A way to use less petrol?

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  • DiggingOut
    DiggingOut Posts: 770 Forumite
    If your engine is warmed up, it is more efficient, but the loss of fuel used to let it warm up is far more than the loss of efficiency from driving it cold. The only reason to let it warm up first is so your wife and kids don't have to go into a cold car on those really cold mornings -- but it isn't very cost-efficient.

    Lots of ways to lighten the car:

    Have your kids hold a lot of helium balloons in the back to reduce the weight....

    Drive barefoot (less embarrassing than naked)....

    Make the kids walk....

    Empty the glove box of all old MOT forms....

    Take off the hubcaps....

    Keep the windscreen washer fluid reservoir less than 1/3 full....

    Seriously, carrying extra weight (as in three members of the local rugby team in the back) has some impact, but the biggest impacts on fuel efficiency are aerodynamics (windows closed, no roof rack, etc), energy wastage (air conditioning, rear windscreen defroster, etc), and, most of all, driving habits.

    on braking:
    Whether going up or down hill, if you depress the clutch when braking you eliminate the engine's braking power, and so increase stopping distance. We are more aware of the engine's braking power when going downhill than when going uphill, but it is present in both cases.

    In a lower gear, the braking power is greater than in a higher gear, so it matters more, but it is the same principle in whatever gear.
    I have five stars! This doesn't mean that I know anything about any of the things I post. I could be a raving lunatic, or a brilliant genius, or just some guy on the internet. In fact, I could be all three at the same time.

    If anything I say makes sense, then do it. If not, don't. Don't blame me or my stars if you do something stupid because I suggested it. I'm responsible for my own stupidity only. You are responsible for yours.

    Why, I don't even have five stars anymore! Aren't you glad you aren't responsible for my stupidity?
  • They all have to meet a minimum spec, eg EN590 in the case of diesel, and they all do, but this doesn't mean manufacturers can't exceed it, for convenience or marketing advantage. Eg the earliest Super Unleaded sold in the UK in the late 80s was typically 100 to 101 octane because for the quantities involved it wasn't worth blending it down to the 98 required to make it equivalent to 4-star.

    Further eg: sulphur in diesel was reduced to 500ppm from late 1996, but the majors all went to that spec a year early so they could brag about it in their ads. The stuff they sold to supermarkets throughout was the old, cheaper 2,000ppm spec, which is worse for engines because sulphur wears them out.


    And it contains a dozen or more tanks, filled with fuel of varying specs, supplied into it either via the UK oil pipeline or by direct pipe from a nearby refinery or oil seaport. Which tank is used to fill DTWs depends on who the fuel is going to. It is very easy for a terminal to segregate different qualities and supply accordingly.

    .

    The notion that different petrol companies provide different qualities of petrol/diesel is all very interesting, but what use is this knowlege unless we know which is the best provider? :confused: I have 120 mile round trip to work every day, drive a 2.0 turbo diesel, and would like some advice on where is the best place to fill up. If not supermarkets, where? And why?
    Thanks
  • westernpromise
    westernpromise Posts: 4,833 Forumite
    The notion that different petrol companies provide different qualities of petrol/diesel is all very interesting, but what use is this knowlege unless we know which is the best provider? :confused: I have 120 mile round trip to work every day, drive a 2.0 turbo diesel, and would like some advice on where is the best place to fill up. If not supermarkets, where? And why?
    Thanks

    I don't think there's any surefire way for a consumer to know. I guess one could inquire of the oil companies whether they currently make any performance or economy claims for any grades, and if so, what's the reference product against which the claim is made. Eg if their diesel is in some way better, is it simply better than the minimum BS EN590 standard? It might be that everybody makes similar claims. If so, all are relatively meaningless.

    The kings of nonsense claims like this for motor oil were always Castrol, who would arbitrarily pick some feature of their oil and hype it up in the ads as though nobody else's product had that feature.

    The best thing I reckon you can do to improve fuel economy, besides the above, is to do an advanced driving course. As well as making you safer and in some cases getting you cheaper insurance, you definitely use less fuel if you drive properly.

    To give 2 examples, I always used to accelerate too long during an overtake and then have to hit the brakes. The correct procedure is to come off the gas halfway through the manoeuvre, and decelerate into position. If you need the brakes, you probably did it wrong. Another example is town driving: a police driving instructor I spent a day with drove through Oxford, traffic lights and all, without stopping and only using the brake about 3 times. I insisted this had to be a fluke, so he turned around and did it again. Anticipation extends even to anticipating traffic lights - how often do you see people tearing away from one set of lights and then slamming the brakes on to stop at the next set 200 yards away?
  • alanrowell
    alanrowell Posts: 5,364
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    how often do you see people tearing away from one set of lights and then slamming the brakes on to stop at the next set 200 yards away?

    My GF for one.
  • rwgibson98
    rwgibson98 Posts: 69 Forumite
    empfun wrote:
    Hi FuzzyFelt, as the members have covered most of the useful tips. I would like to re-iterate them and perhaps add one more.

    1) Make sure your tyres are properly inflated.
    2) Let your engine warm up fully if you have time before you drive it.
    3) Don't drag the gears.
    4) Change your engine and transmission oil regularly.
    5) Replacing the spare tyre with a lightweight space saver spare will save you money in the long run. I took it one step further and did away with it completely. I never kept even the lightweight space saver spare at all, because I felt that the money I would save from having the dead weight would more than cover the call out for the AA (free for some).

    Can I add #6? Turn off your "air conditioning" (...which should be called refrigeration). I've seen a lot of people driving in winter with their "A/C" buttons pressed in, and their cabin temperature set to warm.
  • DiggingOut
    DiggingOut Posts: 770 Forumite
    alanrowell wrote:
    My GF for one.

    Get rid of her, she's expensive. ;)
    I have five stars! This doesn't mean that I know anything about any of the things I post. I could be a raving lunatic, or a brilliant genius, or just some guy on the internet. In fact, I could be all three at the same time.

    If anything I say makes sense, then do it. If not, don't. Don't blame me or my stars if you do something stupid because I suggested it. I'm responsible for my own stupidity only. You are responsible for yours.

    Why, I don't even have five stars anymore! Aren't you glad you aren't responsible for my stupidity?
  • carl310166 wrote:
    Tip's to save fuel are.

    Remove anything that increases wind resistance,eg roof rack.

    Any excess weight,eg toolbox in boot

    Drive like you have an egg under the throttle.

    Tyre pressures are vey important.

    See here..

    http://forums.tdiclub.com/ubbthreads.php?Cat=&C=2

    for fuel ecomony tips,although the guys on this forum tend to vent (fill to brim,by letting all the air out)their deisels,but beware of the expansion of fuel as posted previously.

    Weight is important,but by venting you can get a very accurate measure of mpg's,i think that's why they do it.

    I have a feeling that this one will run and run, re your comment about "drive though there is an egg under the throttle" that to me is a very selfish way of driving, because every one behind you gets baulked up, then when you pull away at traffic lights, junctions etc your OK jack, but 50% of us are left behind using more fuel and polluting the atmosphere. And for what, how much have you saved?
  • A friend of mine was working in the A and E. they brought in a mother and baby. The short story is the baby died from burns after a car accident. This is obviously not relevant except that your car is much more likely to catch fire from an accident if you drive around with a nearly empty tank. So you migth save pennies from driving around with an empty tank, but funerals are very expensive...
    I am sure the mother of the dead baby wished she had refulled before her accident.
  • empfun wrote:
    Hi FuzzyFelt, as the members have covered most of the useful tips. I would like to re-iterate them and perhaps add one more.

    1) Make sure your tyres are properly inflated.
    2) Let your engine warm up fully if you have time before you drive it.
    3) Don't drag the gears.
    4) Change your engine and transmission oil regularly.
    5) Replacing the spare tyre with a lightweight space saver spare will save you money in the long run. I took it one step further and did away with it completely. I never kept even the lightweight space saver spare at all, because I felt that the money I would save from having the dead weight would more than cover the call out for the AA (free for some).

    I agree with everything apart from item 2.

    The quickest way to wreck your engine on a cold morning, or any other for that matter, is to leave the engine ticking over on choke for ages until it warms up, the extra rich fuel mixture injected or sucked into the cylinders will wash any oil off the cylinder bores and cause rapid wear.

    You should start up, and then drive off, as simple as that, it warms your engine up to temperature far quicker, with less risk of damage to the bores.

    Russ
  • icarusi
    icarusi Posts: 94 Forumite
    Viking wrote:
    This is obviously not relevant except that your car is much more likely to catch fire from an accident if you drive around with a nearly empty tank.

    AFAIK most fires in car are caused by an electrical fault (or accident damage) fuelled by any *hydraulic fluid* which may have been spilt during the accident, and rarely anything involving the fuel tank, unless it's a particularly bad smash. A demonstration of spilling petrol directly on to a hot exhaust mainifold didn't cause a fire (although I'm sure there is a way of igniting it).
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