A few questions regarding fuel consumption

Chickabiddybex

So... It's better to stay in gear going down a hill and in neutral at the lights?

mattyprice4004

Chickabiddybex wrote: »

So... It's better to stay in gear going down a hill and in neutral at the lights?

Absolutely.
The answers to why for both things are discussed in this thread - have a read back through.

reeac

Bongles wrote: »

How much longer does it take you? Not much I expect - but if nothing else, if your driving was otherwise identical on the two runs, every time you lift off early on the 70mpg run to avoid the brakes will cost you a little bit of time compared to the 53mpg run where you're prepared to accept the brakes.

There's another aspect to all this and that is how much you value your own time. The time you save on one 10 mile trip might be pretty minimal, but then so is the cost saving over one trip (I make it about 29p from your figures assuming £1.40 a litre). But add them up over one trip per week and all the rest of the driving you do and the differences - time and cost - can become significant.

I was bored so I did some sums. One trip a week - 52 trips a year - will save you just over £15. If you value your time at minimum wage than as long as the total time penalty is less than about 2.4 hours over the 52 trips you're quids in. That equates to an average speed difference of 6 or 7 mph. I doubt you're noticing that much difference between your 53mpg and your 70mpg. Value your time at £15 an hour and you only need to be a couple mph faster on average for you to be better off with your 53mpg runs, which isn't implausible.

Each individual will, of course, have their own idea of what their time's worth. (As well as other, independent, factors like getting pleasure from improving mpg or getting pleasure from improving average cross country speed).

I haven't timed it but I'd guess a couple of minutes - say 17 mins. rather than 15 mins. It's a 60 mph. limit road but bumpy, narrow and winding with poor visibility [hedges] some of the way so it's never a fast journey. I only tried the "no brakes" method after someone told me about it and I found the alleged economy gain hard to believe. I regard it as a bit of entertainment rather than a serious economy gambit. I suppose that the fact that I can normally rely on getting 53 mpg. when Honda claim 47 mpg. must say something about my driving style or where I do most of my driving. On motorways the figure drops to 50 mpg.

westwood68

Braking on motorways should be a criminal offence with a term of 20 years hard labour.

On the the other hand so should drafting behind an arctic. On a 240 mile journey up the A1 from Surrey to Yorkshire yesterday I saw at least 10 cars with their noses under the back end of an arctic.