Fuel Ecomony

Gloomtastic!

Is it better, economy-wise, to travel round Dublin on the M50 at a fairly constant speed or through Dublin, stopping and starting at lights etc. ?

The distance round the M50 is usually double the through town option.

Alanstrainor

Where are you heading from/to?

Based on the vague question I would lean towards M50, but that's based on very little.

Bigus

Would depend on the variables.
Type of car
Driving style
Time of day
Temperature
Distance.
Traffic volumes

Only back to back tests under the same conditions would give a definitive answer.

Distance covered could be doubled going m50 but fuel used could be less depending on actual journey, maybe be more specific.

Gloomtastic!

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Where are you heading from/to?

Based on the vague question I would lean towards M50, but that's based on very little.

I was heading from North Dublin to a couple of places in South Dublin over the last few days. Sat Nav gave equal times for the M50/through town options. I was just wondering if it's better fuel wise to go the longer distance at a constant speed. Thought I'd throw it out there to see.

As for engine size etc just a 1.2 driven under 2000 revs through town, about 3000 revs on the M50.

Driving style? Why absolutely brilliantly of course!

zilog_jones

If it does actually take the same amount of time and your average speed on the M50 route is faster then it may be more efficient to take that route.

However the only way you'll get a definitive answer for this is to work out exactly how much fuel you're using by using your trip counter and filling the tank - you can use some site like www.fuelly.com or http://www.spritmonitor.de/en to help with this. You'd want to do the same trips several times to get any useful data, so may not be practical if it's not something you do regularly.

Things like engine braking and turning off the engine when stuck at lights (for minutes) can also make a difference.

dgt

Pick a quiet time and charge through the city

CiniO

If distance through M50 is double, I strongly doubt it's worth going through there.

Very few cars use double amount of fuel when travelling through the city in permanent start-stop traffic.

F.e. my Mazda 6 would use around 7 to 8 l/100km when cruising on m50 up to 100km/h with contant speed, while about 10 maybe 11 l/100km when driving through the city.

Only advantage is actually saving a clutch, but I still don't think it's worth it.

Doublelime

Ask your car manufacturer what the most economic speed is to travel at. It's 80km/h for most cars

stimpson

I used to work in town, I now work the far side of the city and use the M50 almost exclusively.

I used to get 330km before the fuel light came on. I now get 470. I'd say you'll get ~50% increase in economy.