Diesel PRices

citroenesque · Unread post by **citroenesque** » 02 Apr 2010, 20:31

Still, compared with the depreciation that owners of new or nearly new cars (not to mention the high service costs) face, a few pence on a litre makes a difference - but not as big as some would have us believe. Doing 30,000 miles a year in a 35 mpg new car will cost around £4,500. Expensive yes, but at 99p a litre it'd still be £3,850 for fuel. Compare that to a drop in resale value (plus the odd service at the dealership) - which could easily be around £5,000 - and it's still 'small beer'.

OK it's expensive to run a car. It makes running a car that cost less than a grand (and manages over 30 mpg say) the sensible choice. Even my BX which struggles to reach 30 mpg most of the time, represents a relatively cheap form of motoring.

Homer · Unread post by **Homer** » 02 Apr 2010, 21:19

After being stung by a tampered chip and pin machine I use the pay at pump facility at the local ASDA.

Unfortunately it has a £70 spending limit, which got me just 3/4 of a tank the other day.

Guess the kids will have to eat less.

steelcityuk · Unread post by **steelcityuk** » 02 Apr 2010, 23:59

The price here in Sheffield is around the 115.9 ppl mark. Unfortunately the XMs off the road for a top end rebuild so I can't currently use any of the 130 litres of svo I've got stored but with the help of a scangauge I'm getting nearly 50 mpg around town out of the A170 CDI. It's surprising just how much you can increase mpg by picking the right gear/revs/speed and coasting when possible.

I'd love to be able to persuede all motorists to leave their cars at home and catch public transport (like the politicians pretend they want us to do!) and watch the country come to it's knees without the money and flexibility that motorists provide. Oh and watch the public transportation choke under a load it couldn't possibly manage.

Steve.

rmunns · Unread post by **rmunns** » 03 Apr 2010, 07:15

In this part of France, diesel price is €1,11 a litre, petrol €1,39.

That is, diesel = £1.00 a litre; petrol = £1.25 a litre.

It's steadily creeping up. Luckily I only need only one tankful a month.

MikeT · Unread post by **MikeT** » 03 Apr 2010, 11:18

superloopy1 wrote:Veggie better than sunflower, both on offer?

I didn't give it a second thought Mike, so on reflection if sunflower oil is thinner, I would chose it next time (assuming there's no difference in cetane between the two).

Those with tired, old fuel pumps might actually benefit from the thicker fuel though.

If I had the space, I would seriously consider making my own WVO processor.

tonupteabag · Unread post by **tonupteabag** » 03 Apr 2010, 11:25

MikeT wrote:
superloopy1 wrote:Veggie better than sunflower, both on offer?
I didn't give it a second thought Mike, so on reflection if sunflower oil is thinner, I would chose it next time (assuming there's no difference in cetane between the two).

Those with tired, old fuel pumps might actually benefit from the thicker fuel though.

If I had the space, I would seriously consider making my own WVO processor.

i have thought about wvo but the processing seems a bit long winded and the boiling of the wvo to remove the glycerins seems a bit dodgy in the garage but as i have only read about it i'm not sure either way i could do with speaking to someone who knows a lot more about the process costs and benefits
time and space i have got (well once i can sell my four bikes) its knowledge of the procedure i lack

red_dwarfers · Unread post by **red_dwarfers** » 03 Apr 2010, 12:33

Our local Shell garage the prices are £1.209 for DERV and £1.199 for Petrol. I filled up with £30 of DERV the other day and I had a terrible burning sensation in my trousers next to my wallet pocket

I then went to Morrison's to pick up some soothing liquid aka veggie oil at 85ppl. At one point a year or 2 ago I was running on grapeseed oil as it was even cheaper than rapeseed! Felt quite strange putting green oil into the fuel tank

oxtailsoup · Unread post by **oxtailsoup** » 04 Apr 2010, 12:56

Spain (Almeria) is 1.04 euros a litre for diesel and 1.16 for sin plomo (unleaded

).

oxtailsoup · Unread post by **oxtailsoup** » 04 Apr 2010, 13:02

Can you put sunflower/veg oil straight into your tank? Diesel of course

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 04 Apr 2010, 14:09

red_dwarfers wrote: Felt quite strange putting green oil into the fuel tank

Looks just like LHM doesn't it Kev

Tastes quite nice when you actually cook with it too...

evilally · Unread post by **evilally** » 04 Apr 2010, 14:30

tonupteabag wrote:
MikeT wrote:
superloopy1 wrote:Veggie better than sunflower, both on offer?
I didn't give it a second thought Mike, so on reflection if sunflower oil is thinner, I would chose it next time (assuming there's no difference in cetane between the two).

Those with tired, old fuel pumps might actually benefit from the thicker fuel though.

If I had the space, I would seriously consider making my own WVO processor.
i have thought about wvo but the processing seems a bit long winded and the boiling of the wvo to remove the glycerins seems a bit dodgy in the garage but as i have only read about it i'm not sure either way i could do with speaking to someone who knows a lot more about the process costs and benefits
time and space i have got (well once i can sell my four bikes) its knowledge of the procedure i lack

No need to boil or process to "remove glycerins", I suspect your thinking of making biodiesel which is far more complicated.

I chuck all mine into a 205L drum and leave it to settle. All the crud will sink to the bottom. The good oil gets pumped off the top through a prefilter into a second drum which is heated and insulated. It gets heated to 60 degrees and left to stand for 2 days. When the oil is hot it's thinner, so all the water will seperate out to the bottom of the tank. You don't want to boil it off, as this will leave behind contaminants that the water has picked up. Next, it gets pumped through a 5 micron filter and into my tank

It is a messy business, and you do need a bit of space, but the upside is I've done 28,000 miles on fuel that costs 10ppl. It is also strangely addictive and satisfying

KP · Unread post by KP » 04 Apr 2010, 15:51

Sid try looking around for local gas bottle suppliers as a few round me don't advertise they do LPG but i know they do and are generally no more than 45ppl and one was 39p last time i looked!

Round me Vpower is 122.9 at the Shell closest to my work.
Normal Diesel and Petrol are 114.9 at a BP just across the road from my office but they didn't have Ultimate in last time i went past

My car at best does 31mpg but generally between 23-17

May have to DIY LPG install at some point at this rate and put a small tank in the boot as mines a work hack. at best i have seen 370ish miles out of my tank.

Once got just over 700 out of my 1.9td Veg oil xantia

that was 70ppl then from costco & bookers.

Xaccers · Unread post by **Xaccers** » 04 Apr 2010, 17:45

oxtailsoup wrote:Can you put sunflower/veg oil straight into your tank? Diesel of course

Yes as long as you have a bosch pump (ie 1.9TD Xantia)
HDi's and Lucas cannot cope with veg.

Citroenmad · Unread post by **Citroenmad** » 10 Apr 2010, 20:37

Its currently 119.9 at my local shell for diesel. Its gone up 5p in the last week! Cost me £80 to fill up the C5, never have i hade to spend so much filling it.

Pleiades · Unread post by **Pleiades** » 10 Apr 2010, 20:56

For my tuppence worth .......

Fuel is one thing that has not realy gone up in price since 1950.

The reason that I believe this is that when I left school and started my working life I was earning 75p per hour, petrol was 75p per gallon. When I was moaning one day to one of my older work mates about having to work for an hour to by a gallon of fuel, he sat and thought back, then said that when he left school in 1950, he was earning one gallon of petrol per hour, so in real terms, the price was the same.

Now if you do a very rough conversion and say that fuel is £1.20 per liter x 4.5 = £5.40 per gallon. A young lad leaving school now would be earning about a gallon of fuel per hour.

So I think that I am correct in stating that the price of fuel has stayed pretty much the same in line with wages??

Regards.
Martin.

PS I still have a moan about it though and run on veg cos its cheaper,