Can I work out how much petrol I will use in a journey?

flutterbyuk25

Hey

Is there a website that I can use to work out approx how much petrol I will use for a journey? Or does anyone know how I can work it out otherwise?

I have a 2001 Fiat Punto (unleaded) but have no idea of the milles per galloon it has.

I want to know how much I would use for a 600 mile round trip, mainly on motorway. Just a rough estimate, so I can weigh up cost against the price of train ticket.

Thanks in advance.

x

harveybobbles

If it's anything like the 1.2 16v 2001 Punto I ran a few years back then you should get late 50's out of it!

loofer

Here's quite a reflective way of calculating your MPG. I do it every time I fill up the car with diesel.

1) Fill your car with petrol until you hear the clunk from the nozzle.
2) Reset your odometer/trip computer.
3) Do tour journeys as normal untill you are aproaching empty.
4)When it's time to refuel your car, make a note of how much fuel you had to put in to fill it (untill you hear clunk) and how many mailes you had covered.
5) Here's the calculation:
No of litres used/4.54=gallons of fuel used.
No of miles travelled/gallons of fuel used= Miles per gallon!

The more often you do this calculation, the better idea you will get of your car's MPG. Don't forget it will vary depending on driving conditions, so factor that in.

Now you can use this website http://www.torquecars.com/tools/uk-mpg-calculator.php

AdrianHi

Mmmm, but there is more to the cost of running the car than just fuel.
My daily commute round trip is about £6 of diesel but I calculate the real total cost to be £19 on an under 3 year old (so lots of depreciation) car.

ariba10

AdrianHi wrote: »

Mmmm, but there is more to the cost of running the car than just fuel.
My daily commute round trip is about £6 of diesel but I calculate the real total cost to be £19 on an under 3 year old (so lots of depreciation) car.

So if you do not use the car it will not depreciate ?

rikbar

Whilst I appreciate the fact that many people fail to take into account things like depreciation and servicing costs on their journeys, likewise people who extol the virtues of public transport regularly fail to take into account the cost of time.

Based upon my calculations my car costs me 33p per mile including depn, insurance, servicing and all other costs that I can think of. A bus journey or even train journey can easily cost a similar amount per mile, but will usually take considerably longer. On my commute my car will take around 20 minutes, a bus would be more like an hour. The fare for the journey is 4.90 and the distance is around 20 miles round trip. Based upon this the trip would only cost 24p per mile on the bus and thus would appear cheaper.

If you factor in the fact my market rate for my time is over £20 per hour, by driving the time spent is worth £6.60 or so, but the hour on the bus is worth £20. Over the total mileage, taking into account the time taken and the cost of that time, the bus would cost me £1.24 per mile, the car only 99p. This also fails to take into account the time waiting for the bus to come in the first place whereas my car would be there ready to go when I needed it.

This is why for me a bus is always going to be more costly as the time it takes for a bus to come, do what seems like a tour of Engand, and then deposit me a 20 Min walk from my home makes it significantly more expensive.

just my thoughts, I hope that you enjoy your trip no matter how you choose to travel.

Rikbar

PasturesNew

I have a 1.2 Punto, I always say the cost per mile is 1/10th of the price per litre.

So, petrol at 99.9p/litre it'd be 9.99p/mile, or 10p. So 600 miles is £60.

I've done 49,000 miles in my punto and this figure's worked for years for me. It just seems to always do 10 miles per litre.

For car running costs I'd double the petrol cost. But the total running cost does depend on your annual mileage and therefore servicing costs, as well as insurance. But if you say 20p/mile it's a good approximatiion, so a 600 mile journey will cost you £120.

AdrianHi

ariba10 wrote: »

So if you do not use the car it will not depreciate ?

You know it will.
It's a case of working out the real cost of a mile on your car which is dependant on the miles you do. Do more miles and you get more value for money out of your depreciation, but in theory you do get a bit more depreciation due to extra miles.
Even if your trying to make a one off decision for a single trip there is still more than fuel cost to consider.

flutterbyuk25

PasturesNew wrote: »

I have a 1.2 Punto, I always say the cost per mile is 1/10th of the price per litre.

So, petrol at 99.9p/litre it'd be 9.99p/mile, or 10p. So 600 miles is £60.

I've done 49,000 miles in my punto and this figure's worked for years for me. It just seems to always do 10 miles per litre.

For car running costs I'd double the petrol cost. But the total running cost does depend on your annual mileage and therefore servicing costs, as well as insurance. But if you say 20p/mile it's a good approximatiion, so a 600 mile journey will cost you £120.

Thanks!

x

flutterbyuk25

AdrianHi wrote: »

Mmmm, but there is more to the cost of running the car than just fuel.
My daily commute round trip is about £6 of diesel but I calculate the real total cost to be £19 on an under 3 year old (so lots of depreciation) car.

If this was a regular journey then I would worry about depreciation/wear&tear etc but as it's just a one off I only wanted to know if it would be cheaper to drive (and have conveience of having the car with me) or take the train (and have to stick to timetables etc).

Looks like train will be best

Thanks all

x

big_gay_kirk

in terms of diesel alone, my 2.5 litre transit works out about 10p a mile on a trip... and about 16p a mile round town... my 2 litre cortina crusader (using petrol) about the same.. so i would imagine a punto would cost less than that.... but i may be wrong...