Are you driving more economically this year?

[Rave]

What car is that them Mblaster? Ditto for anyone else quoting MPG figures.

[Guy]

Best MPG figure I've achieved is early 30's 32-33 ish, worst is barely double figures!

[Konan555]

Do I drive more economically? No.

Do I drive my cars a lot? No.

So.... after racking up about an astronomical 3000 miles last year (poor ford's not hit 100K in 16 years) I figure that my fuel bill wouldn't be reduced by a large sum if I'd considered changing gear before the needle starts bouncing around the top of the dial. I suppose I have also scrubbed a set of tyres and wrecked a clutch in that time which surely counts towards the economics of driving.

In reality, I drive smoothly on a long journey simply to avoid the bother of having to stop at too many stations (which ultimately makes the journey longer).

[digit]

I try and stick to a set speed on the motorway to and from work, and I have had some success. Even at 7 in the morning though the motorway is fairly busy

[kalniel]

A little bit less economical this year,

Summer: Mixed = 61+mpg, Long journies = 64+mpg
Winter: Mixed = 55mpg, Long journies = 61+mpg

But that's because I fitted wider, rain specialist, tyres to cope with the mud on the back roads. And I've been very grateful that I did! Last year I got 2-3 mpg better on slightly narrower Michelin Energy, but I'm happy to give that up for the increased stopping power.

(Vaux astra mk4 1.7dti)

I'm wondering at what point it becomes economical for me to switch to lower viscosity oil over the winter.

[[GSV]Trig]

No I'm not.

[Vimeous]

Nope

Two years ago we halved our fuel bill by moving closer to work.
Driving is possibly my greatest source of personal enjoyment so I save money elsewhere to spend enjoying one of the few, albeit limited, freedoms we have left.

Our own cars need a little TLC atm so they're not being driven as hard. Of course the other reason is I now do more miles in our Pool Cars at work.
Thing is they're up for replacement in a couple of months and rather than Civic's we'll end up with a fleet of penny-pinching Yaris's. This means I'm determined to make the most of every last bit of the 138bhp and rail-like cornering for each 1.8 Civic because shortly I'll be struggling to get enough corner speed to worry a granny.

Politians have done what they always desire - getting people involved in politics. They've dragged me in with a mental machine-gun of hate for politicising motoring where it affects me most - my enjoyment.
Fuel prices I can understand but cameras, national road-tolls within 2 years and other methods will drive me to emmigrate.

Appologies for the digression but you mentioned saving when driving and frankly there's little I dislike more.

[Howard]

Nope. Don't care. I enjoy driving I Don't drive like a pillock but I don't hang about either, especially in the MX5. The day I roll over and buy a crappy diesel is the day a ground frost hits Hell overnight.

[MadduckUK]

very marginally on account of going 2.0 -> 1.6, but the 1.6 gets worked a lot more. probably 15 - 20% more efficient tough

[menthel]

I drive 60 every day to and from work and get a good 550miles from my tank of diesel (Usually about £65 to fill up as West London prices!) so I don't do too badly in my 2L Jetta (07).

Then again my wife tells me I drive like an old man.

[slugs]

it takes an hour to get to work in a morning 19 miles. i get a good 45 - 50 mph average for the first 15 miles when we start queuing. and my normal average for speed for the car is 15

if i go to our Wakefield office or even Manchester i can get the average speed upto 30

on a good run to work ill average around 42mpg and on a longer run 48mpg

i changed car and go rid of my mondeo smaller car better mpg wrong. my civic on average is 5 mpg worse

saying that my lexus used to go sub 20 all the time and worse while on holiday and pushing it all the time full tank average of 6mpg

[Lowe]

We went from a 2 car family down to a 1 car for various reasons, but economy was part of the issue. We've also had new tyres on the Saxo which are energy savers, but apart from that nothing's changed.

[Moby-Dick]

nope - I switched my runabout from a Xantia Diesel to an E34 525

[Konan555]

I switched from gasoline to propane. Sadly, I switched to sub 20MPG as well!

[meerkat]

Actually I moved house at the end of last year; the hour commute was just too much, both in terms of time lost and expense. I now walk 7-10 minutes to work.

When I do drive though, I tend to drive more economically. I get generally 40-42mpg from my petrol Focus, 1.8. It's a pain because I adore driving, but if she's pushed that figure falls... a lot...

[[GSV]Trig]

To expand on my short answer earlier..

I went from a 3.2 V6 PETROL!!! Izusu Trooper to a 1.4 Audi A2, in real terms thats a drop from £70+ a week in fuel to about £35 and thats with me driving it like its a gokart...