Fuel up/down again

Duke · 26 Dec 2014 at 14:42

Just filled up Tesco 99 @ 117.9p, think poverty fuel was 112.9p.

Ricochet J · 26 Dec 2014 at 14:52

In London I've seen it for 109.9 pence.

I don't expect these low prices will stick around.

233 · 26 Dec 2014 at 15:36

Simon said:
For people who pay themselves they will use a local firm. Only business users will take an exec/airport car.

Is 10p a litre really worth the savings, especially with the need to go to a crappy old car to avoid common rail technology

Plus if you live on a nice estate you wouldn't want a car more than 2 years old picking you up. What would the neighbours think

There's a huge market for non exec airport transfers currently thenewest thing we have on fleet is a 62 plate skoda the oldest a nearly 4yr old mondeo, the only people that are remotely interested in what age the car is are petrol heads who only seem interested in the mileages covered in such a short time.

As I said its 2 separate markets although since the recession hit we seem to be getting a lot more corporate work than the shiny E class brigade who charge a lot more than we do. Individuals and companies seem a lot more interested in the cost of the car these days than the badge on the front to the extent we have been asked not to send executive cars for bookings as companies don't want to be Ppearing extravagent.

silversurfer · 26 Dec 2014 at 17:04

233 said:
Atm were running a mix of vw 2l tdis and ford/psa 2 l tdci
I really miss the days of the old pug xud lumps or even the early vag 1.9s
you could lob anything in those especially the xuds including their own engine oil

A classic merc might be good, what is the cheapest oil can be recycled and used in an engine ?
Its the kind of thing a council should do really, they deal with various waste anyway and encourage recycling. Nobody driving a council van cares if it smells of chips

Saw 109 for 4* petrol

I still strongly remember 60p when I first started driving, no price will seem cheap now and I used to fill lpg at 20p a litre

[TW]Fox · 26 Dec 2014 at 17:16

silversurfer said:
Saw 109 for 4* petrol

Errrrr...

ubersonic · 26 Dec 2014 at 17:23

[TW]Fox;27395491 said:
Errrrr...

Contrary to popular opinion four star is still sold in this country, just in limited quantities and by a single retailer who has the contract to supply it (Thrust IIRC).

The reason it's still available is because the EU directive allows continued sale of leaded, provided it amounts to no more than 0.5% of the total petrol sales and leaded is the only fuel available for cars with soft valve sears that is made to a British Standard.

[TW]Fox · 26 Dec 2014 at 17:28

ubersonic said:
Contrary to popular opinion four star is still sold in this country, just in limited quantities and by a single retailer who has the contract to supply it (Thrust IIRC).

Which means I somewhat doubt it's available at the same price as the cheapest possible Supermarket unleaded..

Skeeter · 26 Dec 2014 at 17:31

[TW]Fox;27394176 said:
Does me which is why I avoid them wherever possible. Pot luck as to whether somebody picks you up in a clean, modern and well kept saloon or a banger with aftermarket rimz and yet the price is the same regardless. No thanks.

1.9 TDI VAG's are all very old now.

Plymouth does have the most random fleet of taxis though. Wasn't there a guy running an ST220 at one point?

ianh · 26 Dec 2014 at 18:05

Or was it the ST TDCI (2.2L diesel with a ST220 bodykit)?

Jez · 26 Dec 2014 at 19:02

Simon said:
I was talking about bio diesel.

Veg and bio is another story and has further implications on the engine life

The savings would amount to a very significant number given the volume a small taxi firm will get to, its probably more like 20ppl cheaper which is huge.

Engines which can actually burn it is another matter though, it is true that the Vag 1.9 or older units like that are probably just too old to even consider using commercially now. That said a lot around here seem to manage, there are loads of ~12yr old Skodas running around as taxis - i bet some of them burn the local bio.

233 · 26 Dec 2014 at 21:15

Jez said:
The savings would amount to a very significant number given the volume a small taxi firm will get to, its probably more like 20ppl cheaper which is huge.

Engines which can actually burn it is another matter though, it is true that the Vag 1.9 or older units like that are probably just too old to even consider using commercially now. That said a lot around here seem to manage, there are loads of ~12yr old Skodas running around as taxis - i bet some of them burn the local bio.

curse of the modern diesels,

would be interesting to know whether a modern turbo diesel can be "modified" to accept bio i.e. removal of dpf/egr etc although i think the biggest stumbling block might be the high pressures that modern injection systems run at.

hmm might be worth doing some digging.

Jez · 26 Dec 2014 at 21:34

I would imagine that the risks in a modern engine probably outweigh the savings

Rainmaker · 27 Dec 2014 at 00:36

[TW]Fox;27394176 said:
1.9 TDI VAG's are all very old now.

Old tech, maybe, but not necessarily old cars. Skoda were fitting the 1.9 PD TDI up until 2010. My 60 plate Superb had that engine, though I've since moved to a Mazda 6 running on proper fuel.

Vertigo · 27 Dec 2014 at 12:53

I think it was around the 2010 mark that VAG started moving all their diesels from PD to CR tech, at which point the 1.9 was retired in favour of the new 1.6

233 · 27 Dec 2014 at 17:42

Vertigo1 said:
I think it was around the 2010 mark that VAG started moving all their diesels from PD to CR tech, at which point the 1.9 was retired in favour of the new 1.6

And those 1.6 engines are God awful

Wouldn't touch one with a barge pole

Tute · 27 Dec 2014 at 17:50

They're really not terrible. I'd never own one, but I think they're much better to drive than any small naturally aspirated three or four cylinder (1.4 or less).

Rainmaker · 27 Dec 2014 at 18:13

The newest generation of the VAG 1.6CR is certainly an improvement over the original one. There are way nicer, more linear oil burners out there for similar money though (eg SkyActiv 2.2). The VAG 1.4 TSI drives how the diesel should have, provides similar economy in the real world, and petrol is cheaper at the pump presently.

Looking forward to seeing how far Costco fuel has dropped tomorrow, as our local supermarkets are 110ppl atm. By past experience that should put Costco 95 RON around 107ppl for 95 and 109ppl for 97RON super.

SDK^ · 27 Dec 2014 at 18:32

It's 107.7p for 95RON at a garage near me

Steve2000 · 27 Dec 2014 at 19:47

Vertigo1 said:
I think it was around the 2010 mark that VAG started moving all their diesels from PD to CR tech, at which point the 1.9 was retired in favour of the new 1.6

My local mechanic was telling me that a few years ago the boss of the main taxi firm round here ordered in roughly 25-30 brand new Skodas with the new 1.6 TDI engine. By 1 year later he'd got rid of all of them as they were ridiculously unreliable for taxi use.

Tute · 27 Dec 2014 at 19:51

Steve2000 said:
My local mechanic was telling me that a few years ago the boss of the main taxi firm round here ordered in roughly 25-30 brand new Skodas with the new 1.6 TDI engine. By 1 year later he'd got rid of all of them as they were ridiculously unreliable for taxi use.

Our household runs an 05 Fabia 1.9TDI. Just coming upto 130,000 miles and the engine itself hasn't had any repair work done since new bar the scheduled servicing.

It's a solid unit, but very unrewarding to drive.