Frugal Driving

[stooz]

It doesn't matter what car I've owned but I can't help becoming drawn into driving for the best MPG!
Don't get me wrong I don't hang about, and with the right driving skills you can be Frugal and fast at the same time.

Currently i'm punching £20 tax, £100 insurance and pulling 64mpg.. In a car that's labelled 'Sport'.

I am now on my 47th car (maybe more). Driving and driving education is still a very strong passion of mine.

[staffordian]

Sounds a bit like my current car.

£20 tax
1.2L petrol engine
55+mpg (would be more but I tend to only trundle about locally most of the time)
Fitted with larger than standard alloys
A rear spoiler
Side skirts
Some carbon fibre effect bits
And its a...
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2015 Nissan Note

[ExTownie]

It doesn't matter what car I've owned but I can't help becoming drawn into driving for the best MPG!
Don't get me wrong I don't hang about, and with the right driving skills you can be Frugal and fast at the same time.

Currently i'm punching £20 tax, £100 insurance and pulling 64mpg.. In a car that's labelled 'Sport'.

I am now on my 47th car (maybe more). Driving and driving education is still a very strong passion of mine.

If you're on your 47th car, that doesn't sound terribly frugal to me! I imagine that any gains from fuel economy/tax/insuarance might be outweighed by the cost of switching cars every few months

ET

[UncleIan]

I am now on my 47th car (maybe more). Driving and driving education is still a very strong passion of mine.

Wow, I've owned a car for a little over 29 years now, and I think I'm only on my 7th.

Citroen Dyanne
Renault 5
Fiesta
Rover 200
2 x Ford focus
Golf.

Christ I need a midlife crisis.

[dragnips]

I've long since given up on purchasing cars based purely on fuel economy. My current car returns 25 mpg whist pottering about - if I were to change to a more economical car, I would be saving myself around £400 pa. Put into perspective, this probably equates to around 2.5 pints of beer a week; a luxury which I am prepared to forgo.

I fully agree with the sentiment "Driving and driving education is still a very strong passion of mine."

[staffordian]

I am now on my 47th car (maybe more). Driving and driving education is still a very strong passion of mine.

Wow, I've owned a car for a little over 29 years now, and I think I'm only on my 7th.

Citroen Dyanne
Renault 5
Fiesta
Rover 200
2 x Ford focus
Golf.

Christ I need a midlife crisis.

Your list sounds as mundane as mine...

Hillman Imp
Morris 1100
Commer van
Vauxhall Viva HA
Vauxhall Viva HA
Austin Metro
Austin Maestro
Austin Metro
Austin Montego
Rover Metro
Fiat Punto
Seat Ibiza
Ford C Max
Seat Ibiza
Nissan Note

First one was in 1974 so 15 motors in 42 years, more or less one every three years. All second hand except the second Ibiza. I find in general that buying a car about a year old and selling when about four years old is a reasonable compromise between driving a reasonably new car and excessive depreciation, and now I've retired and my mileage is modest mpg isn't my main concern.

The fact that my current car is about the most economical I've had is more down to the fact that we wanted a compact car.

Even if the mpg had been half what it my motoring costs wouldn't be much higher and certainly isn't the major cost. That's always going to be depreciation unless you run a classic or buy and run real bangers.

[88V8]

Recently sold a Silver Shadow.
It did around 17mpg.
Which was pretty good for a Silver Shadow.

Don't really give a hoot about consumption. But I do have what I term 'mechanical sympathy. I think that also helps with fuel.

Although having said I don't give a hoot, I had a chance recently to buy the Strangerover https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20933/lot/412/
With its 5.7 Chevy and full-time 4x4 it does around 10mpg, and I must admit I chickened out. The thought of the wife's eyes boring into the back of my head every time I stopped to refuel was too much :]

V8

[staffordian]

I wondered if you might pop up in this thread 88V8, having read of your love of "simple" cars, and I had you in mind when I referred to classics above.

I guess picking the right classic means you could get very cheap motoring, with classic car insurance and an appreciating asset.

[88V8]

Overall, perhaps, cheapish.
Comp insurance for the Shadow was £67 incl Breakdown.
But the car itself was cheap. Never buy a cheap Rolls. Everything was either worn out or rusty. Over two years I sank £7k and many hours into it, then sold it for £600 (six hundred) to an enthusiast who had the skills to undertake the extensive rust repairs.

Overall though, compared to the depreciation on a new car, yes, cheap ish.

Fuel consumption and range to me are interlinked. I can do thirsty, so long as the tank is large enough. The Shadow would go nearly 400 miles on its 24 gallon tank, although shelling out £100+ to fill it with Super Unleaded was, ummm, well it was.
The Strangerover has, I think, a 14 gallon tank. 140 miles at best. Hmmm.

V8

[stooz]

It doesn't matter what car I've owned but I can't help becoming drawn into driving for the best MPG!
Don't get me wrong I don't hang about, and with the right driving skills you can be Frugal and fast at the same time.

Currently i'm punching £20 tax, £100 insurance and pulling 64mpg.. In a car that's labelled 'Sport'.

I am now on my 47th car (maybe more). Driving and driving education is still a very strong passion of mine.

If you're on your 47th car, that doesn't sound terribly frugal to me! I imagine that any gains from fuel economy/tax/insuarance might be outweighed by the cost of switching cars every few months

ET

Nothing frugal about my expenditure sadly, you are right.

[Charlottesquare]

Overall, perhaps, cheapish.
Comp insurance for the Shadow was £67 incl Breakdown.
But the car itself was cheap. Never buy a cheap Rolls. Everything was either worn out or rusty. Over two years I sank £7k and many hours into it, then sold it for £600 (six hundred) to an enthusiast who had the skills to undertake the extensive rust repairs.

Overall though, compared to the depreciation on a new car, yes, cheap ish.

Fuel consumption and range to me are interlinked. I can do thirsty, so long as the tank is large enough. The Shadow would go nearly 400 miles on its 24 gallon tank, although shelling out £100+ to fill it with Super Unleaded was, ummm, well it was.
The Strangerover has, I think, a 14 gallon tank. 140 miles at best. Hmmm.

V8

I tend to think the secret with old cars is to buy to your particular strengths, so in my case the simpler the better.

My 1987 Reliant Scimitar is in essence a Go Kart with body panels badly bolted to it, there is no sophisticated engine management that I cannot understand, in effect a 1980s car built using 1970s technology and in the main using parts borrowed from myriad other manufacturers.

Result is most parts (not all, a few difficult ones) simple to acquire and pretty cheap, most mechanical repairs within my lack of expertise; the only drawback is lack of time which does see it languishing in the garage at work awaiting yet another fix far too often.

It does of course have the plus point that depreciation is probably irrelevant, they are so cheap in the first place there is very little value to be lost and when running great fun.

If appetites whetted there is a 1987 (so likely galvanised chassis) 1.8 turbo for sale on E Bay (in Angus) at the moment, it is not mine, honest. Yes it is in bits, yes the turbo is more complicated than my 1.6 CVH version, and yes, if I had spare space I could be tempted ( would need to hide from other half), a very satisfying way to spend Sunday afternoons and fairly cheap way to get pretty decent handling /performance.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1987-Reliant- ... SwA3dYIym-

[BT63]

A lot of modern cars are not pleasant to drive because they're deliberately de-tuned/fuelling-limited below 3000rpm (to achieve good 'on paper' mpg and low road tax) and the fuel-limiting combined with the trend for small engine + big turbocharger means they're often horribly unresponsive, laggy, hesitant or jerky - bordering on dangerous - unless driven like it was stolen.
I recently test-drove a 16-plate Peugeot 308 GTi (1.6T/250) and was appalled at the lack of engine response and hesitancy in the everyday rev range (1000-2500rpm).

[MonsterMork]

Strangerover ........ With its 5.7 Chevy and full-time 4x4 it does around 10mpg,

Yeah, they screwed up the engine. They need to come and see us, we dropped a tuned 3.9 into a 101 - that now gets 19 to the gallon!

MM



ps: for them wot don't know, a 101 is a military only Land Rover designed and built in the 1970's. It came with a 3.5 v8 which did 12 mpg when brand spanking new and unsullied by a squaddie's boot, and is almost exactly the same shape as a breeze block ..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Rove ... rd_Control

[88V8]

Strangerover ........ With its 5.7 Chevy and full-time 4x4 it does around 10mpg,

Yeah, they screwed up the engine. They need to come and see us, we dropped a tuned 3.9 into a 101 - that now gets 19 to the gallon!

Mmmm. If it comes on the market again you might be hearing from me.
Meanwhile I bought a 63 Rambler Ambassador, that's only 5.4l so I expect it's pretty frugal. Find out when it arrives.

V8

[DrFfybes]

I've long since given up on purchasing cars based purely on fuel economy. My current car returns 25 mpg whist pottering about - if I were to change to a more economical car, I would be saving myself around £400 pa. Put into perspective, this probably equates to around 2.5 pints of beer a week; a luxury which I am prepared to forgo.

I fully agree with the sentiment "Driving and driving education is still a very strong passion of mine."

I do about 3500 miles a year. At 20 mpg that is about £800 in fuel.
Tax is £290
Insurance was £290.
Tyres £100 per year.
Erm, and the last service with the odds and sods was just shy of £2k

I should probably drive more, it would make the car cheaper to run

MrsF's Z4M coupe is probably a better bet. Quick, 35+ mpg on a run, cheap(er) insurance, but £500+ VED
However the only ones for sale at the moment with similar sub 40k mileage are £7-10k more than she paid 12 months ago.

[stooz]

Im not convinced bybthe samll engine equals lag argument.
I have recently tried a vw sirocco with a 1.4 turbo and supercharger, and nothing about it was slow.
Then I tried a 1.6 honda crv and that was very responsive. More so than its 2.2 diesel version.

But when it comes to responsive an audi rs7 is outright scary.

[BT63]

....I do about 3500 miles a year. At 20 mpg that is about £800 in fuel...

I do about 20000 miles per year. At 20mpg that would be about £5500 in fuel.
Fortunately I achieve low-50s mpg (a bit higher mpg in summer, a bit less mpg in winter) which is around £2000 in fuel.

[BT63]

Im not convinced bybthe samll engine equals lag argument.
I have recently tried a vw sirocco with a 1.4 turbo and supercharger, and nothing about it was slow.
Then I tried a 1.6 honda crv and that was very responsive. More so than its 2.2 diesel version.

But when it comes to responsive an audi rs7 is outright scary.

I suppose it depends what you've been driving.
I'm a great fan of two-stage/sequential turbocharging to eliminate lag. Little turbo spools-up just above idle but runs out of puff in the mid-range, big turbo comes on-boost in the mid-range to take over from the little one. The supercharger on the 1.4 Sirocco would probably have given some of the benefits of a two-stage turbo arrangement.

The day after I test-drove the Peugeot 308 GTi 1.6T/250 I drove a Vauxhall Insignia 2.0T/250 (bigger engine, same power, bigger car) and the Insignia's 2.0T was far nicer to drive with a lot less lag than the Peugeot. Sure, once it was wound-up to full boost the Siggy wasn't quicker overall due to being much bigger and heavier, but the low-down engine response of Vauxhall's 2-litre was far better than Peugeot's 1.6-litre.