Anyone not know / care about their MPG?

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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.

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.

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heebeegeetee said:

I definitely think "real" petrolheads like to know what their cars are doing and wouldn't enjoy being in ignorance of how their cars are performing. If you enjoy driving and choose to drive a lot, I think range is an important factor too.

But not once have I ever deduced an issue from MPG figures.

Running rich, running lean, misfire, bogging down, rough idle, hesitancy, sticking caliper etc.....all recognisable to a petrolhead, especially if they enjoy tinkering, surely?

Perhaps, had I not noticed or ignored certain issues, I would eventually have started to think I was filling up more, but it hasn't happened yet.

It would lead me to ask what kinds of problems those who do base the condition of their engines on MPG figures are facing.

And how accurate would it be anyway? I could get 50+ mpg showing constantly on the dash of my 330D, a half inch press of the pedal would see that drop in to the 30's. You would have to base it on the exact same journey and conditions, with the exact same amount of stop starts, the exact same traffic conditions, exact same inputs over the distance...

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donkmeister said:

I would say that any petrolhead knows the useable size of their fuel tank, and the range that will get them in various scenarios. I.e. cruise, pootle, mixed hoon, full hoon, and therefore knows their mpg even if they don't bang on about it.

donkmeister said:

I'm yet to meet a petrolhead (in person) who doesn't know the above..

You will have met one if we ever meet

Not that I knew the MPG (low 20's I would imagine) but I only ever knew my Westfield with a small tank would empty it in around 80 miles if being worked really hard.

I used to keep large cans of fuel in the garage for the odd blat.

On anything else, I honestly couldn't tell you. As someone also mentioned, I pay no attention to the price of fuel, yet I know people who will drive five miles out of their way because it's 2p cheaper a litre.

My lack of attention / caring is probably due to the fact that if I find myself in a petrol station, I obviously need petrol and have to pay for it regardless. But then if I need bread, I am happy to buy that from a petrol station for a price that would make careful shoppers cry.

I know fuel is expensive compared to the 'old days', but that's about it.

However, as I said at the start, I would still get something "Better on fuel" over something terrible if I had to have one car and had to drive large distances every day. I still wouldn't ever be able to tell you exactly how good it would be, though.

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Pan Pan Pan said:

Surely this has to depend on what car a driver has, and what the driver uses that particular car for.

I still don't know, though. That was my point.

I know my diesel is better than my tuned up Volvo, but I don't know what they do MPG wise and I have no reason or need to check.