.  No ?

Using such a computer also indicates the state of the engine, its tune, and the injectors.

Pete

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C32 AMG.

Super unleaded. 

11 mpg in heavy traffic, 18 mpg in regular city traffic, 30 mpg on a run driven sensibly, 26 mpg on the Autobahn. 

 

Golf V6 4 motion (mildly tweaked)

Super unleaded.

15 mpg in heavy traffic, 19 in regular city traffic, 30 mpg on a run driven sensibly, 28 mpg on a normal long run. 

 

Which is why I use the C32.

Fuel economy is a good thing, but if getting decent MPG means driving something diesel or slow I'd rather save money by buying something old and fairly juicy than buying something newish and boring. 

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t.b.jeepers, and certainly no offense intended, but a C32 AMG would be pretty boring to me.  After 10 minutes in normal driving conditions, even at 80 or 90mph on the motorway ..the car is so incredibly capable of more that both I and the car would be bored silly..  Personally I'd have much more fun in 2cv or an 850cc Mini which at least have character flaws to truly relish. 

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18 minutes ago, Bfg said:

t.b.jeepers, and certainly no offense intended, but a C32 AMG would be pretty boring to me.  After 10 minutes in normal driving conditions, even at 80 or 90mph on the motorway ..the car is so incredibly capable of more that both I and the car would be bored silly..  

There's a magic button that turns off the traction and ESP (AMG ones do switch them off).

It is very difficult to get bored with the ESP off as it becomes very amusing with (easily controllable) oversteer available on tap.

It is massively inside its comfort zone cruising on the motorway etc. That's why I like it. It can do comfy and quiet, boring and sensible, or hooligan silly and it does them all very well indeed. 

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Not really.

I was pretty happy and fairly impressed that my old Disco was doing 30mpg. It was comparable to everything else i'd owned from something i expected to be thirstier than pretty much anything bar the e36 238i.

The Vec doing 50mpg though is great, i really, really notice the difference in how little time i now spend at petrol stations v before.

Wouldn't stop me owning a sub 20mpg car though.

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I don't really care what the numbers are, but do track each and every fill.  Mainly because if it drops over the course of a couple of tanks it's alerting me to something needing attention.  Even if it's a smaller drop than I'd spot by just eyeballing how much I've put in.

Numbers are never going to be great for me as Milton Keynes is absolutely murderous on fuel economy because all the distributor roads are 70mph dual carriageways with roundabouts every 0.9 miles...unless you're driving an EV with really efficient regenerative braking it's always going to be horrible from an economy standpoint.

While I don't really mind what the numbers are, I do find the comparisons between different vehicles interesting - and how far outside the supposed numbers quoted by the manufacturers reality tends to be to be somewhat amusing.

I've also yet to find a trip computer that's really anywhere close to accurate.  The one in my parent's Ford Fusions were probably the worst, usually quoting a good 5MPG high for the average.  The one in the Jag surprisingly isn't far off, but tends to be a little pessimistic, though I know it has the wrong tyres on which won't help.

Current fleet averages:

Citroen Xantia Activa 2.0T: 22.7MPG.

Jaguar XJ-S V12 HE: 13.0MPG.

Mercedes T1 Autotrail Navajo Camper: 24.8MPG.

Invacar: 28.3MPG (and on a strong upward trend as I've only recently properly sorted the carb out).

 

Previous motors...

Lada Riva 1.5E Estate: 23.3MPG.

Xantia 1.9TD: 37.9MPG.

Skoda 120LX: 30.7MPG.

Saab 900i Auto: 22.9MPG.

Peugeot 306 1.6 Sedan: 35.1MPG.

Lada Niva 1.7i: 24.7MPG.

Suzuki Cappuccino: 41.7MPG.

Peugeot 107: 46.7MPG.

Skoda 135 Rapid: 36.2MPG.

Lada Samara 1.3S: 33.9MPG.

Skoda 130GL: 38.8MPG.

Saab 900 (single carb): 27.1MPG.

Lada Riva 1.5E Saloon: 28.1MPG.

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5 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

I drive a 47 year old Cadillac.  Draw your own conclusions! :)

I always get the piss taken out of me when at the petrol station in my 5.0 Mercury. “Bet you’re filling up to get to the next petrol station mar mate?” 
 

no, mate, it’s not as shit on fuel as you make out. On a run 65 mph on the motorway it’ll do 30mpg which is better than my 2.7TDv6 disco. So fuck off. 

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'If you have to ask what it's like on fuel, you can't afford it'

 

Really not arsed about economy, mostly. If doing some distance I'd take the Galaxy, but round the doors it'd be whatever drove (or rode) the nicest, or whichever I hadn't used recently.

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To a degree. Figures below converted to UK mpg for your viewing pleasure. I don't do much in the way of what we call long run driving any more, but around here driving a round trip of 160 miles isn't unheard of just to go shopping or get dinner. 

Highway figures are quoted for a steady 70 mph, with exception of the Chieftain, where they're quoted for 55.

 

Pontiac Chieftain (1951). 4.4l i8. City 12, highway 15 (book figures).

Renault GTA (1987). 2.0l i4. City 15 highway 22.

Jeep Grand Cherokee (2016). 3.6l v6. City 18 highway 33.

Dodge Challenger (2019). 6.4l v8. City 15 highway 38.

 

Obviously those figures change per driving style- the Challenger particularly has the capability to return single-figure economy if it's driven with a heavy right foot.

I find amusement in the irony that the car with the largest engine in my fleet returns the best fuel economy of the lot.

The GTA is so short geared it's impossible to get decent economy from and the Jeep has all the aerodynamic prowess of a block of flats. The Chieftain wasn't designed with fuel economy in mind beyond it not sucking it down like there was a hole in the tank.

Phil

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8 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Am sad. I use a spreadsheet, every fill of every vehicle - date, mileage, litres, cost. Gives mpg, mp£, alerts to poor running. Everyone should.

Why should they?

 

Oh the poor running. 

 

I don't care to work it out, but on one of our 3 cars they is a fuel consumption readout. 

So I know that the 3.2 omega will achieve 33 mpg if driven on cruise at 70 mph on the motorway.  

Round town since I got it going again after lockdown, a month or so back, I'm getting 17 mpg.  

Before lockdown, not much of my driving was in town and most was using cruise at 70, 60 or 50 on motorways and dual carriage ways. And I was averaging 28 mpg.

I make that 18p per mile.  When I add in repairs, depreciation and tax and insurance, I like the total figure to be less than 25p a mile. Because when I've gone over 10K business miles, the hmrc rate drops to 25p tax free.  Given that before lockdown I was doing 18K business miles a year, I probably would be better in a deseasal. So therefore you should probably conclude that I don't give a shit. 

Will be comuting to the Midlands next week, (300 mile round trip).  

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I do care about it, I used my XJ6 for commuting for a month and it averaged 18mpg and cost me £200 in fuel, the same commute in my Avensis I had at the time cost me £65, £135 is a lot of money in anyone's book, for those that say they don't care are either loaded or kidding themselves, last year I spent most of my weekends travelling to race circuits at weekends as I was a crew chef for my friend, the 27mpg I got from my A3 made it expensive so I used the wife's 307 diesel a lot as the savings would generally pay for my food and drink for the weekend.

I don't care about the mpg on the bikes as they are pleasure miles and I don't do that many but my latest bike does 48 which is the same as my Insignia.

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49 minutes ago, PhilA said:

To a degree. Figures below converted to UK mpg for your viewing pleasure. I don't do much in the way of what we call long run driving any more, but around here driving a round trip of 160 miles isn't unheard of just to go shopping or get dinner. 

Highway figures are quoted for a steady 70 mph, with exception of the Chieftain, where they're quoted for 55.

 

Pontiac Chieftain (1951). 4.4l i8. City 12, highway 15 (book figures).

Renault GTA (1987). 2.0l i4. City 15 highway 22.

Jeep Grand Cherokee (2016). 3.6l v6. City 18 highway 33.

Dodge Challenger (2019). 6.4l v8. City 15 highway 38.

 

Obviously those figures change per driving style- the Challenger particularly has the capability to return single-figure economy if it's driven with a heavy right foot.

I find amusement in the irony that the car with the largest engine in my fleet returns the best fuel economy of the lot.

The GTA is so short geared it's impossible to get decent economy from and the Jeep has all the aerodynamic prowess of a block of flats. The Chieftain wasn't designed with fuel economy in mind beyond it not sucking it down like there was a hole in the tank.

Phil

Yes but how much is a gallon of fuel?

I'd have a fleet of V8's if I lived in the US

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14 minutes ago, Jazoli said:

Yes but how much is a gallon of fuel?

I'd have a fleet of V8's if I lived in the US

$2.30/gal here right now for 90 RON, which is E10. $0.62/liter.

Cheap yes but you would be saying byebye to your piston crowns and valve seats running it in an engine set up for 95 RON minimum.

Phil

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I care about the fuel consumption of whatever I am driving, however thirsty it is. 

Setting a fuel consumption target for a journey is just as interesting as setting an average speed target. But unlike a speed target, doesn't involve the temptation to drive in a reckless and selfish manner.

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Sometimes Poor fuel economy can be a sign of engine troubles. My c20xe engine used to do 26mpg all day long..... people said that was fine. But it would do 26 at 120mph, or 60mph.... no difference. Which told me there was an issue. Once I’d changed all 16 hydrolic lifters and the lamda sensor it did 50mpg at 60mpg. Great success. 

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I suppose it boils down to why you are driving  whatever it is you are driving. Asking a group of enthusiasts is perhaps more likely to provide different answers.

If you like the car for whatever reason you live with it, or use it as a toy. Sometimes that can overlap with using it as a tool to get from one place to another, other times that’s separate. 

If this is an ecological question we can all pride ourselves in not scrapping something old or buying new - I presume this has a smaller footprint over the reverse, even if the MPG looks worse wether vs electric or hybrid (?)

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23 hours ago, Jazoli said:

 those that say they don't care are either loaded...

Er, nope, not me anyway!

23 hours ago, Jazoli said:

... or kidding themselves,

Well no.  I just don't have to commute (even when I did, it was only 4 miles each way).  Huggy can sit for weeks (as you've read here before!) without going anywhere, and that was before lockdown, so none of his miles are essential, except where they impact my mental health.  Which they do, every time, and positively!  Given that my only other costs are insurance (cheap) and repairs (cheaper than one might think) I will keep Huggy, or a car like him, for as long into the future as I possibly can.  Smiles per gallon easily outweigh miles.

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Wife's Hdi 206 doesn't seem to use any fuel at all as far as I can tell. 

She fills it up about every 6 weeks. It does a short run, work and back, school runs that sort of thing most days. 

My Outlander has a company fuel card so I really don't care. 

None of the other cars work. 🙁

So I can't say I'm that interested in mpg. 

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