More economical driving and riding

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12664047

My car driving habits have certainly changed since fuel prices went
up. I tend to peg the cruise control at 70 or a shade over, rather
than 75-80 (which allows for speedo error and the 'forgiveness
factor'). Then again, I'm generally using the car on long journeys.

Bikes? I'm keeping the GN down to 30-35 in town but that's to preserve
my licence rather than fuel. It's had the effect of giving me 70mpg
rather than 65+, but as I do just 28 miles a day on my daily commute,
any saving is an irrelevance, really. What I have noticed is that my
weekly fill-up is now £12, whereas at the beginning of 2010 it was £10
or so.

Other bikes - I don't think fuel costs have changed the way I ride
them at all, actually. But the car - certainly.

 

In communiqué

I noticed the display on the Shiver claimed it was averaging 52 mpg
yesterday though I confess to having the tri-map on 'Touring' mode for
the ride to the Greasy Spoon as it was my first excursion on a bike this
year. Very smooth it is on that setting and still reasonably lively. It
got switched to 'Sport' for the ride home though.

The Mazda 6 seems to run very efficiently at about 80 on the autoroute
though that may be because the cruise control doesn't have to be
over-ridden for mile after mile on the good old A20. Everyone over there
seems to be on cruise with just the odd click difference. Sometimes it
takes an age for overtaking to be accomplished, but even the two lane
sections are so free of traffic so it's not an issue. The 6 usually
returns about 37 mpg which isn't bad for a 2 litre petrol estate.
Knocking it back to 110 Kph doesn't seem to improve it that much. Given
a full on Mobil economy run style with the odd downhill coast during the
French fuel 'situation' in October I managed to get it up to 42 though.
I conducted experiments with SP98 to test the improved economy theory,
but they were inconclusive.

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| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Aprilia Shiver Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 |
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I've gone from using a bike where possible cos the car did 21mpg on a
run (& considerably less around town), to using the car unless I'm
likely to hit major traffic as the new one does 30mpg+ on a run (around
19mpg around town) on fuel that costs 71p / litre.

 

I expect most folks will introduce some change into their driving habits,
not because the price has gone up but because it has risen so sharply but
the problems will really come in 6 months time when all this is forgotten
and gummint is hurting from their revenues haven taken a dive. Tax will
have to go up and folks will mostly have slipped back into their old
habits so you lot are going to get hit from 2 directions.

I did noticed the article saying that the fuel tax price hike that is in
the works may not happen. This I find odd as one of the mantras coming
out of Whitehall across the board has been that all these tax rises and
things cannot be stopped because they are law left over from the last
government. Amazing how that should be changeable for one rather
popularist thing and yet not for the rest of it, particularly as fuel is
VAT rated so the exchequer automatically will see plenty of benefit from
base price rises as well as the war profiteers.
..

 

Interesting that isn't it?

 

I'm keeping the Alhambra down to about 68 this week to see what
difference it makes. I normally get about 40mpg on a normal week.

The ZZR normally gives me about 45mpg on a normal commute at something
like 75-80 average so I doubt if that'll change much.

 

Not really. Budgets are set based on projected income, & the income
from fuel tax will me more than expected due to the rise in the base
cost, so planned rises may no longer be necessary. They are of course
damned if they do, damned if they don't, & Blair proved on more than
one occasion that any law can be changed at will, even if it means
ignoring a high court ruling.

What is interesting is that anyone's accusing the current government of
being interested in 'popularist' policies.

 

So you are another of the slow driving cunts that are driving me crazy. It
was bad enough that people were driving at 50 on NSL roads now it's 45 and
less acceleration. It's defeatism of the very worst kind you know!

911 is going on the road in April, as is the Ducati, so my mpg is going
skywards. Overtaking will be going into the "give the cunts a coronary"
territory.

OTOH my fixed monthly mileage may soon reduce by 800 ;o)

 

<snip>

I've looked very seriously at using the bus to work from now on. Since
my office hours are 9-5:30 and the car sits in traffic for most of my 5
mile pootle to work and back, I think it'll be cheaper and greener. £34
for four weeks unlimited bus use around town, as opposed to sticking £60
or more into the car? Yes please.
Just need to get some decent headphones for the iPod!

 

**** off, we don't want any of you bleeding workers on our free subsidised
buses thank you very much. We like them just the way they are, as a place
where we can dribble and fart in good company. We don't need hordes of
clean, fresh smelling, sane people spoiling them.

 

Made sod all difference to mine on either bike or car. I'll concede
that traffic maybe be generally going a bit slower, dullards hogging
the outer lanes more. The difference in fuel consumption by
driving/riding like you're 90 as opposed to getting a move on isn't
enough to bother me.

 

That's OK, mate, you can sit at the back of the bus and lick the windows =)

 

Good grief, they're even worse than trains. I'd sooner keep my
distance from the great unwashed if at all possible.

 

Oddly enough, the one place the wrinklies do not go is right to the back
of the bus. I have no idea why but even on foot clinic day the back seat
is always empty and thus all the windows are mine to lick with impunity.

 

If I had that sort of commute, I'd buy/build an electric scooter.

 

Why would it drive you crazy if somebody chooses to drive at the limit,
a shade over the limit, or a touch under the limit in town?

 

Efficiency, innit - the further you walk down the bus, the further you
have to walk to get off the bus.

 

Nope it is not that, people will even sit next to a wog rather than take a
place on an empty back seat. Really, they just don't do it and I cannot
offer an explanation.

 

I felt the same but was forced to bus it in while the car was up on
bricks at the dealership (another story for another time) this week. The
buses were mostly empty, there weren't any babies or serious mongos so
it was actually quite pleasant. Also, being a fat ****, no-one can sit
next to me, hah!

 

<Nige> How can they sit next to a wog and not be at the back of the bus?</Nige>