Fuel Cost Question

Vicxas

Howdy all,

Bit confused so im just gonna try and explain it as much as I can. I moved from Navan in Meath to Dundalk in Louth and I work in Swords co.dublin.

I drive a 1.6vvti SR Corolla and my fuel costs between navan and swords was about 60 quid give or take (that included alot of backroads and town traffic lights) so it was a round trip of about 90km. Now that ive moved to Dundalk people have been telling me that itll be cheaper to get to a from work because ill be going pretty much straight up and down the motorway, but the distance is a round trip of 150km. I think they're full of ****e but these people i would consider pretty knowledgable on cars.

Sorry for the rant, just need some clarification.

Max Power1

Argh. Another €/distance measurement.:mad:

Brim tank
set trip counter to zero
Run your journeu
rebrim tank

calculate miles per gallon (c.4.4 litres=1 imp gallon), then you will know if there is something awry

You should be getting mid 30s mpg for a 1.6 (depending on the year and your speed etc)

Joey the lips

You now have toll charges as well. But regards the fuel if you have moved already there is not a lot you can do.

I am told if you can drive in a trucks slip stream you will save fuel...

Outside that... as above.

PaulKK

Max Power1 wrote: »

calculate miles per gallon (c.4.4 litres=1 imp gallon), then you will know if there is something awry

Its actually 4.54L in a gallon.

You are right though, thats the only way to work it out.

Matt Simis

OSI wrote: »

Consistent speed on motorway will yield better fuel economy than constant stop-start-accelerate-stop-start-etc will.

So as long as you don't do 160+ on the motorway all the time then you should see better fuel economy.

But driving from Navan to Dublin isnt start stop, its generally consistent 80-100kph of backroads. If you choose the roads and drive well (ie not over braking etc) you have virtually no stops at all till you get to Dublin (where both routes converge), thats pretty much as efficient as ICE gets.

Driving on the motorway at even 120kph will use considerably more fuel than this.

Max Power1

PaulKK wrote: »

Its actually 4.54L in a gallon.

You are right though, thats the only way to work it out.

Hence the circa before the 4.4 i wrote

In fairness to be off by 0.1l/gallon is not going to be as inexact as measuring by €/km

These stupid measures like €/tank or €/km really irritate me for some reason

Vicxas

Hmmmm, i was just hoping my 6 speed gearbox might be more useful on motorways.. hopefully i wont have to sell her.

PaulKK

I find it hard to believe you will use less fuel by travelling an extra 40 miles a day.

Even a decent jump in MPG improvement would not save you anything. Not to mention extra wear on tyres and more frequent servicing.

Matt Simis

LIGHTNING wrote: »

But back roads would normally mean twisty roads with varying elevation changes. Thus plenty of gear changes and speed changes so I would argue that it would use more fuel.

Well... that depends on the torque spread in the car I guess, not the road as such. I found personally I used more fuel on the M3 motorway (ok not exactly going 120, but maybe 130-135kph) than on the backroads (in the same area, Meath to Dublin). Plus the motorway had a toll.

The sweet spot for fuel consumption is well under 120Kph regardless.