Saving Fuel Costs

[grpar]

Well it's so obvious really, I don't know why I didn't embrace it sooner.

A round trip from London to Manchester is 410 miles for me. My C180 auto would always return around 33-34 mpg when driven "robustly" (let's say). Having since tried a round trip driving with the cruise set to 70, with occasional overtaking spurts for middle-lane hoggers, the car returned a scarcely believable 44.6 mpg. That's almost diesel proportions. So, on a 400-mile round trip, that's an easy £15 worth of petrol saved, and is more than enough to pay for those service station coffees et al. Money in Costa Coffee's till is still better than being placed in Alistair's coffers.

Slowing down is now my new form of economy .......

 

[A210AMG]

If you can cope with doing 60 then you could get the odd muffin with that latte also...

 

[JEZ.S320L]

Well it's so obvious really, I don't know why I didn't embrace it sooner.

A round trip from London to Manchester is 410 miles for me. My C180 auto would always return around 33-34 mpg when driven "robustly" (let's say). Having since tried a round trip driving with the cruise set to 70, with occasional overtaking spurts for middle-lane hoggers, the car returned a scarcely believable 44.6 mpg. That's almost diesel proportions. So, on a 400-mile round trip, that's an easy £15 worth of petrol saved, and is more than enough to pay for those service station coffees et al. Money in Costa Coffee's till is still better than being placed in Alistair's coffers.

Slowing down is now my new form of economy .......

But it's still bloomin' irritatin' to be overtaken by Micra's, Corsa's, Saxo's etc etc., isn't it.

Anybody got a cure for that? (the seething irritation when a handbag-sized vehicle squeezes past on the motorway, that is)

 

[A210AMG]

Just leave it on cruise and let them go...

easy


Better to be late in this life than early to the next..

 

[Blobcat]

But it's still bloomin' irritatin' to be overtaken by Micra's, Corsa's, Saxo's etc etc., isn't it.

Anybody got a cure for that? (the seething irritation when a handbag-sized vehicle squeezes past on the motorway, that is)

You've got a 3 pointed star on the bonnet they haven't. They need to push past to get there, you've already arrived

 

[television]

You've got a 3 pointed star on the bonnet they haven't. They need to push past to get there, you've already arrived

Thats true

Interest point here, Distronic uses the brakes to mantain an exact set limit, covering the same journey twice I was 1.5 MPG better off in not using it. I am still doing the sums to see if myOAP increase of £2 will allow me to use Distronic

 

[brandwooddixon]

I must admit that I find cruise less economical than manual driving. I think it's because I'll keep the accelerator in a fixed position, so I slow down a little going up hills and speed up a bit going down, where as the cruise appears to brake going down hills and adds power going up.

 

[Splatt]

I find that cruise control uses too much throttle trying to maintain a set speed when you meet a gradient or resume a set speed after slowing.I get much better economy by doing it gently myself.

 

[Silver Arrow]

The only time I use cruise is on the restricted bits of Motorway, then I get trucks up me chuff, (See a previous post someplace).
The wife won't use it for the same reason she won't drive an auto. She feels no longer in control !

 

[Myros]

I haven't really used cruise enough to notice

the M62 and the M1 and the M6 don't really give me chance to use it.
The old techniques of looking ahead and being smooth and anticipating and avoiding harsh inputs have to help though.

 

[Blobcat]

the M62 and the M1 and the M6 don't really give me chance to use it.
The old techniques of looking ahead and being smooth and anticipating and avoiding harsh inputs have to help though.

I agree with that, I try not to brake for anything other than UFO's

 

[crockers]

Gotta agree I find cruise control uses more fuel ....BUT I do use speedtronic to limit my top speed - Double whammy -- better fuel consumption and no tickets (if set at the right speed..lol.)

 

[johnmc]

Yup. Driving at 85mph instead of 70mph costs roughly £1 extra every 8mins of driving.

Sobering. I've found that cruise control out-performs my own control consistently over long distances. It can be beaten, but not by much and not without constant work for hours on end.

My Alhambra has hit anywhere from 35mpg to 67 mpg on the same 13 mile drive to work. It's best when the traffic moves about 40mph and I'm in sixth gear. Worst when the road is clear and I accelerate hard and cruise too fast.

The old "drive at 56mph for best economy idea" is an old wives tale. The slowest speed in the highest gear will always yield the best mpg. At 90mph your mpg will be 300% worse than at 30mph in top.

Never mind. At least we're not in the airline business. The days of cheap air travel will end within 10 years. Bye bye cheap hols abroad.

John

 

[Donk]

Done the same thing the other day, cruised at 65-70 with the occasional burst to overtake on the A12-14 on a 115 mile return trip door to door, and saw 44mpg on the computer overall. Usually I see about 35-37, so just taking it a bit easier makes quite a bit of difference and tbh makes for a pretty relaxing drive.

 

[Chas]

I tried saving fuel in my S320 (petrol) today. Selected cruise at 65 and got 38.5 mpg on 85 mile motorway journey, ave speed 53mph for 1.75 hours.
I usually get 32 mpg on same journey, and 19 mpg round town

 

[JEZ.S320L]

............ The days of cheap air travel will end within 10 years. Bye bye cheap hols abroad....... John

Unless of course, you MOVE abroad

Bye Bye Mr Brown. Bye Bye Big Brother. Bye Bye 'Political Correctness'. Bye Bye Nanny State. etc etc etc

Hello Sunshine. Hello Higher Standard of Living. Hello Common ****** Sense.!!!!! etc etc etc

 

[Dosco]

Unless of course, you MOVE abroad

Bye Bye Mr Brown. Bye Bye Big Brother. Bye Bye 'Political Correctness'. Bye Bye Nanny State. etc etc etc

Hello Sunshine. Hello Higher Standard of Living. Hello Common ****** Sense.!!!!! etc etc etc

Knock it off Jez I am crying in my tea, well coffee really, as it is you just make it worse:sad::wink:

 

[Splatt]

Have the Spanish lorry drivers stopped setting fire to British ex pats yet ?

 

[JEZ.S320L]

Have the Spanish lorry drivers stopped setting fire to British ex pats yet ?

Not yet - the Spanish are still a bit sore about their failed Armada

Anyway, just to show how hard life is in Spain, we HAD to put on the aircon in the house last weekend, as it was 32 in the shade. Dropped to a rather chilly 24 in the evening though :-(

Almost too hot to play golf - so had a quick dip in the pool to cool off.

It's a hard life :cry:

 

[100%Bitch]

Not yet - the Spanish are still a bit sore about their failed Armada

Anyway, just to show how hard life is in Spain, we HAD to put on the aircon in the house last weekend, as it was 32 in the shade. Dropped to a rather chilly 24 in the evening though :-(

Almost too hot to play golf - so had a quick dip in the pool to cool off.

It's a hard life :cry:

Need a housemaid. I don't go on my knees though.