Fuel prices

[Mr Speirs]

There are a lot of interesting cars coming up. Can't remember the make or model but essentially is an electric car capable of around 60 odd miles. Once the 60 miles is up a small generators onboard automatically takes over and burns regular fuel to produce electricity and give the car an extra 200 mile range. Thought that was a really good way around the lack of range in electric cars.

I mean 90% of the time I don't drive over 60miles in a day so it would suit me, but I guess someone who does a lot of miles on a commute then it wouldn't make sense.

I am seriously considering changing my car for a 1.5 Diesel Renault Clio or 1.4 diesel Vauxhall Corsa as the tax is £35 a year, the insurance groups are 3/4 and the MPG is over double what I currently get. I calculated I would save around £1200 per year by swapping my car for an uber economical little car.

Decent tdi's are the answer imo, my 1.9 golf aint slow, but driven reasonable will get 50+ mpg all day long

[MisterTommyH]

Originally Posted by specialone

Decent tdi's are the answer imo, my 1.9 golf aint slow, but driven reasonable will get 50+ mpg all day long

+1 The 1.9TDI by Audi/VW/Seat is very economical and easy to keep above that 50 mark. Was looking at the Seat website the other day though and it looks like they don't do it anymore....

I was talking about Petrol Derivatives. The Smart cars are believed to do 80+ theoretically so should achieve 70+on a combined cycle. They reckon a 100mpg Diesel is just around the corner. Should be fairly slow though

[G]

They diesel Toyota aygo got over 90mpg. I know a contact that has a fleet of the as company cars, alot of meter reading companies use them too. BUT they sold them for a couple of months then stopped for no reason... Probably pressure from others like someone else said.

Phil those figures were fairly accurate because I used to record ltrs used per miles etc to make sure I was breaking even on the 7p per mile at my last company.

The figures for the new BMW 320d is meant to be aroudn 60-70mpg, which considering it is a fairly large car, isn't too bad.

The Honda FCX does run on hydrogen, but, hydrogen can go boom, so one of the other problems is being able to store it under pressure without it exploding.

Also, hydrogen is generally found attached to something else, Eg. In Water, and you have to use energy to separate it. There are others ways to get it, but I'm not sure of the viability of large scale production for use in cars.

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by Berlin

I know of a guy in Edinburgh that is doing very well on his "Electric-ery" car. He's getting 500 miles from one charge by using KERS on it.

The future is not to far away but you wouldn't belive the pressure he's under to bury it!

C

KERS is nothing new on electrics, just fancy name for it. There has been "regen brake" on mobility scooters since oooh, early 90s? Maybe earlier.

Or is he using capacitors?

Actually there is a guy on backyard metalcasting forum who's put electric drive on his pickup, he reckons that with the cost of batteries(consumable part) and electricity it costs him about $0.12 a mile.

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by EssexDave

Also, hydrogen is generally found attached to something else, Eg. In Water, and you have to use energy to separate it. There are others ways to get it, but I'm not sure of the viability of large scale production for use in cars.

Perfectly viable, but it takes energy. You want 1MJ of fuel for your car that will cost you probably 1.2MJ of electricity.

[G]

Originally Posted by EssexDave

The figures for the new BMW 320d is meant to be aroudn 60-70mpg, which considering it is a fairly large car, isn't too bad.

BMW's are the only cars I have NEVER achieved manufacturer figures in.

My girlfriend has a Cooper D which is supposed to get near on 70mpg... I have achieved that on the clock but when filling up the reality was the car had only achieved about 55mpg.

My 120d struggles to get over 50mpg even at 65mpg behind a damn truck, and thats supposed to get 59mpg. Most of the time the clock will show 42mpg and I'm to scared to figure out what it really gets.

Originally Posted by EssexDave

The figures for the new BMW 320d is meant to be aroudn 60-70mpg, which considering it is a fairly large car, isn't too bad.

I'm not a fan of BMW figures, my car is around 60 combined. I do a fairly mixed mileage or urban and non-urban, and even driving sensibly I have yet to see above 48mpg lol.