Anyone not know / care about their MPG?
Discussion
I've logged all my cars from the Cerbera to the 530d... Its much easier to diagnose an issue when you know real figures.
What I don't do is look at the cost of fuel when I fill up.. all I know is its "expensive... always". When people comment on the current price of fuel, I never have a clue what it is.. including now even after having just filled the car up!
What I don't do is look at the cost of fuel when I fill up.. all I know is its "expensive... always". When people comment on the current price of fuel, I never have a clue what it is.. including now even after having just filled the car up!
Edited by tejr on Monday 16th January 08:36
Circumstances defined how much or how little you care really. I used to do less then 6k per year and did not really care how economical the cars i drove were. Now i am doing more the 20k per year and self employed i keep an eye on the costs and keep them as low as i can without losing all the fun from driving. So instead of driving a big V8 daily i drive a 4 cylinder 'hyper hatch'. Still hear the standard 'you don't buy a car like that to worry about economy' which i find amazingly ignorant but it works for me and thats all that matters.
We had a car in the family that suddenly started using more fuel - we think in the region of 20% worse - but because the driver (one of my daughters) had never calculated it we had no way of knowing what the true difference was.
Nothing showed in analysis and of course the garage wouldn't take it seriously.
Nothing showed in analysis and of course the garage wouldn't take it seriously.
zarjaz1991 said:
I've never given a toss and never will. Life's too short.
I can't stand being in a car with someone who does that ludicrously timid, gentle driving "to keep their MPG down". The same types who keep multiple spreadsheets logging it all. People spend hours working all this stuff out...what is the matter with you? Just drive the bloody car FFS.
I am going to guess that you do not cover high mileage, and if that is the case I can completely understand it.I can't stand being in a car with someone who does that ludicrously timid, gentle driving "to keep their MPG down". The same types who keep multiple spreadsheets logging it all. People spend hours working all this stuff out...what is the matter with you? Just drive the bloody car FFS.
For those of us who cover in excess of 30k a year, it does make a big difference, and I am not financially care-free enough to not care.
I find spreadsheets over the top, however it is important that I know what my car achieves so that I can balance it out with how much of a fun car I can get. That lead me to the conclusion that a used e92 330d is probably the best compromise for me.
Not got a clue/care about either car.
The Civic gets filled about once a month when the light comes on.
The Chimaera usually gets filled up on the way home from a run out so it's ready for the next play.
Neither car have any sort of MPG readout, range, or anything like that, I think I'd spot it if all of a sudden I was getting half the distance to a tank with out a spread sheet.
The Civic gets filled about once a month when the light comes on.
The Chimaera usually gets filled up on the way home from a run out so it's ready for the next play.
Neither car have any sort of MPG readout, range, or anything like that, I think I'd spot it if all of a sudden I was getting half the distance to a tank with out a spread sheet.
Digby said:
Is it just me and a few of my friends who have no real clue what their cars (current and older) do MPG wise?
What I mean is, sure, I have had things which I know will be much better on fuel, but I never really cared what the actual figures were.
I have never tried to work it out in almost 30 years of driving.
C
They are always "Pretty good", "Not so good" or "Not too bad" etc.
Someone once told me "real" petrolheads never know and never try to figure it out.
Agree. My eyes glaze over in discussions about mpg. Not interested. Enjoy your chosen motors regardless. I'm even less interested in discussions about petrol versus diesel What I mean is, sure, I have had things which I know will be much better on fuel, but I never really cared what the actual figures were.
I have never tried to work it out in almost 30 years of driving.
C
They are always "Pretty good", "Not so good" or "Not too bad" etc.
Someone once told me "real" petrolheads never know and never try to figure it out.
I know what it is, or I know what the computer is telling me rather, as I haven't worked it out for myself so I'm not sure how accurate the figure is as I'm not fussed - it claims to be doing about 24mpg, which is fine enough for me! I only do around 6,000 miles a year so fuel costs aren't a big issue.
DJM7691 said:
zarjaz1991 said:
I've never given a toss and never will. Life's too short.
I can't stand being in a car with someone who does that ludicrously timid, gentle driving "to keep their MPG down". The same types who keep multiple spreadsheets logging it all. People spend hours working all this stuff out...what is the matter with you? Just drive the bloody car FFS.
I am going to guess that you do not cover high mileage, and if that is the case I can completely understand it.I can't stand being in a car with someone who does that ludicrously timid, gentle driving "to keep their MPG down". The same types who keep multiple spreadsheets logging it all. People spend hours working all this stuff out...what is the matter with you? Just drive the bloody car FFS.
For those of us who cover in excess of 30k a year, it does make a big difference, and I am not financially care-free enough to not care.
I find spreadsheets over the top, however it is important that I know what my car achieves so that I can balance it out with how much of a fun car I can get. That lead me to the conclusion that a used e92 330d is probably the best compromise for me.
. You've bought the car and logic dictates that if mpg were important then you would have made that purchase based on mpg data, what are you actually going to do with the fresh data that you collect personally? What actual purpose can it serve?I think on board computers are guilty of this. My Lotus 2-Eleven didn't have an OBC, so like the OP, I didn't know or care what mpg it did. I'd guesses it was somewhere in the teens and in single figures on track, but never bothered to work it out. For my daily driver's prior to this without a meter, I was just the same. Give me a computer though that tells me whether my commute costs £8 or £12 and suddenly I'm interested! I suspect this is the case for most people.
I do the sums every time I fill up (never had an OBC I could trust). It takes about 15 seconds. Why do I do it every time? Because fuel economy along with oil consumption are the best day-to-day indicators of the condition of the engine and its associated gubbins- and I like to check that it's healthy.
I'm using the Gas Tracker app to store any work and fill ups on my cars. I think mainly it's because I love seeing screens on information for whatever I can, including cricinfo when I'm watching the cricket or the F1 app when trying to stay awake for a 2 hour race ;-)
To be honest, it's interesting to see how much of a difference the type of journey you are doing makes on fuel consumption. Along with that I can see if servicing has improved it, the difference in winter and experiment with things like not running heaters on shorter journeys but use the heated seats instead.
To be honest, it's interesting to see how much of a difference the type of journey you are doing makes on fuel consumption. Along with that I can see if servicing has improved it, the difference in winter and experiment with things like not running heaters on shorter journeys but use the heated seats instead.
Well, in my CLS63 I know it's bad at around 15mpg and 26mpg on a longer run. I'm aware of it's inefficiency but you don't buy a car with a 6.2ltr engine to then worry about fuel economy.
For my daily car I care a bit more as there are a certain number of miles I have to do in it per month and I'd rather it didn't cost the earth on boring miles.
For my daily car I care a bit more as there are a certain number of miles I have to do in it per month and I'd rather it didn't cost the earth on boring miles.
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