shocking petrol consumption

[_Al_]

Gazboy said:

Alex said: You should trade your turbo-nutter barges in for a svelte Honda vtec. I get 30mpg from my Integra in normal driving! I bare that in mind as you become an ever decreasing dot in my mirrors....

Life is all about priorities...

[4WD]

I was going to nuy a DC2 integra, right up until I test drove a prodrive subaru the day before the deal was due to go ahead. Needless to say the g-force made me forget about fuel economy momentarily.

I guess my next car maybe something very light to get the speed thrills and a slice of economy. Perhaps a caterham or something noisey / annoying?

[_Al_]

Found this on MSN.

Relevant?

I found the sectionon air-con Vs windows interesting...

MSN said:

Check tyre pressures 50 per cent of tyres in the UK are under-inflated; 2psi below the recommended pressure can increase consumption by 1 per cent. Don’t trust pump forecourt gauges though, as they’re often incorrect. A £5 pressure gauge will help keep your tyres spot-on. Close windows Cruising along with your arm and the dog’s head in the wind looks good, but the increased drag will have your car’s aerodynamic designer holding his head in his hands. Close them to please him, reduce drag, ease the body’s passage through the air and improve economy. Use higher gears Third-gear fiends should change up to fifth even at lower speeds, to improve economy by 20 per cent. Don’t labour the engine though – incorrect use of higher gears does nothing for efficiency, either. Use the rev counter as your guide. Turn off the engine You’d be surprised how long you can wait at some traffic lights – save fuel for those minutes by flicking off the engine. The Citroen C2 Stop & Start, which does just this, can improve economy by 10 per cent in town. Do it yourself, without the expense of buying a new car. Drive smoothly Boy racers, take note. Instead of charging between lights, stopping and starting continuously, try to look ahead. Anticipate the lights, don’t stress the car unduly, predict the traffic flow – anything you can do to make the same progress for less work on the accelerator. Now that’s cool. Drive more slowly We’re not talking 25mph everywhere – but the difference between 70mph and 80mph on the motorway is considerable. Up to 5mpg in some cars, sometimes more. And really, many motorways are so crowded, going faster doesn’t mean better progress, anyway. You simply arrive at the congestion more quickly... Turn off air-conditioning Sorry to say it, but summer's coming to an end, so there really isn’t too much need to operate the air-con continuously. As it eats 5 per cent of fuel (and on some cars considerably more than that), turn it off for an easy saving. But don’t open the windows instead. You’ll increase drag and, ironically, return worse economy figures than with air con on... Avoid short journeys Cold cars, even modern ones, have an insatiable thirst for fuel when cold. A car capable of 40mpg on a gentle motorway run can plunge to 15mpg or less on a few-mile run in town. By walking short distances, you’re saving a tremendous amount of fuel. Use cruise control Set it at 70mph on the motorway and it’ll maintain your speed while using not a drop of fuel more than it has to. Computers are far more sensitive than a human’s right foot, so let the car do the calculations and watch the savings on the fuel economy meter.

Quite a lot of that seems to be exaggerated (e.g. the £5 pressure gauges actually carry warnings that their accuracy is appaling) but the bits that don't come under the heading of 'blatant common sense' are interesting.