Fuel up/down again

whitecrook said:
Its a Merc 320 CDI. Sitting on the motorway crusing will hit around 40mpg according to the obc. But I rarely do that and end up mostly sitting in traffic getting low 20's.
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Yet again diesel shows how its really worth the money. Not.

Heck I get low 20's in traffic!
 
Interesting thing about it as well, after listening to someone rant on the radio about how ridiculous it was, is that people don't seem to understand that there's no upper limit to it. It could go to £2.50. It could go to £5.00. Energy is expensive these days and it sure as hell isn't going to drastically get cheaper any time soon. It's already around 145ppl for example in Norway.

I appreciate the fact that the Government, either unintentionally or not, may be using it as a subtle 'green' tax to get people to downsize or improve their economy - but the problem is that there isn't much in the way of a sustainable alternative yet - i.e. the commonplace electric car.

I guess people are just going to have to suck it up, for the meantime. After all, if you're doing about 10k a year averaging 35mpg, it's only going to add about £200 a year to your fuel bill - and yes, that's another £200 but it's not going to cripple you now, is it?
 
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whitecrook said:
Its a Merc 320 CDI. Sitting on the motorway crusing will hit around 40mpg according to the obc. But I rarely do that and end up mostly sitting in traffic getting low 20's.
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Jeez, I'm on a roll today :o I read the "series 1" on the graph as 1 series and assumed a BMW 1 series of some sort :o

I think I'll go back to bed until today is done with :p
 
Lashout_UK said:
I guess people are just going to have to suck it up, for the meantime. After all, if you're doing about 10k a year averaging 35mpg, it's only going to add about £200 a year to your fuel bill - and yes, that's another £200 but it's not going to cripple you now, is it?
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In isolation probably not, but this isn't the only expense that has gone up whilst wages have remained stagnant.
 
I have a spreadsheet that tells me projected costs for cars I'm considering buying - and it includes diesels as a comparison. I've noticed that even as fuel prices rise, a diesel doesnt neccesarily become a no brainer until fuel is cripplingly expensive simply because the price of diesel increases as well and the differential remains pretty similar..
 
Jonnycoupe said:
I was trying to draw comparison to what might be happening when sat at 70mph on the motorway and why the example is relevant to different fuel usage.

Afterall it would be Captain obvious to say at the same, i dont know, 25% throttle in cold you do 71.5mph and suprisingly use more fuel than at 70mph.

Warm up time takes a hit on average mpgs plus heater blowers and lights. Also the fuel more likely to cling to the colder intake manifold etc and not combust.... covered in another thread recently. Engines are more efficient hotter. They only make more power when colder ais they can comsume more air and fuel, that is not the same as being more efficient with the fuel they do have.
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To maintain a given speed the throttle (assuming a traditional engine using proper fuel) will be less open which increases the pumping losses.

There is also more likely hood of wet/slushy roads and this does require more energy to squish the tyres through.
 
Not sure if this has been mentioned , I was looking through the fuel duty rates and noticed that the direct.gov website states that fuel duty will rise every april by a penny in real terms.
If only this was an April fools.

Fuel Duty will also rise by one penny per litre in real terms on 1 April each year from 2011 to 2014.
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http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/Budget/Budget2010/DG_186642

This was in labours budget in march although unchanged by the conservatives.
 
Phate said:
Paid 130.1 for bog standard unleaded last night...bleh, bad times.
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Nobody to blame but yourself in that case - even with prices as they are there is no real reason to pay the top whack prices some opportunistic filling stations charge.

And 130.1? What an odd price..
 
[TW]Fox;18154016 said:
Nobody to blame but yourself in that case - even with prices as they are there is no real reason to pay the top whack prices some opportunistic filling stations charge.

And 130.1? What an odd price..
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Well thats the average price around here. Cheapest I've seen really is 128.9?

BUT - you are (annoyingly) kind of right. Played petrol station bingo last night :p
 
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And I note with interest that Cameron is musing the fuel price stabiliser concept again.

Cynical Prediction time:

Given that the outlook in the world oil price this year is for it to remain in the range it is now, I predict the stabiliser will be introduced to much fan fare but with the 'base price' set at the current fuel price. This means no duty cuts under the scheme as no major oil price rise, but it also means that if oil does begin to retreat... duty would increase as per the concept of the 'stabiliser'.

Lets visit this post again in a year and see what happens..
 
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