Cheapest Petrol & Diesel Discussion Area

Bristim

darich wrote: »

A few yards?....are you serious?
If you're willing to drive a few car lengths from a lorry giving you no braking distance in order to get an extra mile or two per gallon then either you're tighter than a badger's butt.....or you're too skint to be driving a car.

Whatever their reason....it's not sensible...it's lunacy.

It all depends on the weather, driving conditions and the driver themselves - in some cases fine, in others not. Just watch how the wagons themselves drive.

Also remember that trucks actually can have MUCH better brakes than a car - think about it - 1 tonne stopping from x mph against 44 tonnes stopping - the truck will stop more slowly if loaded, but might actually stop more quickly than you if empty.

Driving like this can work long distance (I do journeys up to 1500 miles on a fairly regular basis), but you also risk annoying / worrying the truck drivers (creating a longer block for faster trucks coming up behind and hence making longer overtakes for them or making them think they are about to be hijacked!).

It is probably better to do what most trucks do and drive at around 56-60mph and then 'duck and dive' so that you make progress, but are not sitting behind one wagon for mile after mile, as well as making sure you keep a good view of the road ahead and so can anticipate problems.

If you are just staring at the back of a truck, they cannot see you (blind spot) and you cannot see what is happening ahead of them - tailback, junction, people cutting them up etc.

It would also help avoid the risk of being 'sandwiched' between two trucks in an accident - you would end up very flat if still between them.:exclamati

I have a 4x4 for work and have started to drive on the motorway at around 65mph - you take minimal extra time, but I am now getting about 5mpg extra over the usual rush, plus you arrive much more chilled out. Driving becomes fun again with the right 'road music' on the stereo!:cool:

[Deleted User]

Only a fool breaks the two second rule.

gadgetmind

I use a diesel vehicle on motorway trips (roughly 1-2 a month) and a bicycle for pretty much everything else, so fuel is such a small percentage of my outgoing that I just don't tend to worry about it.
Ian

dr.watson_3

Business Users - have you tried Fuel Genie?

Adams1

Cheapest pretrol/diesel has nothing to do with the amount of miles you could do to the pound... It's all down to the grade and how rich the fuel is. For example, Sainsbury/Tesco's usually sell their fuel for 5p-10p cheaper then BP/Shell... Why do you think this is? You think they can actually get it cheaper then BH/Shell? Lol. No. What happens is, they get the fuel, and mix it up a little percentage with their super duper special substance they claim does no damage to your engine, and sell the fuel for cheaper, giving you the impression your doing more miles per litre... WRONG!

Because Salisbury's/Tesco's fuel are now a lower grade/less richer, the injectors needs to pull in extra amounts of fuel in order to give the same output/performance while the fuel from BP/Shell with the higher grade/more richer uses lesser fuel to give the same output. End result? Same amount of money spent on fuel... In this case, I'd rather go get the better graded fuel then the cheaper kind and save having extra engine wear over time.

Example: Sainsbury fuel: £1. BP Fuel: £1.10. (yes, in everyone's dreams... ) Sainsbury fuel does 4 miles to the litre while BP fuel does 4.5 miles to the litre. So from a whole 50 litre tank, you've done an extra 25 miles for only £5 more, which turns out EXSACTLY the same as if you where to fill up the extra £5 at Sainsbury to make up for the 25 miles lost per tank.

John_Pierpoint

Have you an independent source that demonstrates this effect with the ordinary family car?

Care to post some links to the AA, RAC, whatever.....?

I-LOV-MONEY

Adams1 wrote: »

For example, Sainsbury/Tesco's usually sell their fuel for 5p-10p cheaper then BP/Shell

Where is this? Certainly not in north London.

In my area Shell* or Sainsbury's have been cheaper, but only by 1p or max 2p.

*I can pass three different Shell stations within my weekly route. All owned by the same franchise and often all having different prices!

Adams1

I-LOV-MONEY wrote: »

Where is this? Certainly not in north London.

In my area Shell* or Sainsbury's have been cheaper, but only by 1p or max 2p.

*I can pass three different Shell stations within my weekly route. All owned by the same franchise and often all having different prices!

There's a lot of Sainsbury's/Tesco's/Asda's around South East London. Only a couple of BP's, and perhaps a Shell not to far from here. For example the Sainsbury station @ New Cross Gate where I park my car near everyday is around 6-8p cheaper then the BP down the road. I forgot the exact prices, but I'll check tomorrow and note them both down and post back.

I-LOV-MONEY

Certainly looking around BP is the most expensive.

peterbaker

so I tend to use Shell diesel simply because they're generally the cheapest around.

I agree that generally they were if you knew which outlets to use, and perhaps for years at a stint, but this past 7 days has been seen a remarkable turnaround. I regularly travel from London to Norwich. Generally the cheapest in Norwich has been a little cheaper than the cheapest in East London. There is a Shell station in Norwich on the western part of the ring road called "Sweetbriar" only about 500m from an Asda. Like many Shell fans I have been using cashback cards to cover the small differential that sometimes exists over the local supermarket price. However, on Sunday as I returned, I needed a tankfull, and after driving onto the Shell forecourt and seeing that they were most unusually charging 4p more than the Asda I had just passed i.e. 136.9, I drove straight out again and queued at the Asda for diesel at 132.9.

Prices on the way back down the A11 reached 142.9 at some stations. The Shell station at Wymondham was 137.9 on Sunday evening. I think it was 136.9 on Friday evening when I passed it on the way up. The BP stations are usually the most expensive by several pence, but is it a better deal in real energy terms? Do police and ambulances use BP stations? Yes they do. Why?

When I left London on Friday evening, Asda on the Isle Of Dogs had been charging 132.9 for diesel. When I got back on Sunday night they were most unusually (because they are often videoed as a national low price benchmark on tv) showing 136.9.

Yet on Tuesday, Sainsburys at Beckton were still only charging 132.9 for diesel.

It appears all the fuel retailers (supermarkets and major brands alike) act as a cartel. This isn't to suggest it is so simplistic that they all agree to charge the same at all times. A type of "herding and corralling" goes on. There is no threat of government control at the moment so the retailers are playing "let's shake it up and see" with the pricepoints.

You can see from this chart that we pay the highest prices in Europe and it isn't because we pay the most tax on it, it is because the retail price (including the tax element) is constantly manipulated by the retailers acting as a cartel without competition commission control.

And as previous posters have said, there is no independent monitoring of the energy content per litre which suits the apparent cartel just fine.