Petrol Challenge - Will you participate?

[butterfly_warrior]

The type of driving has a MASSIVE impact on fuel economy.

My subaru forester will just stretch a tank to about 500km around town. After a trip to Canberra and back, where it was filled up half way there, it's done 520km and still has at least a quarter of a tank.

My father would swear by the fact that a regular freeway trip for his car would help its fuel economy even when it's just running around town. He used to call it letting the car "stretch its legs" and it did seem to make a difference. His fuel economy improved, not just for the tank that did the freeway trip, but for a few afterwards as well. Might just have been that car, haven't put it to the test myself. I don't keep records as accurate as my father, either - he has a little book in the glovebox where he records the date, the km travelled and how much fuel he's put into the tank. Of course, he always fills the tank completely every time he goes, doesn't work if the budget is tight and you can only put say $10 in to get through the next couple of days.

BW

[krystals]

Funnily enough, I just filled my car with $55 worth of fuel. It was 1.42 a litre I think. I'll let you know how far I get on it! I have an AH Astra (I think that's right) but will have to account for the fact I live on dirt, it's manual and there are a lot of hills!! I'll get back to you when I run out

[eza]

I have a Statesman 5.7L V8 - average L/100km is 11-12. I do a bit of highway driving as well as around town so I think it's pretty economical for the type of car it is..

[STARRYSKY]

I did have a toyota celsior v8, a full tank would cost $97-$120 (depending on premium or regular used, we used to swap every time) it would easily do 5-600k's on that.

I now have a holden commodore v6 on gas, $36 to fill the tank and do the same distances!

[briggsy's girl]

BW, your dad's theory works for us too - i love getting a long trip cos it blows the cobwebs out (as my dad puts it) and the car runs smoother. i used to do a decent trip daily for work, so we never had the drop in fuel economy, but we're noticing it now that we're living in town and lots of shorter trips.

[Tinks]

I have a Mazda 323 which costs me between $50-70 to fill depending how much petrol is. I get around 650km to a tank. Like BG I do longer trips and find the fuel economy is better. I drove just under 200km on 1/4 of a tank last Friday.

[Astrid]

Commodore V6 with sports pack - about 10 litres per 100km - about 2/3rd of driving is on highways.
Suzuki Swift - 6 litres per 100km - closer to 3/4 highway driving. Depends a lot on how much DH is being a leadfoot. When we had the Colt it was 5 litres.

DH has always been big on our cars having decent runs. Especially when we lived in Melbourne and did so much stop start driving. We always welcomed the big drive to NSW and back.

[Mum2Romone]

[Netix]

I actually did this in the little Pulsar last week, and managed to get 10 point something per hundred k's 10.6 maybe. I got just over 400 k's to the tank. It's an auto, so not all that economical. (Manual, same car can get 600-700km per tank)

The reason autos are less economical than manuals is the fact that they (usually) rev harder between gear changes, thus using a bit more fuel. And often, they have one less gear than the manual equivalent of the same vehicle. Ie, the Pulsar I drive is a three speed auto, where as the same model manual is a five speed box. Travelling at 100km/h, it does make a big difference.

Helle, I was going to say that about sucking up all the garbage when running a car till it's almost empty. The sludge and cr*p that accumulates in fuel tanks is unbelievable. It really is sludge and bad for engines (says me who still does it )

[BeautifulMadness]

station wago v6 magna 2002 ,costs me $100 to fill up and it can last me up to 2 weeks....i dont drive far

[Cranky Kitten]

Kind of impressed with my new Outlander - cracking 570km to a tank, is usually around $65-75 to fill depending on price. Length of time that lasts is deceptive as at the moment it's mostly getting driven on weekends.

[Miss.September]

My father would swear by the fact that a regular freeway trip for his car would help its fuel economy even when it's just running around town. He used to call it letting the car "stretch its legs" and it did seem to make a difference. His fuel economy improved, not just for the tank that did the freeway trip, but for a few afterwards as well. Might just have been that car, haven't put it to the test myself. I don't keep records as accurate as my father, either - he has a little book in the glovebox where he records the date, the km travelled and how much fuel he's put into the tank. Of course, he always fills the tank completely every time he goes, doesn't work if the budget is tight and you can only put say $10 in to get through the next couple of days.

BW

I agree with this. Ours is a Ford Territory and I think it'd cry if it only got a chance to do the little driving I do in a week I give it a go every few weeks, might go the long way to visit my mum where there are 100km/h roads. I think it always runs better after that. We've done a couple of long highway drives in it and it just cruises, loves it. This weekend we're going to Mildura and we won't be towing, so we'll see exactly how many ks it gives us on the highway.

ETA - Tinks, my friend just took his Mazda 323 to Adelaide from the northern suburbs of Melb - and he got there on one tank of fuel. Nice efficient car you've got there!