What are you doing to save fuel?

reblack68 · Unread post by **reblack68** » 22 May 2008, 17:37

citrojim wrote:I notice even Tesco are not always exactly competitive these days. Once they could be relied upon to be the cheapest in town, often by a considerable margin.

So much for keen competition keeping prices low

When Tesco opened in our town they kept their prices low until all the other filling stations had gone out of business. Then they hiked their prices so that they were the most expensive in Fife. You can be absolutely sure that they have similar plans for their supermarkets, their prices are creeping up already.

There was a bit of an outcry and they put their prices down a bit but I have a long memory. If I find myself so short of fuel that Tesco is the only garage I can get to I put 2 litres in on a credit card and drive somewhere else.

Unread post by **myglaren** » 23 May 2008, 10:59

Not exactly saving fuel but buying it a bit cheaper.
Filled up at our local Biodiesel joint (they make it next door to the place I 'work' at. £1.15/L (58L/£66.70)
The prices at Sainsbury's were increased again yesterday:

Station : Sainsburys Washington
Address : The Galleries, Washington Centre, Washington, NE38 7RU
Brand : Sainsburys
Distance : 0.88
Price : 120.9p
Updated : 21-05-2008

Although I had to go a seven mile round trip to get the Bio it is still worth it.

Since last fill-up I'm getting 37.5 MPG. Mainly short trips, around 10-25 miles a go. One 180 mile trip to Scotland but much country road driving on that one.

r.welfare · Unread post by **r.welfare** » 24 May 2008, 08:49

There's about 15p/litre difference between diesel and Unleaded around here. I haven't seen any "pump" biodiesel for sale.

I've been driving a fair bit on business recently in the GLDT. My last trip from Newbury to Bradford and back, doing no more than 70 on the M1 (and usually sticking to HGV speeds - when the traffic is bad, you can't go much faster anyway!), trying not to use the brakes, and coasting where possible/safe, netted me 55mpg. If I took the roof bars off, I'd probably get more than that

This week I'm travelling from Newbury to Trowbridge in Wiltshire, which has a real mix of driving - A34, A303, past Stonehenge and across Salisbury Plain, then really winding, sometimes single-track roads (a much shorter route than M4 to Chippenham then down!). It's a bit too early to tell what the economy figure is.

The Hunter still has about a quarter of a tank left of the 50:50 veg/DERV mix I put in it in mid-March; I don't use it a huge amount! Be interesting to try that next week to see how it differs.

I drove my wife's 2001 Skoda Fabia 1.4 16v (petrol) to Cardiff and back last Wednesday, and was pretty astounded to get 48mpg (well, according to it's little trip computer anyway), again sticking to 70 on the M4, but with the a/c on all the time.

Mind you, that little thing has zero torque so it's not as relaxing to drive as something XUD9TE-equipped; but with the fuel price differential as it is, it makes you think...unfortunately it's too small for our impending baby, so the 2000 Honda Accord 1.8 auto that will be replacing it (courtesy of my dad!) will be a bit of a culture shock at the pumps

Ross_K · Unread post by **Ross_K** » 24 May 2008, 09:13

Diesel's €1.42 a litre around here. Petrol's €1.30.

A local petrol station's started selling biodiesel from the pump for €0.98 - I think I'll be trying that next time I need to fill up...

Unread post by **myglaren** » 24 May 2008, 10:53

After filling up and then doing a bit of a trip, about 20 miles, I found on returning home that it was idling a but unevenly - it has never done this before, always runs smoothly but sometimes 'hunts' a bit on idle.
Also the guy who pumped the bio had neglected to replace the filler cap. No indicators illuminated on the dash - should I worry about this?
[/OT]

bigjl2 · Unread post by **bigjl2** » 24 May 2008, 12:02

I would be wary of the quality of a previously unused source of biodiesel, but if you go onto http://www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk you will find lots of good info', but if you have never used bio before I would do a fuel filter soon as bio has the same trick up its sleeve as SVO, it tends to clean a lot of gunk out and deposit it in your fuel filter, you might even have to change you filter 2 or 3 times in the weeks after going onto BIO, but once the initial stage is over it should be OK.

bigjl2 · Unread post by **bigjl2** » 24 May 2008, 12:03

I would be wary of the quality of a previously unused source of biodiesel, but if you go onto www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk
you will find lots of good info', but if you have never used bio before I would do a fuel filter soon as bio has the same trick up its sleeve as SVO, it tends to clean a lot of gunk out and deposit it in your fuel filter, you might even have to change you filter 2 or 3 times in the weeks after going onto BIO, but once the initial stage is over it should be OK.
Have trid to do a linky on the website but for some reason it won't work, but it is a good site and well worth a read. But as far as fuel costs go, I am looking more and more into buying a petrol car and putting it on gas, with a kit from tinleytech.[/url]

Unread post by **myglaren** » 24 May 2008, 12:28

I did use this same source for bio since around June last year.
The manager left just before Christmas '07 so they discontinued production until a replacement manager was found.

I have been off work since February due to an acident and have been filling up with dinodiesel at Sainsbury's.

It was really the steep rise in the cost of diesel and being in contact with one of my colleagues who also uses bio that prompted me to fill up there yesterday.

It will be going for a service soon but the filters ware changed last October after it had been running on bio for a while - they were spotless, the car had only done 2,000 miles since it's previous service, when I bought it.

I suspect that my EGR valve is sticking as it sounds 'exhausty' but the exhaust system is fully intact - just had a new back box and a repair section fitted.

Consumption is quite variable. As one would expect a very long run is very good for it but this is soon dragged down by very short trips and much stop-start driving in heavy traffic.

Unread post by **lolingram** » 25 May 2008, 17:15

AndersDK

PostPosted: Wed May 2008 Post subject: Reply with quote
My wife has stopped smoking - cigarettes

Still on the pipe and chewing tobacco?

!

Unread post by **myglaren** » 25 May 2008, 17:44

lolingram wrote:
AndersDK

PostPosted: Wed May 2008 Post subject: Reply with quote
My wife has stopped smoking - cigarettes
Still on the pipe and chewing tobacco? !

Reminds me of the old Addams family episode where Morticia says "Anyone mind if I smoke" and clouds of smoke billow out from under her dress.

mbunting · Unread post by **mbunting** » 26 May 2008, 23:04

I'm actually quite proud of my efforts.

A highly de-tuned ( read neglected ) 405 2.0 STI Auto Estate with really dodgy electrics which generally mean the cooling fans are on full all the time...

Anyway, my usual mpg was about 27-29, so I started slowing down a little, doing an indicated 60 on cruise ( which was a GPS 56mph ) in lane 1, not bothering, or being bothered by HGV's.

Anticipating lights and traffic a little more than usual, and not using the car at lunch for short trips out to fetch lunch.

My mpg is now 37-39 mpg.

I'm seriously considering printing a 50 speed note, and sticking it in the back window, then crusing at a steady GPS 50mph, especially on the way back from work when time is less "important" and the traffic is generally lighter anyway.

Done some calcs recently, I'd actually be better off buying an AX 1.0 than an AX 1.5D ( I've actually owned both in the past ) with the price diffrential between diesel and petrol expected to widen still further.

I've just scrapped a 406 2.1TD ( working but no MOT and bad PAS ), and a Fiesta 1.8D !!!

Unread post by **myglaren** » 27 May 2008, 00:17

I dread to think what mine has been today. 150 mile round trip. Left the CD off and enjoyed the minimal noise of the car floating along the highways and byways. Bit of wind noise from the roof rails (blowing a gale n places) otherwise not much at all.

Despite good intentions at the beginning the speedo needle just kept creeping up all on its own, nothing I could do to stop it.

Very quiet roads on the return journey meant I got home far sooner than expected. Just hope there were no Gatso's around.

The driver of the Audi A4 2.5L cabrio looked well pissed when I flashed past him and he must have been doing 90.

The C5 performed impeccably. As usual.

AndersDK · Unread post by **AndersDK** » 27 May 2008, 09:48

myglaren wrote:Reminds me of the old Addams family episode where Morticia says "Anyone mind if I smoke" and clouds of smoke billow out from under her dress.

Seems a really good party joke

Plumb bob · Unread post by **Plumb bob** » 30 May 2008, 22:38

What am I doing to save fuel?

Driving like my dad!

I wanna be thrashing the living daylights outta a V8 Mustang or summat, but the current financial/economic situation in this country, and in my house in particular dictate that I have to seriously consider if I can afford to run a car at all ( even though I need one to get to work) and therefore have to consider the possibilty that I may have to give up working and claim benifit ( on economic grounds) then I'll be reall "green" coz I won't burn any fuel sitting on my arse claiming dole!!

<Edited: potentially offensive comments removed>

Rant over!

James.UK · Unread post by **James.UK** » 03 Jun 2008, 00:41

I foresaw the fuel increase

That's why I replaced my old ZX diesel auto with another one just like it last year.. heh heh..

If anyone has a pre 1995 ZX diesel auto with leather interior and air con lying around in their garage, please let me know, as I could easily be tempted to replace the Honda

.. lmho

Speaking of which, the Honda is now only used on long Mway runs, hols etc.. It is far to heavy on fuel to use localy in traffic. for shopping, commute, etc etc.

.