'MSE News: Mrs MSE's a gas guzzler!' blog discussion

EmehEm2005

According to my car's on-board trip computer the other day I was doing 235mpg! Mind you I was traveling downhill with my foot off the accelerator.
By the way, according to the car's handbook five minutes of idling corresponds to approximately 0.6 miles (1km) of driving.

Percy1983

My cars on board MPG thing has got to 999 (it can't go further any higher) mpg while slowing down on a long slip road, the short answer is keep it in gear when decelerating and the car uses no petrol.

In reality the avergae says 32mpg, which isn't all that bad.

Anybody tried shell fuelsave out of interest?

consumers_revenge

gonna show this article to my mrs as she thinks its twaddle and the cars faulty. My focus 1.8 doing at least 10 more miles to the gallon than her 1.3 micra - HA!

watched her drive up the motorway this weekend. can hear the engine pulling most of the way and of course she has to do 65. Me, I feather and coast, feather and coast at about 50,. Was taught to drive like this. The cars rolling anyway so why make the engine pull it to....doesnt need it.

now of course on my 125cc m/c that does about 85/90 to the gallon I still think Im 17 ( Im not no more ) and scream the a55se off it in every gear....:D just cause I can

John_Pierpoint

I don't know the characteristics of a Smart, but I would bet that the MPG falls off fast if it is driven at over 55 MPH.
[If I remember correctly the AA compared a Fiesta with a "company car" type Honda. When they screamed the Fiestas along at 80MPH it got worse MPG than the Honda at the same speed, that was a few years ago but I bet the same ratio applies].
Perhaps when Mrs MSE is on her own, her real personality is displayed.

My DW has an American type attitude to money and the environment: We are masters of the universe, If I want something I want it now. ---> what do you mean the toilet has dual flush. Lets get a move on I want to get there. European washing machines take how long (?!?) to complete a wash cycle.

My favourite irritation is to get up first in the morning, as I do most days, and find two thirds of a pint of cold water in the kettle.
The logic of boiling a measured third of a pint cup full of water, for a bedtime drink, would mean the kettle would boil in a third of the time, is completely lost on the master of the universe.

The major reason for poor performance of "green" energy saving measures is poorly designed and executed implementation, the second most important reason is the "refusal" of the consumer to understand the need to adapt their behaviour to match the new technology.

Percy1983

True it can depend very much on the gearing, my car sits arounnd 3900rpm at 70, as it is the power band is 4k-7k so not as bad as it could be but a 6th gear to bring it down to to 2000-2500prm would be nice.

John_Pierpoint

......and the work that has to be done to push the air out of the way and the shape of the car , which should try to avoid a vortex at the rear trying to suck the car backwards.

The air resistance, the work that has to be done to throw the air out of the way, is proportional to the square of the speed.

grizzly1911

I have been driving just over 30 years.

I started with 1.3 Austins/Vauxhalls with carburetors and mechanical electrical points for the spark management. They had top gears of 16mph/1000. power aof aroun 55/60bhp averaged 30mpg maybe 35 on a run in the country - remember them.

I have driven Diesels for close on 20 years now and wouldn't go back to petrol if I had a choice. I appreciate that for some ultimate luxury performance machines they do not fit in .

First Diesel was a Ford with the 1.8 indirect engine, 60bhp presume gearing of 22mph/1000 and it did 50mpg what ever you did to it. Second was a Xantia with a 1.9 XUD engine 70Bhp, 20mph/1000 and it did 47 mpg again it did not vary.

Third was a Citroen with the 2.0HDi engine - 90bhp (no turbo) and it varied quite a bit 44 -54 depending on where how it was driven.

I then had an Astra with a 1.7CTDI engine which was eco friendly 107gCO/100 -80bhp, low blow turbo, (dirt cheap on the BIK) but with useful performance due to lowish lower gears. They only put this engine in one model it had a lowered ride height and a thin/discrete boot wing spoiler, 30mph/1000 in top. worst was 55mph, more often than not 60mpg and over 5000 miles one month of motorway cruising 64mpg. For some reason they didn't seem to reuse this tune profile elsewhere.


I now have a toyota with a 2.0D2D engine, 126bhp 37mph/1000 average 47mpg but around 54mpg on main roads/motorways.


We also have a Corsa 1.3CTDI eco flex, brought for economy & £35VED. This has 75bhp and 26/7mph/1000 and whilst it will do high 40's running around it hasn't bettered 54mpg yet which is a lot less than the official figures. Disappointing after the Astra. Maybe it is a relatively big body but performance seems OK for the spec.

It is interesting to note that the modern Diesels give much improved performance but variable economy and I am sure that the "best" figures are in a large part down to the high top gears which enure the turbos aren't working too hard and the electronic engine mapping. Whilst not a fan of spoilers as such, interesting that they took time to put one on the Astra, breaking up/smoothing the drag must have contributed.

lil.smartie

With a 98-07 Smart changing up before 3,000 revs makes a huge difference, I don't drive slow and easily get 55mpg from mine

Kate

MothballsWallet

Martin, when you said that it's difficult to be a prophet in your own home, I distinctly remember on It Pays To Watch that you helped Mrs MSE sort out a better deal on her mobile contract... Or was that her home at the time?