Spending too much on petrol?

lisademps · 12-05-2013 12:39am #1

Trying to figure out if there is something wrong with my car. I have a 05 Focus, 1.6 petrol. Can anyone tell me how much they spend on petrol per week? I don't drive it that much but when I do I'm spending loads on petrol. I'm not naive, I know it's a 1.6 petrol but everybody is telling me I am spending way too much on it. It takes about E120 to fill the tank and if I drive it constantly I would be lucky to get a week out of it. Is this normal? I know it's time for a Diesel but my car is in excellent condition, there's only 50K KM's on it!

Supergurrier · 12-05-2013 12:47am

Impossible to calculate how much you are using w/o a starting point like miles per week exactly and how much is on your fuel tank. My auntie has one of these and says it seems heavy enough 30-35mpg at best.

Let tank run to a certain point like exactly 1/2 or 1/4 and reset the trip computer then drive car until it says it's at the same reading on fuel gauge/trip computer readout under miles remaining (until empty) and work it out from there.

Im suprised the tank takes €120 tbh my Focus is completely brimmed with around €80

Edwardius · 12-05-2013 12:55am

That's a 55-60 litre tank. where are you filling it?!

Supergurrier · 12-05-2013 12:56am

55 Litre on the 2005 MK2 1.6 inline 4 anyway, so i would be checking your fuel tank for holes.

Alanstrainor · 12-05-2013 12:57am

From googling around the tank should be in and around 55 litres. Unless there's a hole in it i reckon you're not putting as much as you think into it.

lisademps · 12-05-2013 12:58am

I know! I was thinking that maybe the pumps were fixed! 118 it cost me! I think I have filled it before for 102. I know it all depends on the price of the petrol too. I am going to Supergurrier's advice and take a record of it when it's exactly quarter full.

HeidiHeidi · 12-05-2013 1:02am

Surely a more precise way of doing it would be to fill it to the brim, take the mileage, then after you've done a decent amount of mileage fill it again and take the mileage and work out your exact miles/litre.

I've a 1.6 car (not a Focus) and I've never (yet) spent more than €90 to fill it.... where on earth are you buying fuel

ETA - km/litre.... showing my age now, it's a wonder I didn't refer to gallons!

Supergurrier · 12-05-2013 1:04am

It's very hard to fix a pump like that though as there would be way inside the first day as people would know quickly enough what was going on. The mk2 focus has a large enough reserve in that relatively small 55l tank it's something like 10l or so, i have often filled mine when it's at 20 miles until empty and it won't take more than 43-44l and when i hop in the car it's past full on the needle.

Supergurrier · 12-05-2013 1:06am

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Surely a more precise way of doing it would be to fill it to the brim, take the mileage, then after you've done a decent amount of mileage fill it again and take the mileage and work out your exact miles/litre.

I've a 1.6 car (not a Focus) and I've never (yet) spent more than €90 to fill it.... where on earth are you buying fuel

ETA - km/litre.... showing my age now, it's a wonder I didn't refer to gallons!

No need to fill it though, you just need a reference point on the tank be it 1/8 1/4 1/2 etc and a trip reset

johndaman66 · 12-05-2013 1:14am

€120 to fill the tank seems just wrong to me. I would guess the Focus has a 60 litre tank. It may be smaller but I would be very very surprised, shocked in fact if it was any bigger capacity a tank.

At a price of €1.60 per litre (its currently circa €1.53 per litre locally here) and assuming the tank was bone dry when going into the filling station (which we know is unlikely to happen much in reality) then it would take €96 to fill the tank.

Supergurrier wrote: »

Let tank run to a certain point like exactly 1/2 or 1/4 and reset the trip computer then drive car until it says it's at the same reading on fuel gauge/trip computer readout under miles remaining (until empty) and work it out from there.

Unfortunately fuel guages and range computers are so often grossly inaccurate Supergurrier. I think the best way is to brim the car and reset the trip computer. Wait until the fuel light comes on again and pay heed to how many litres it takes to brim it and also pay heed to the distance covered as per trip computer.

Calculation should not be too difficult for most people from there but if you are not a modern European citizen like me you will most likely need to convert kilometres to miles and most definately the litres to gallons.

lisademps · 12-05-2013 1:23am

One example from this week was 375KM for E50. I will wait till its completely empty and reset the tripometer.

HeidiHeidi · 12-05-2013 1:28am

lisademps wrote: »

One example from this week was 375KM for E50. I will wait till its completely empty and reset the tripometer.

KM/€ is no good, as pump prices vary quite a lot.

You don't have to run it dry.

I still reckon start from a full tank, and note the mileage. Then when you fill again (you don't have to empty it completely) you know exactly how many litres you've put in, and how many km you've done since it was last full. This gives you an accurate km/l figure, and you can then compare with other figures that people/internet may give you.

Supergurrier · 12-05-2013 1:35am

lisademps wrote: »

One example from this week was 375KM for E50. I will wait till its completely empty and reset the tripometer.

Well i get 190 miles from a full tank which is 55 X 1.55 a litre is €85 quid of fuel with a mpg readout of 23mpg.

But you need a starting point to get an accurate reading/i don't generally care what mpg im getting

Alanstrainor · 12-05-2013 1:43am

Moved

fasttalkerchat · 12-05-2013 3:25am

Definitely something wrong with the petrol pump! If your tank was leaking so fast that you lost at least 20 litres during a fill you would know about it.

Jonty · 12-05-2013 5:40am

The amount of times I've seen threads like this amazes me. It should be part of the theory test to calculate MPG or L/100Km, not this "my car does x miles on €20"

seanyleary · 12-05-2013 7:00am

I have an 04 focus c-max 1.6, 76 Euro from completely empty to brimmed. Getting 32ish mpg. So about 350 miles to tank.

ninty9er · 12-05-2013 9:29am

When I had the Mondeo it'd take 62l from empty despite it having a "58l tank".

I'd be lucky to get 400 miles from a tank on average mixed driving which is about 30 mpg.

johndaman66 · 12-05-2013 11:13am

Jonty wrote: »

It should be part of the theory test to calculate MPG or L/100Km, not this "my car does x miles on €20"

Or well before that. People should be able to perform these basic calculations in their early days in secondary school if not primary school.

Worse still people tell you that they are spending €x on petrol/ diesel per week and almost expect you to figure out if thats good or bad without telling you the mileage they are covering:eek:

kaahooters · 12-05-2013 11:50am

look, if you have a smartphone get an app for your mpg, i use roadtrip lite, its free, easy to use.

its on android and ios.

kala85 · 12-05-2013 9:15pm

I have "acar" app for recording milages and fill ups. its very good for calculating the mpg

CiniO · 12-05-2013 9:24pm

Jonty wrote: »

The amount of times I've seen threads like this amazes me. It should be part of the theory test to calculate MPG or L/100Km, not this "my car does x miles on €20"

OP is even better, as he says E120 of petrol is sufficient for a week.

I love some people's mathematical skills.

fasttalkerchat · 12-05-2013 9:25pm

I remember someone telling me she goes to BP because you get more in the tank so you have to stop less often!

Outkast_IRE · 12-05-2013 9:26pm

I have 1.4 focus and from empty it would take max €70-80 to brim it.

Bpmull · 12-05-2013 9:33pm

I've yet to put anymore than 45 litres of fuel in my focus. Although I don't drive around on the light. It would still be impossible for ops tank to actually hold 120 euro of petrol. Op if I was you I'd go to a different petrol station brim the car with petrol zero the trip drive till 1/2 1/4 tank whatever fill it again. Take note of the reading on the trip and the LITRES used not cost to brim. And from there it's really only trivial basic maths to work out mpg L/100km which ever you prefer.

CiniO · 12-05-2013 9:36pm

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

I remember someone telling me she goes to BP because you get more in the tank so you have to stop less often!

I was doing exactly the same thing (going to BP because I was getting more fuel there so I had to stop less often).

However it was LPG I was filling up, and for some reason while on most stations my take could take about 27 litres, on BP there was 30 coming into the tank.

fasttalkerchat · 12-05-2013 9:57pm

CiniO wrote: »

I was doing exactly the same thing (going to BP because I was getting more fuel there so I had to stop less often).

However it was LPG I was filling up, and for some reason while on most stations my take could take about 27 litres, on BP there was 30 coming into the tank.

Was it a faster filling hose? I.e. more pressure.

Sam Kade · 12-05-2013 9:58pm

Bpmull wrote: »

I've yet to put anymore than 45 litres of fuel in my focus. Although I don't drive around on the light. It would still be impossible for ops tank to actually hold 120 euro of petrol. Op if I was you I'd go to a different petrol station brim the car with petrol zero the trip drive till 1/2 1/4 tank whatever fill it again. Take note of the reading on the trip and the LITRES used not cost to brim. And from there it's really only trivial basic maths to work out mpg L/100km which ever you prefere.

It's almost as simple as spelling.

CiniO · 12-05-2013 10:02pm

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

Was it a faster filling hose? I.e. more pressure.

No. I don't think so.
I couldn't understand why was it happening, and I never found out.

In LPG tank there is a valve, which is meant to cut off when tank is about 80% full during fill-up. For some reason on this particular station, valve was cutting at 86%, while on other stations it was cutting at around 77%.

Oafley Jones · 12-05-2013 10:19pm

Alanstrainor wrote: »

From googling around the tank should be in and around 55 litres. Unless there's a hole in it i reckon you're not putting as much as you think into it.

Surely if he can overfill it by about 50% in one go, it'd be pissing out of the car. There's no way you'd miss that.

CiniO · 12-05-2013 10:25pm

Oafley Jones wrote: »

Surely if he can overfill it by about 50% in one go, it'd be pissing out of the car. There's no way you'd miss that.

Maybe pipe leading to the tank is cracked, so half the petrol lands underneath the car.

Oafley Jones · 12-05-2013 10:37pm

CiniO wrote: »

Maybe pipe leading to the tank is cracked, so half the petrol lands underneath the car.

If you're loosing that volume of fuel that quickly, how far do you reckon that car would actually get?

CiniO · 12-05-2013 10:40pm

Oafley Jones wrote: »

If you're loosing that volume of fuel that quickly, how far do you reckon that car would actually get?

If the hole is above the tank level - I'd say quite far.

maidhc · 12-05-2013 10:44pm

Is the reserve not part of the actual capacity of the tank?

My last car had a 55L tank, and when the reserve light came on it would take about 47L to fill it.

Seems the same in my present car. It has a 60L tank, and about 54L from the low fuel warning light.

Supergurrier · 12-05-2013 11:01pm

maidhc wrote: »

Is the reserve not part of the actual capacity of the tank?

My last car had a 55L tank, and when the reserve light came on it would take about 47L to fill it.

Seems the same in my present car. It has a 60L tank, and about 54L from the low fuel warning light.

Yes it's designed that way to prevent fuel starvation on hills and when cornering tight

Stheno · 12-05-2013 11:07pm

OP should be spending no more than €96 filling his car at 1.60 per litre.

Definitely some sort of problem if he is spending 25% more than that.

Joe 90 · 13-05-2013 4:22pm

Supergurrier wrote: »

Well i get 190 miles from a full tank which is 55 X 1.55 a litre is €85 quid of fuel with a mpg readout of 23mpg.

But you need a starting point to get an accurate reading/i don't generally care what mpg im getting

Funny enough, I just did a run to West Sussex and back in the Wife's Ka. Started full and refilled after. 180 miles and 16 litres. Traffic was though very free flowing so conditions were pretty good so I would reckon that to be better than average.

rocky · 13-05-2013 6:21pm

lisademps wrote: »

Can anyone tell me how much they spend on petrol per week?

31 euro.

Does that help?

Marcin_diy · 14-05-2013 6:40am

lisademps wrote: »

It takes about E120 to fill the tank

your tank is 55L so if fully dry it- at maximum you can pay 85 euro for petrol. 1L = 1.548euro

120 -85 = 35 euro ????

Is that 120 inclusive of 2 packs of cigarettes, newspaper, coke, bottle of milk, bread and box of chocolates?

Spending too much on petrol?

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