MSE's 2011 Petrol/Diesel Cost Diet Challenge: Put your money where your pedal is! 24 December 2010 at 11:01PM edited 11 January 2011 at 8:29PM in Motoring 168 replies 75.4K views

adi_clarke85

The range was down to 385 by the time she got home - a 25 mile journey, she lost a potential 125 miles :eek:

JDPower

adi_clarke85 wrote: »

The range was down to 385 by the time she got home - a 25 mile journey, she lost a potential 125 miles :eek:

I have taken to making a game of the fuel consumption on a 20 mile journey I do a couple of times a week, reset the consumption before setting off and see how high and average I can get (my record is 58mpg, it's a 1.6L Stilo). What is amusing though is sometimes when I check the fuel remaining readout it claims I have MORE fuel after the journey than the start

23rdian

Going to give this a go. Driving a petrol Honda Prelude 2.2, getting around 250 miles to a fill up, which according to the MPG calculator posted above is approx [email protected]/l. My commute is approx 20 miles per day.

So things to try...

Keep your tyres inflated - pressures checked every other weekend.

Servicing - badly needs new plugs and an air filter, so that's pretty urgent!

Declutter your car - already started by removing the boot lining and the glovebox (well if you have nowhere to put items...and it's weight reduction too)

Take your roof rack off - never had one.

Turn off air con at lower speeds - only use when weather is uncomfortably warm or for demisting in winter.

Don't fill it up - may have to in order to calculate MPG as no trip computer

Drive more efficiently - requires work. I tend to alternate between perfectly relaxed and not so. i.e. give myself more time for journeys.

Find the cheapest Petrol or Diesel - always buy cheapest on my usual route, usually Morrisons with the Miles reward card (300 litres = £5 to spend in-store)

Use a cashback credit card - Capital One 1% cashback

JDPower

23rdian wrote: »

Don't fill it up - may have to in order to calculate MPG as no trip computer

Someone already posted to give a rough calculation of the weight saving that makes and its absolutely miniscule so wouldn't worry about that (I've noticed no difference in consumption figures over a set journey on full tanks or near empty). Same goes for the glovebox and boot IMO, unless your keeping a glovebox full of lead it's gonna be something like 0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% (or less lol) of the cars weight

adi_clarke85

JDPower wrote: »

I have taken to making a game of the fuel consumption on a 20 mile journey I do a couple of times a week, reset the consumption before setting off and see how high and average I can get (my record is 58mpg, it's a 1.6L Stilo). What is amusing though is sometimes when I check the fuel remaining readout it claims I have MORE fuel after the journey than the start

When we filled up on Saturday ours had 735 in the tank, by the time we got home from our day out it was at 800 :rotfl:

Outerbridge

You can log your fuel purchases and work out mpg/ fuel economy online for free at pitstoplog

swaledaleslots

I always pump up to the max advised in the handbook to reduce the rolling resistance, which seems to make a significant difference, also keeping to 2000 rpm (diesel) max. If considering a new car, think about tyre width, as fancy low profile tyres tend to be noisy, uncomfortable, expensive and fuel inefficient. On a lighter note, don't pick up hitchhickers, dump the wife & kids and the spare tyre (your's and the rubber one).:rotfl:

xkr_driver

Hi all,

I've been an avid follower of tips to save petrol/diesel whilst driving. Most are very good and I do follow them (having owned two XKR's). I had an 1.8T Audi TT and a 4L Jag, I drove as carefully as I could in Europe, not in the UK. My average mpg??

1.8t TT = 31mpg, 4l Jag = 29mpg. Hmmm food for thought :beer:

I must comment that ONE tip I absolutely think is the MOST dangerous ever is the "lets not brake, lets let the car use rolling resistance to slow down". What the HELL are you clowns thinking of? What do you thing brake lights are on the back of your car for?? Seriously?? They are there to let drivers BEHIND you that you are slowing down. Decelerating rather than braking is FINE on an empty road with no one behind you, but bloody dangerous when there are. I absolutely hate these people that use "rolling resistance deceleration" from 1/2 a mile from a junction. One minute the car is a fair distance in front doing the speed limit, the next you are nearly into the back of them. Why? Because they don't use their BRAKE LIGHTS to let others know they are slowing down. It's not hard is it?


The other rant is the "lets not keep at the same speed while climbing a hill" on a motorway or dual carriageway. You know, the ones that pull out from the middle lane and stop accelerating when the moving traffic is doing 70mph and they are doing 55-65mph. You should not cause drivers behind you to hit the brakes going UP HILL :mad: because you have no thoughts for other drivers as you are so keyed up on hypermiling.
On empty US & European roads it's fine :T but not on the UK's crappy roads with bumper to bumper little hatch backs.
Rant over.

AlexisV

It's the responsibility of the driver behind to keep a distance. Brake lights indicate braking. Taking your foot off the gas does not cause a sudden stop.

If you're careering into the back of someone who has taken their foot off the accelerator you've got problems mate

JDPower

xkr_driver wrote: »

One minute the car is a fair distance in front doing the speed limit, the next you are nearly into the back of them. Why? Because they don't use their BRAKE LIGHTS to let others know they are slowing down.

No, because you weren't paying attention