Motoring MoneySaving Checklist discussion

vikingaero

jdifa wrote: »

Join the Institute of advanced motorists. You will save on wear and tear and insurance is considerably lower cost as the insurerrecognises the lower risk from advanced drivers.

Save money by going along to your local IAM Group first for a trial session. I found my local group to be a bunch of moaning jobsworths. Of course not every group will be the same and some I imagine will be very friendly and accommodating.

fivetide

General_Mayhem wrote: »

4 - Don't buy premium fuels for standard cars.

This is misleading - Premium fuels can deliver some significant (10-20%) fuel economy savings,

Sorry but I think this is wrong. The fuel manufacturers don't even claim that and Shell had to pull their fuel save adverts for having detergents in the fuel to help save 1ltr a tank because they couldn't actually prove it.

but you have to understand how to get the benefit. There are two parts to Premium fuels which may effect your engine:
1. Octane Number, or RON. This is the 95, 97 etc rating of the fuel, and describes how quickly it burns. Generally your car engine is tuned to a particular fuel, and this is where the "unless you have a sports car" in the tips come from. But it is not quite as simple as that. If you have a car with variable valve timing (variously called VVT, SVT, VVA, VTEC, Multiair by different manufacturers, and I'm sure there are more), your car monitors how the fuel burns, and will therefore make the most of whatever fuel you feed it. If you have a "normal" engine in a "normal" car, it will be tuned to RON 95 and there is no benefit from the higher octane fuel. If you have a sportier "normal" engine tuned to RON97+ it may "pink" on RON 95 fuel, and will deliver better economy (and not ruin you catalytic converter) on RON 97+

If you have a UK bought and supplied car with no modifcations it should run fine on 95 a sporty model or otherwise. the only exceptions I can think of are cars that are very highly tuned, such as Subaru STi's which specificy super unleaded (although they can be run on 95 as the ECU allows for it. you get less power but not necessarily less mpg. To suggest a VTEC Ford Focus is going to pink on 95 fuel is misleading I think.

2. Detergents. The new(ish) wave of "branded" fuels like BP Ultimate, Shell V-Power etc differ from bog standard RON 98 fuel by the addition of detergents that help clean your engine. These help remove sooty and oily deposits that build up in your engine, and are what leads to most people noticing a big improvement after trying out the new premium fuels. This is nothing new, products like RedEx etc have been around for donkey's years and do the same thing. The key here is that you only really need to use it every 10 or so fills to get the benefit, as the deposits do take time to build up.

There might be some truth here although I would refer you back to the Fuel Save claims again!

Best thing for an engine is the occasional long run and a little bit of rev to open the valves properly once in a while. Tootling round town will not let the motor get up to temp properly premium fuel or not.

The long and the short of it is that for most cars, it is probably worth filling up with premium fuel every 10 or so tanks, and for cars that can benefit from higher octane fuel, it may be worth it all the time.

Agree in principle, once in a while might help, especially if going on a long run but essentially, no need to worry unless your car has super unleaded specified by the manufacturer.

5t.

psychic_teabag

I recently got a nearly-new Honda Jazz (i-VTEC). Just noticed that the owner's manual says

Fuel Recommendation
Your vehicle is designed to operate on Premium/Super unleaded petrol with a Research Octane Number (RON) of 95 or higher.

I thought standard unleaded was 95 ? Dealer didn't mention that I should be using special petrol. Should I just (continue to) ignore this ?

vikingaero

95 RON is standard. But in many European countries and the USA a lower 91 RON unleaded is available... and fantastic to run hire cars on.

fivetide

psychic_teabag wrote: »

I recently got a nearly-new Honda Jazz (i-VTEC). Just noticed that the owner's manual says



I thought standard unleaded was 95 ? Dealer didn't mention that I should be using special petrol. Should I just (continue to) ignore this ?

Yes your car is quite happy on 95 OR higher. The important thing is not to use anything lower (or put diesel in it ha!).

Even as a VTEC you will not get a performance boost using higher octain fuel.

5t.

Yogibear

have we all stopped driving in 2013:rotfl:

forgotmyname

Everyones stuck on the M25. Another couple of months before they get home.

smartgolfer

Hello everyone, i just want to share new of my 'Victory' on taking on Halfords for doing 'Unauthorised Work' on my car recently.

I took my car in for a service and MOT, its a BMW 118 08plate with full service history, BMW main agents are notoriously expensive, but i want to maintain the histroy angle, anyway, it went in, and as usual, Halfords sold me two extras, a fuel filter, and brake fluid change, its ok i dont mind that, i did check that this would be an anomaly.

On collection i was told that the wheels were out of balance and that there was an extra charge for rebalancing, i challenged it, the manager was quite adamant he was within his rights to do this, i gain challenged that, and wanted to know why i was not informed of extra work, anyway, i paid it under protest.

A few days later i got a customer questionaire, filled it in, Customer Service Halfords wanted to know if they could help, so i left it with them, they came back and found that i was in the wrong and Halfords were right.

I was infuriated, i checked Consumer Law and wrote a email of 'Intent Before Action', outlining the problem and should they not resolve this, it would end up in the Small Claims Court.

Heard nothing, 7 days passed, so i paid my fee with Small Claims, the following day, 'today' i receieved a cheque from Halfords!!!

Now i have to stop the court proceeding...sigh...

Advice to all.....dont give up... keep records and fight back.

Halfords do this all the time apparently, in order to boost revenue through unsuspecting customers.

By the way, i did contact Trading Standards, but they were not interested.

Good Luck everyone.:j

smartgolfer

Hi everyone, what i forgot to tell you, was i only had a new set of tyres fitted 3 months ago, and Halfords rebalanced my tyres without my permission or informing of intent, thats where the problem was...

Good luck if you have issues with Halfords!:j

smartgolfer

I was a member for some 7 years, during that time, i have to agree that the 'Majority' of members were stuck up know alls, constantly critisising other road users.

If you look at some examples on YouTube of Uk bad drivers, then i think there is a problem.

If i were riding my Motorcycle again, i would seriously consider video recording equipment to be part of my kit, ie helmet cam etc, this would in effect be admisible as evidence should the need arise in defence, check out DataProtection Act, CPS love recordings, just make sure they are date stamped for every journey!

On the whole, IAM have alot to offer, their advice and training is good, then its up to you to impliment it and or stay with the training group...