'Petrol efficiency experiment; an increase of 20%' blog discussion

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  • feyaz
    feyaz Posts: 22 Forumite
    Lets all do this, decrease traffic flow and increase congestion even more, if you want to get to places slowly then walk or take the bus. if you want to concerntrate more on the trip computer than the road be my guest but if you crash into the back of my car expect a broken nose on you car and your face!!!!!!
  • !!!!!!?

    maybe you should concerntrate (sic) on other things
    .....

  • When I drive I aim to not have to use the brakes, I find this helps greatly, you are always consious of your speed because you have to think ahead, you tend not to drive too close to the car in front, you are constantly aware of the need to slow down at junctions etc and you save on wear to the braking system as well as becomming more confident and calm. I believe if more people adopted this form of driving there would be less problems on the roads The best way to drive is to be relaxed and calm and NOT to go racing around, every time you accelerate heavy you are pouring fuel into the engine, if you suddenly need to stop you strip material off your brakes....
    I drive a Ford Scorpio 2.3 and used to spend £50 a week on petrol. I had it converted to LPG and now spend about £25 a fortnight for the same mileage, I don't even bother to monitor the mileage now.
    When I first had it converted I went fro HULL to BRISTOL for £18.50... can't be bad...

    I drive a miggy 2.6 v6 auto so I generally get around 17 mpg in town and 26 on a run. I drive defensively as opposed to offensively and the difference is better fuel economy, safer driving and more calmness when I get there. I am going to see James Blunt in nottingham on Saturday so I'll test the millage on this trip.
  • The fuel injection system design of modern cars; both petrol and diesel is such that when the driver lifts their foot from the gas pedal whilst in gear, allowing the car to decelerate; e.g. approaching a junction, no fuel is injected into the engine. Instead the vehicles' momentum; whereby the wheels rotating over the road surface, keep the engine turning over via the vehicles' drive-train (differential and gearbox).

    You can take two points from this;

    1. People who put the car into neutral and coast up to junctions and down hills are actually usuing more fuel than if they lifted their foot from the gas pedal.

    2. As has been mentioned by many people in this thread; judging the road feature ahead and anticipating the slowing distance required allows the driver to lift off the gas earlier, therefore allowing maximum momentum driven decelleration, resulting in increased fuel economy.
  • almillar
    almillar Posts: 8,621
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    One thing that hasn't really been mentioned too much here is staying back from the vehicle in front. I am a fast driver, I overtake often and am usually driving at the speed limit, but I also usually slow down for things before the 'slower' driver in front of me has. Cruising up to roundabouts is something I don't like - you may be able to go without having to stop, so approach it almost as if you want to go, rather than want to stop. Conversly, if the lights are red, you should cruise up to them, increasing the chance that they'll turn green before you get to them, meaning you won't have to stop. I hope that makes sense?!!
    Just remember that cruising at a constant speed on the flat, even up to 70, is pretty economical, acceleration is the real killer, but more that that, accelerating from a standstill is hardest - anyone who has had to push a car will understand this!
    Please don't crawl all over the country either - before you do your economy experiments, have a look in your mirror to see if you're holding anyone up!
    Alan
  • Love the idea of the engine using no petrol! However running the car on fumes to test fuel consumption (I was told by a mechanic) is not a good idea with modern fuel injected engines as the gunk in the the bottom of the petrol tank gets forced through the injectors which can clog them and result in an expensive trip to the garage (even if you freewheel all the way).

    Go with the flow
    I try to use engine momentum in traffic at lights etc. whenever possible but often find I seem to have picked up another car behind me who's driving like he's attached to my boot - i.e. a tad impatient.
    I think many problems and a great deal of stress could be avoided by actually driving as though there are other people on the road. I'm told that ex bikers (yup, hands up) often make good car drivers as you never seem to forget that your survival depends on very good anticipation and use of peripheral vision.
    Shop windows can be used as big mirrors when in town enabling you to see far further up the road or round corners (and park in very tight spaces).

    Here's a little challenge for everyone though. Why not use the engine breaking method to ease the flow of traffic by letting a car out of that junction that everyone in front can't seem to see? I've found that you don't need to jam on the anchors, just look ahead, let the car slow a bit, flash your lights & let the poor guy out. I usually find that the car you let in will then let someone in at the next junction and so on. We don't get there any later, save fuel and we all feel good about ourselves into the bargain...


  • I also have an MPG display option in my Citrone, which can be entertaining on long journeys to see what's the biggest number you can make it display.

    No one seems to have mentioned the email going about suggesting a boycott of BP and Shell, for those who are interested here it is;

    Philip Hollsworth offered this good idea:

    This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the 'don't buy petrol on a certain day campaign that was going around last April or May! The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to hurt ourselves by refusing to buy petrol. It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them. BUT,whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work.

    Please read it and join in!

    Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a litre is CHEAP, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the market place not sellers. With the price of petrol going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of petrol come down is if we hit someone in the pocket by not purchasing their Petrol! And we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves. Here's the idea:

    For the rest of this year DON'T purchase ANY petrol from the two biggest oil companies (which now are one), ESSO and BP.

    If they are not selling any petrol, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. But to have an impact we need to reach literally millions of Esso and BP petrol buyers. It's really simple to do!!

    Now, don't wimp out on me at this point... keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!!

    I am sending this note to a lot of people. If each of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) ... and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers! If those three million get excited and
    pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it... ..

    THREE HUNDRED MILLIONPEOPLE!!!

    Again, all You have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all.(and not buy at ESSO/BP) How long would all that take? If each of us sends this email out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8days!!! Acting together we can make a difference If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on.

    PLEASE HOLD OUT UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE 69p a LITRE RANGE

    It's easy to make this happen. Just forward this email, and buy your petrol at Shell, Asda,Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons Jet etc. i.e. boycott BP and Esso
  • anewman
    anewman Posts: 9,200
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    setmefree2 wrote: »
    Hi

    Me & Mr SMF are trying really hard not to use our car at all. We have a Scenic. The problem with this is that often the battery goes flat through lack of use and we are continually having to recharge it. We have bought a solar pannel which tries to get it "juiced up" but does anyone have any other ideas or share our problem We can't live without a car completely.:rolleyes:

    Get a spanner and undo the negative terminal after you have used the car and re-connect when you want to use it. If you barely use the car, it won't be too much trouble - and it will also give you an opportunity to check coolant and oil etc.
  • MSE_Martin
    MSE_Martin Posts: 8,272
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Money Saving Expert
    Just a quick note on avoiding BP and shell. This has been sent to me many times - the problem is the margins are so small its irrelevant - the vast majority of what we pay doesn't go to BP and Shell it goes to tax. If you see the cheapest petrol article you can see the stats.
    Martin Lewis, Money Saving Expert.
    Please note, answers don't constitute financial advice, it is based on generalised journalistic research. Always ensure any decision is made with regards to your own individual circumstance.
    Don't miss out on urgent MoneySaving, get my weekly e-mail at www.moneysavingexpert.com/tips.
    Debt-Free Wannabee Official Nerd Club: (Honorary) Members number 000
  • anewman
    anewman Posts: 9,200
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
    Forumite
    Plus such an email/campaign is never likely to reduce the sales of those companies, otherwise with all the effort made already we'd expect their forecourts to be empty.

    And like Martin says, their £x bn profits aren't from their petrol stations, there are many uses for the oil they get. Just look at this list of petrochemicals http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrochemical Some of these chemicals are used by us everyday.
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