Trying to get that extra MPG

trixyben · 09-04-2012 06:35PM #1

On my car which is a mk1 Focus 1.8tddi the tank holds 40 litres roughly, on a full tank i get 500 miles give or take a bit...

I have tried nearly every fuel additive Dipetane, STP, Redex etc etc and none of them make any difference whatsoever...I dont carry anything in the car that adds extra, i dont drive hard, tyres are at correct pressuire, car is well serviced on time everytime...

So just wondering is there any other wonder product that improves mpg? (seen a few online in the States thinking might try 1 or 2), is there any thing else I can do to the car?

Im thinking I might be able to get 50 extra miles or so or am i dreaming

drunkmonkey · 09-04-2012 06:38PM

You could try removing any spare seats and the spare wheel. Have you thought about loosing some extra weight yourself?

Mycroft H · 09-04-2012 06:39PM

Take a dump before you leave the house

TURRICAN · 09-04-2012 06:42PM

you could try acetone starting at 1ml per litre up to a max of 2.5ml per liter.
you have to fing the magic number where you get most economy and power.
this is foe a petrol engine.
its 1.5 max for diesel.
also it has to be pure acetone.
have a read of this ,il be trying it soon.:cool:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/12755-my-experience-adding-acetone-petrol.html

Voodoomelon · 09-04-2012 06:42PM

Sounds like you're doing everything you can do. Achieving another 10% on that will be near impossible without wrecking your own, and other drivers heads.

09-04-2012 06:47PM

trixyben wrote: »

On my car which is a mk1 Focus 1.8tddi the tank holds 40 litres roughly, on a full tank i get 500 miles give or take a bit.............

Im thinking I might be able to get 50 extra miles or so or am i dreaming

You're doing 57mpg, aiming for 62mpg ish.

CiniO · 09-04-2012 07:12PM

trixyben wrote: »

I dont carry anything in the car that adds extra,

Good you don't carry anything extra, but you can try to carry even less.
It's bit overkill, but you can remove anything which is not needed (spare wheel, floor upholstry, rear seats, maybe passenger seat if not needed, etc).
Generally you could leave pure metal like in rally cars - that would help.

i dont drive hard

Not driving hard is not enough. You can do more.
Look very far ahead and plan everything. Try not to use your brake above 30km/h at all (you can achieve this by planning ahead).

, tyres are at correct pressuire,

Correct pressure is good for safety and tyre wear, but for saving fuel it will be better to have bigger pressure. Generally the bigger the pressure, the less fuel you will use, as traction resistance will be smaller. However this will increase tyre wear, suspension wear and might affect safety, especially if you go much over the recommended value. But you surely can go small bit over (f.e. like instead of recommended 32 go for 35)

[/QUOTE]

SouperComputer · 09-04-2012 07:13PM

biggest savings dont come in bottles, they come from

and

If you google hypermiling you will find out more than you ever needed or wanted to know about saving money on petrol.

String · 09-04-2012 07:36PM

http://www.amazon.com/Fuel-Shark-Saving-Device/dp/B004ZML62K/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

09-04-2012 07:43PM

DrMorphine wrote: »

http://www.amazon.com/Fuel-Shark-Saving-Device/dp/B004ZML62K/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

An arse biscuit ..

41j22CLTbjL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Product Description
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Jimdagym · 09-04-2012 07:49PM

The Focus all have a 55 litre tank AFAIK, so your MPG is probably a lot worse than you think.

SouperComputer · 09-04-2012 07:55PM

DrMorphine wrote: »

http://www.amazon.com/Fuel-Shark-Saving-Device/dp/B004ZML62K/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Pure. Comedic. Gold.

trixyben · 09-04-2012 10:20PM

Jimdagym wrote: »

The Focus all have a 55 litre tank AFAIK, so your MPG is probably a lot worse than you think.

actually when i think now your probaly right i dont let tank go into red so tank prob 50 litres which makes my mpg worse again...

I cant remove any thing else from car, seats, spare wheel etc as car is used for work and you cant be without a spare wheel really

I do drive smart, coming up to lights, up to stop signs, gear changes etc etc cant think of what else I could do?

09-04-2012 10:23PM

The next time you get diesel fill the tank, zero the odo and keep the receipt, the time after that you get diesel fill it again and note the miles covered from the odo. You can repeat that over and over again and determine your diesel consumption quite accurately.

challengemaster · 09-04-2012 10:24PM

trixyben wrote: »

I cant remove any thing else from car, seats, spare wheel etc as car is used for work and you cant be without a spare wheel really

2 cans of tyre weld and a small compressor will do just as good 99% of the time, and save some weight

lau1247 · 09-04-2012 10:27PM

try to use cruise control if you can on long journey..

even slight change of pressure on the pedal changes the instantaneous MPG.. and nothing is better at keeping same speed than electronic control i would think??

***

if you're carrying speed and going up a slight incline, slowly let the gas pedal off, you'll lose some speed on the way up but you can gain that back when going down hill with ever so slightly pressing of the gas pedal..

GTE · 09-04-2012 10:31PM

500 miles on about 50 litres, thats around 45mpg.

How much motorway work do you do?
My year 2000 TDI (about same age as your TDDI) gets 58mpg on N roads and 45mpg on one of the motorway based runs I did a while back. I want to swap my 5th gear for a 6th gear cog.

Regarding cruise control: I have a feeling I may be using a bit more fuel since I have had it installed but judging by how inconsistent people can be regarding speed as I pass them going up hill I wonder do most of us without cruise actually take hills slightly more MPG friendly than the cruise controlled.

CiniO · 09-04-2012 10:34PM

lau1247 wrote: »

try to use cruise control if you can on long journey..

even slight change of pressure on the pedal changes the instantaneous MPG.. and nothing is better at keeping same speed than electronic control i would think??

I don't think you are right.
Cruise control will make sure car keeps the set speed, to on inclines it will open the throttle a lot.
It would be better to let car slow down on incline, and then rebuild the speed on decline.

if you're carrying speed and going up a slight incline, slowly let the gas pedal off, you'll lose some speed on the way up but you can gain that back when going down hill with ever so slightly pressing of the gas pedal..

That's exactly what I mean. In some cases you might not need to press gas at all on decline to accelerate.

trixyben · 09-04-2012 11:52PM

bbk wrote: »

500 miles on about 50 litres, thats around 45mpg.

How much motorway work do you do?
My year 2000 TDI (about same age as your TDDI) gets 58mpg on N roads and 45mpg on one of the motorway based runs I did a while back. I want to swap my 5th gear for a 6th gear cog.

Regarding cruise control: I have a feeling I may be using a bit more fuel since I have had it installed but judging by how inconsistent people can be regarding speed as I pass them going up hill I wonder do most of us without cruise actually take hills slightly more MPG friendly than the cruise controlled.

My driving includes motorway, national and country roads everyday so hard to calculate mpg for each...

The price of diesel and the cost on a weekly/monthy basis has me crazy looking for a miracle to reduce the bill

CiniO · 10-04-2012 12:02AM

trixyben wrote: »

My driving includes motorway, national and country roads everyday so hard to calculate mpg for each...

Try not to exceed 80 - 90 km/h and your MPG will raise, especially on motorway you will save a lot comparing to driving at 120km/h.

challengemaster · 10-04-2012 12:05AM

CiniO wrote: »

Try not to exceed 80 - 90 km/h and your MPG will raise, especially on motorway you will save a lot comparing to driving at 120km/h.

Yeah, but driving at 80km/h everywhere, especially not on a motorway is just stupid and will probably cause hassle for other road users.

CiniO · 10-04-2012 12:10AM

challengemaster wrote: »

Yeah, but driving at 80km/h everywhere, especially on a motorway is just stupid and will probably cause hassle for other road users.

Why?
All trucks are allowed to drive 80, and limited to 90, so they don't drive over that anyway. Can't see then OP causing any hassle driving together with trucks.

challengemaster · 10-04-2012 12:13AM

CiniO wrote: »

Why?
All trucks are allowed to drive 80, and limited to 90, so they don't drive over that anyway. Can't see then OP causing any hassle driving together with trucks.

There was meant to be a "not" before the "on" but anywho...

GTE · 10-04-2012 12:14AM

challengemaster wrote: »

CiniO wrote: »

Try not to exceed 80 - 90 km/h and your MPG will raise, especially on motorway you will save a lot comparing to driving at 120km/h.

Yeah, but driving at 80km/h everywhere, especially on a motorway is just stupid and will probably cause hassle for other road users.

I got 60 not from really taking care on n roads once then consistent 58s after that. If there are savings to be made, it's there.
Slower on the motorway is not a great idea IMO.

Sadly, no additive will really help. Maybe an eco biast remap but could take ages to recoup costs. I thought Dipetane worked but im 50/50

dr.fuzzenstein · 10-04-2012 12:14AM

CiniO wrote: »

Try not to exceed 80 - 90 km/h and your MPG will raise, especially on motorway you will save a lot comparing to driving at 120km/h.

:cool:

CiniO · 10-04-2012 12:22AM

bbk wrote: »

Slower on the motorway is not a great idea IMO.

Could be different with focus diesel, but I remember I had 1.8 primera, and it was about 8 litres/100km on motorway at 120km/h comparing to about 6.5 litres/100km at 80km/h. That's quite significent difference.

CiniO · 10-04-2012 12:23AM

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

:cool:

Lovely worms I know.
Anyway - nowhere in Europe is anything wrong with driving at 80 - 90km/h on motorway together with trucks, so I can't see why would it should be any problem in Ireland.

JP 1800 · 10-04-2012 04:23AM

fill your car with helium ballons, that will take some weight off:D

alexlyons · 10-04-2012 07:29AM

you said you get 500 miles to a tank and it takes about 40 liters roughly...
what are you basing this on, the fill from the pump?

if you put 40 liters into it, drive 500 miles and refill, then your mpg is 57 or so. regardless of your tank size.

lau1247 · 10-04-2012 07:35AM

CiniO wrote: »

I don't think you are right.
Cruise control will make sure car keeps the set speed, to on inclines it will open the throttle a lot.
It would be better to let car slow down on incline, and then rebuild the speed on decline.

yes it will keep at set speed and open throttle when required.. overall form of control from electronic should be better than human can ever manage it for trying to maintain a certain speed..

human tend to overstep (consume more when overstep) and understep (While the slow down does not take effort, when trying to get back to speed, the momentum has to be build up again thus taking more)..

All I can tell you is when I drove my dad's 520d using cruise control and comparing it to manually driving the car on the same stretch (direction of travel) of motorway on different occassions, the trip computer showed a much better return than I could have ever manage it on my own..

lau1247 · 10-04-2012 07:36AM

OP planning your trip to go in the direction of the wind helps too

Trying to get that extra MPG

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