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loadswine
Occasional Visitor
Joined: Mar 30, 2006
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 Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 9:01 am Post subject: |
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Its not the speed that is the problem on motorways, but the way people behave. Lane discipline is simply appalling and I think this causes more problems than speeding. I wonder how many of the people who complain about excessive speed are actually the ones sitting in that middle lane passing nothing!
My real worry on a higher speed limit are cars out there, not properly maintained as money gets ever tighter. Hopefully the monstrous cost of fuel will slow those folks down. I doubt if I'd want to go much faster than the current limit as fuel is just so expensive. |
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DennisN
Tired Old Man
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 14902
Location: Keynsham
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| Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 9:31 am Post subject: |
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My local garage diesel price is currently £144.9. From my records, 28th March 2007 it was 91.9p.
The only answer for me is to hold back on my speed. But I wonder how many of today's speed merchants understand what it's costing them?
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Dennis
If it tastes good - it's fattening.
Two of them are obesiting!! |
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Oldboy
Pocket GPS Moderator
Joined: Dec 08, 2004
Posts: 10643
Location: Suffolk, UK
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| Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 10:27 am Post subject: |
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| DennisN wrote: | | But I wonder how many of today's speed merchants understand what it's costing them? |
More speed equates to more petrol per mile equates to more money, via petrol tax, going into Government Funds. 
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TT 910 V7.903: Europe Map v1045
TT Via 135 App 12.075: Europe Map v1140 |
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Tim Buxton
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Joined: 14/09/2002 20:56:18
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Location: Surrey, United Kingdom
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| Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 10:55 am Post subject: |
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| DennisN wrote: | | My local garage diesel price is currently £144.9. From my records, 28th March 2007 it was 91.9p.? |
£144.9? I'd buy from somewhere else. 
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AliOnHols
Pocket GPS Verifier
Joined: Oct 15, 2008
Posts: 1942
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| Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 12:17 pm Post subject: |
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| DennisN wrote: | | My local garage diesel price is currently £144.9. From my records, 28th March 2007 it was 91.9p. |
As the holiday season is arriving, in case anybody is curious to know:- current average prices in this part of Spain are €1.40/L - diesel, €1.50/L - 95Petrol & €1.60/L - 98Petrol although they do seem to be rising daily. 4-5 years ago prices were about 65 - 70 cents per litre!
| DennisN wrote: | | The only answer for me is to hold back on my speed. But I wonder how many of today's speed merchants understand what it's costing them? |
I remember reading years & years ago that your car is most efficient when the engine is running when maximum torque is produced but I could never get my head around whether it was better to be in 3rd at max torque or in 5th at (say)20% rpm below max torque so I resorted to plodding along at a sensible speed and coasting (not free-wheeling) wherever possible.
Regardless of this, I applied the same fuel economy principle when riding my motorbike. On long journeys l tried to go everywhere at max torque in the highest gear. Result = Fuel economy went straight out of the window and I must have broke every speed limit in the book as I clung on for dear life. I think that there must be different formulas for motorbikes.
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DennisN
Tired Old Man
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 14902
Location: Keynsham
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| Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 4:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Tim Buxton wrote: | | DennisN wrote: | | My local garage diesel price is currently £144.9. From my records, 28th March 2007 it was 91.9p.? |
£144.9? I'd buy from somewhere else. |
Dammit Tim!! I've just twigged it, after drafting a long, thoroughly reasoned condemnation of you for not being up to date with fuel prices, compared to me, a totally with-it whitevanman of intelligence and handsomeness. Approximately. 
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Dennis
If it tastes good - it's fattening.
Two of them are obesiting!! |
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Andy_P
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Joined: Jun 04, 2005
Posts: 19991
Location: West and Southwest London
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| Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2012 12:04 am Post subject: |
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| AliOnHols wrote: | | I remember reading years & years ago that your car is most efficient when the engine is running when maximum torque is produced but I could never get my head around whether it was better to be in 3rd at max torque or in 5th at (say)20% rpm below max torque so I resorted to plodding along at a sensible speed and coasting (not free-wheeling) wherever possible. |
Out of interest, how do you know when your engine is working at max. torque? Do you have to look it up in the specs and compare it to a certain RPM for each gear?
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Andy_P
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Joined: Jun 04, 2005
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Location: West and Southwest London
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AliOnHols
Pocket GPS Verifier
Joined: Oct 15, 2008
Posts: 1942
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| Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2012 7:28 am Post subject: |
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| Andy_P wrote: | | ..Out of interest, how do you know when your engine is working at max. torque? Do you have to look it up in the specs and compare it to a certain RPM for each gear? |
Hi Andy_P, yes. Quite boring really, just look it up in the handbook for the car, a Haynes or OnLine. If you are lucky enough to have a rev counter fitted try to drive to that. If no rev counter you'll also have to look up gear ratios and final drive ratio and do some number crunching. I'd love to see Chelsea Logan from your video clip try to work that that out!
"In the Old Days" car manufacturers used to have to publish the MPG figures at something like 30, 56 & 70mph and I rather cynically believe that they used to tune their top-gear ratio to be most efficient at 56mph so as to look good against the competition. So, a rule of thumb, drive at 56mph in top gear (where legally possible of course) and you should return a decent MPG.
N.B. The above is from AliOnHols' guide to life based on myths, legends and OldWivesTales. So probably complete bunk.
EDIT -This Statement Retracted - see the quote within M8TJT's next post.
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Last edited by AliOnHols on Sun Mar 25, 2012 12:23 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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M8TJT
The Other Tired Old Man
Joined: Apr 04, 2006
Posts: 10118
Location: Bexhill, South Sussex, UK
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| Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2012 10:12 am Post subject: |
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| AliOnHols wrote: | | A very broad generalisation, based upon cars which I have owned, is that Max Torque appears to be between 2200 & 2600 rpm. |
Is that for a petrol or diesel engine, or are your mythst etc. good enouh that it makes no difference?  |
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AliOnHols
Pocket GPS Verifier
Joined: Oct 15, 2008
Posts: 1942
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| Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2012 12:16 pm Post subject: |
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| M8TJT wrote: | | Is that for a petrol or diesel engine, or are your mythst etc. good enouh that it makes no difference? |
Doh! My brain hurts! Our current 2.5L diesel is 2500rpm while our 1.6L petrol is ........ 4000 rpm.!!! I'll get my coat 
I'll double & triple check this then probably retract that particular statement in my preceding post.
Edit - Yep! Peugeot Handbook and Internet prove me wrong so statement retracted. For the moment I'm still standing by my max. torque and 56mph theories. Watch this space!
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aj2052
Frequent Visitor
Joined: Jul 03, 2005
Posts: 1431
Location: Leics,UK
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| Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 1:09 am Post subject: |
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Modern cars dont seem to be designed to get the best for consumption purposes, my previous car had both instant and average mpg on different screen settings tried getting best results using instant reading but just went down to silly figures having to avoid creating a jam behind me, found got better mpg by ignore readings, now current car as both instant and average on same screen and the speedo only shows increments in 5 mile segments so cannot really read an accurate speed, mpg instant figures vary so widely between 7mpg and 99 mpg depending on which shoes you are wearing to which way the wind is blowing it hardly gives me enough time to look out of the window to see where i am, only got 250 miles on the clock yet so must learn not to look at the display.
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Kremmen
Pocket GPS Verifier
Joined: Mar 03, 2006
Posts: 7147
Location: Reading
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| Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 6:37 am Post subject: |
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I read an article that stated that at 70mph your using 10% more fuel to cover the same distance as when doing 60mph.
For the last few weeks I've been sitting in with the trucks on the M25 doing circa 56 to 60 mph and my weekly mpg has risen from just under 38mpg to just over 42mpg.
I only do 10 miles on the motorway each way so it's only losing me a few minutes. I'm also finding it far more relaxing just poodling along.
I top up every week and It's costing me less now than a few months ago even though prices have risen 
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Tim Buxton
Pocket GPS Moderator
Joined: 14/09/2002 20:56:18
Posts: 5231
Location: Surrey, United Kingdom
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| Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 8:14 am Post subject: |
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| DennisN wrote: |
Dammit Tim!! |
Sorry, but it just had to be done.
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DennisN
Tired Old Man
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 14902
Location: Keynsham
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| Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 7:32 am Post subject: |
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| Kremmen wrote: | I read an article that stated that at 70mph your using 10% more fuel to cover the same distance as when doing 60mph.
For the last few weeks I've been sitting in with the trucks on the M25 doing circa 56 to 60 mph and my weekly mpg has risen from just under 38mpg to just over 42mpg. |
When I thrash my van - that's trying to push at 69mph as indicated by my satnav - my fuel economy goes down to 48mpg if I do it for long enough (a tankfull, 500 miles or so). If I do my preferred speed - 60mph on the speedo, 56/57 on the satnav - I get over 60mpg. I did 1600 miles last week, so those figures make steady driving a sensible option. And, as you say, far more relaxing than tensing everything to charge along!
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Dennis
If it tastes good - it's fattening.
Two of them are obesiting!! |
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