Amazing mpg

frosty03 · 1 Oct 2006 at 22:54

I decided to do an experiment on my trip to edinburgh, from birmingham. It is a 300 mile one way trip, with the petrol prices being so high, i decided to try and drive a little slower to see how much I can save.

The trip meter clocked me at 70mpg.... on a 1.4 petrol honda jazz...

Normally i drive around 70mph and get around 55mpg and i thought it was already quite good, but 70mpg!? All i did was drive at 60mph. Just 10mph slower than usual. To confirm this, i checked out how much i needed to top up to full (i topped up prior to starting), and the 300mile trip only cost me £19.88 at 86p/liter.

So, that's it. 70 miles to a gallon, by driving a little slower. I love my jazz a little more now..... just thought i'd share....

L0rdMike · 1 Oct 2006 at 22:55

Petrol prices are for me at the moment ultra cheap. 91.9p for Optimax, wasnt going to fill up but when I saw the price I brimmed it.

OllyM · 1 Oct 2006 at 22:56

Petrol prices aren't really as bad at the moment, and quite frankly, it'd bore me to tears sitting at 60.

penski · 1 Oct 2006 at 22:57

I've said this for ages - tuck behind a wagon at 55-60 and reap the benefits.

*n

Berger · 1 Oct 2006 at 22:58

penski said:
I've said this for ages - tuck behind a wagon at 55-60 and reap the benefits.

*n

Do 120 and get home in half the time, if you value your time more than the petrol cost saving.... and your license less

Trojan · 1 Oct 2006 at 23:00

Yes you may have achieved really good mpg, but you added another 45 minutes to your journey. Me, I'd rather spend that little bit more on fuel and get to my destination that much sooner

Moorron · 1 Oct 2006 at 23:00

well done, ive been looking at a smaller run about for a while, but cars being my hobby its not too expensive to force me to do it yet.

The best car i had was a 2 litre astra GTe. managing about 30 MPG. My daily runabout, a 4.6 V8 range rover does 15MPG if im lucky, maybe 18 MPG on long runs which is only now and then. Thats £4.50 to get to work and back per day.

The other toy car i own will do 30+, but being a kit car powered with a motorbike engine its normally hitting 15 or less.

Good news its cheap for petrol at this moment in time.

Nozzer · 1 Oct 2006 at 23:00

OllyM said:
Petrol prices aren't really as bad at the moment, and quite frankly, it'd bore me to tears sitting at 60.

I got 32L in the Elise today, for £26!

Didn't know the tank could hold that much, according to the fuel gauge I had 13L in there before I started... It's a 38L tank :confused:

Dogbreath · 1 Oct 2006 at 23:06

Moorron said:
The best car i had was a 2 litre astra GTe. managing about 30 MPG.

My 16vGTE could return 40mpg driven gently.

[TW]Fox · 1 Oct 2006 at 23:07

You don't need to drive at 50 to return respectable economy. Just sticking to the legal limit will do it - I get over 40 from a 2.0 16v petrol engine and over 35 from a 3.0 24v petrol engine doing just this. It isn't tedious, it isnt boring, but it does make a difference on long trips

Dogbreath · 1 Oct 2006 at 23:09

penski said:
I've said this for ages - tuck behind a wagon at 55-60 and reap the benefits of:

a) driving under it's back axle when it's involved in a pile up
b) having the following truck 2mm from you bumper.

*n

It does work though. In my younger and more stupid days I used to do that on my Suzuki X5 and you can really feel yourself getting sucked toward them as you approach.

Dogbreath · 1 Oct 2006 at 23:09

[TW]Fox said:
It isn't tedious, it isnt boring, but it does make a difference on long trips

Lies tbh.

Nozzer · 1 Oct 2006 at 23:11

Dogbreath said:
It does work though. In my younger and more stupid days I used to do that on my Suzuki X5 and you can really feel yourself getting sucked toward them as you approach.

Yep, I used to slipstream the slower lorries on my bike during time trials...

OMG CHEAT

Fantom · 1 Oct 2006 at 23:22

Nozzer said:
Yep, I used to slipstream the slower lorries on my bike during time trials...

OMG CHEAT

Lasso the things and lay back in neutral tbh

eidolon · 1 Oct 2006 at 23:27

[TW]Fox said:
You don't need to drive at 50 to return respectable economy. Just sticking to the legal limit will do it

Aha, I think I've figured out where I'm going wrong.

Is 8600rpm not good for my economy then?

Nozzer · 1 Oct 2006 at 23:30

eidolon said:
Aha, I think I've figured out where I'm going wrong.

Is 8600rpm not good for my economy then?

You want a K-Series, my consumption never seems to drop below the mid 30s

Flibster · 1 Oct 2006 at 23:33

Nozzer said:
You want a K-Series, my consumption never seems to drop below the mid 30s

2.0 16v in my Megane - averaging 26mpg at the moment. :eek:

So going to a larger or hugely less efficient engine won't make any difference to me at the moment.

However 79.9p unleaded rocks!

Simon/~Flibster

eidolon · 1 Oct 2006 at 23:39

Nozzer said:
You want a K-Series, my consumption never seems to drop below the mid 30s

I'm actually finding the Yota engine amazing for economy compared to what I'm used to. I imagine the K series would probably double what I'm getting but I'm more than happy with my economy at the moment

loltim · 1 Oct 2006 at 23:47

Nozzer said:
I got 32L in the Elise today, for £26!

Didn't know the tank could hold that much, according to the fuel gauge I had 13L in there before I started... It's a 38L tank

13L + 32L - 7L reserve = 38L, maybe? I know mine has a ~7.5L reserve but I dunno if its included in the total tank size, totally different car I know..

Just a suggestion

Nozzer · 1 Oct 2006 at 23:57

Dunno, the handbook just says 38.x L as far as I recall.

You get a refill warning at 10L.