Getn late ,didnt read whole threard . Ive done a feeww cars . um,i f i had a thought ,from a side spin angle . every time you push the accerater down you are sqirting petrol in to the motor .No disrepect ,but if you are a bot heavy footd here an there ,you cant save ,not possible,maybe . If a person were to ease up on therre accerater a wwe bit all the time ,one might notice a saveing .every time a person pushes down the accelrater ,another sqirt of petrol goes into the motor.east,eh . now ,how many in the car ,that the car has to carry,1 or 2 dont matter but 5 might.Cornering ,If one were to slow down 5 k the whole trip (with corners ,Mind)you could stop it costing so mush .10 k you might save money . it depends a few thing Weight the car has to travel(is guessibg you mean you or you plus one) , will cost less than carrying 5 people . I have found that a !.8-2 literis heaps for one or 2 people .learn your car . If i push my accelerater down a bit ,it will go ,but if i lift my foot off the accelareter a bit the car will go quicker. it depends a bit on how you drive you whicth car you drive,and what way you drive it . Hope that might be a weee glimer of help
stevo2,
Jul 11, 4:16am
Geez Skin, you've been a long time poster on here and thats a bit about you that I never knew. I take my hat off to you mate for what you have been through and I hope Mrs Skin comes through OK. Jethrosmum, Its not just the speed you drive at, its the time it takes you to get to that speed that counts. Fast accelleration uses so much more fuel than driving at 100kph that your savings could be substantial be moving off from the rest a bit slower.
jaxma,
Jul 11, 4:38am
I got fed up with paying so much for fuel so traded my 3.5 litre Honda Legend for a 2008 1.8 litre Toyota Corolla hatch and almost halved my fuel bill. Yes, it cost a lot to do the trade but other factors came into it as well for me.In the Honda, it cost me around $100 to get to Wellington at Christmas, but at Easter in the Toyota, it cost me $45! Best thing I ever did, although I miss the luxury and power of the Honda.
msigg,
Jul 11, 5:14am
Yes there is a reasonable difference. good that you have seen it first hand by driving a smaller car as all the comments can get misleading. proof in the pudding.
hopie,
Jul 11, 8:03am
I have a Manual v8 commy (5ltr) and a manual K11 March (998cc)
the commy I just cruze around in when I do drive it and the march I rape the crap out of as I am normally late everywhere. fuel consumpsion is about the same maybe a bit more in the march haha
tonyrockyhorror,
Jul 11, 8:51am
I'd rather be in the older, heavier car with the bigger engine that is also cheaper to buy in the first instance because short sighted misers are so scared of the fuel bill which never really works out more than the purchase price and maintenance cost difference anyway.
hamishcookie,
Jul 11, 10:31am
Yup my EF fairmont Ghia 4.1 6 used less gas then my 2 litre RVR Open road the fairmont would get low 9s in litres per 100km with the climate control on 24/7while the rvr gets mid to high 10's with out the climate control on all the time. The RVR is cheaper around town though but I wouldn't say by a lot.
hounddog2,
Jul 11, 10:41am
get a probox cheap cheap cheap and loads of room aswell as being amazing on gas
elect70,
Jul 11, 12:59pm
You willmiss thoseextra 2cylinders , probably have foot down more & using more gas .From XR6 to caldina is sacrilege .should behung drawn & quatered
kazbanz,
Jul 11, 1:20pm
Op- my honest opinion-Have a look at a 1800cc auto Nissan Bluebird silphy. Not bad on the open road power wise. Not bad in town economy wise. Basicly a huge improvement on your current car fuel economy wise whilst not going down to a full on economy car
hopie,
Jul 11, 1:57pm
There so god damn ugly thou.
jason18,
Jul 11, 2:02pm
Amen to that. My hat is also off!
doctor_evil99,
Jul 11, 2:10pm
I went from a 3.5 VRX Mitsi to a 1.6 Holden. Saved about 13L fuel a week. Got use to the 1.6 power pretty quicky.
richardmayes,
Jul 11, 2:49pm
In reality it takes the right combination of the car and the driver's attitude to save fuel. I know a lot of people who have traded down (or up) to big 4-cylinder cars like Camrys & Accords and been a bit disappointed to find the fuel consumption was not as good as they expected. If you are serious about saving gas, you really need to get a properly small ( <1.5 litre) manual car.
Re Falcon Vs Caldina etc.
If you drive steadily and sensibly without putting the boot in, you should expect the relative fuel consumption of two cars to be roughly in proportion to their weights. It is always going to take AT LEAST a certain minimum amount of fuel to pull a car body thru the air at 100km/h, and it's always going to take AT LEAST a certain minimum amount of fuel to pull 1.6 tonnes of steel up a hill. The steadier you drive, the closer you can get to using only this minimum amount of fuel, and if you always drive like this the size of the engine doesn't have to make much difference.
I.e. if you drive a big 4 litre car like a Ford Falcon gently, it should not use too much more fuel than a similar-sized car with a small engine e.g. a Camry.
If you like to drive as quickly as possible, always accelerate hard, always overtake people etc etc. you can expect the relative fuel consumption to be more in proportion to the size of the petrol burner unit up the front. I.e. a 4 litre engine roaring away at full throttle will drink petrol a lot faster than a 2 litre engine roaring away at full throttle!
craig04,
Jul 11, 3:27pm
My daughter is 6 years old and I couldn't comprehend losing her. I think the sacrifices you and your wife made show what amazing people you are. You gave your youngun the best quality of life possible. My hats off too.
trogedon,
Jul 11, 3:57pm
Ah huh. There is no good reason why a smaller car should cost more in maintenance. For example our Libero bought at 58k kms 9 1/2 years ago. Its done about 170k kms now and the only thing needed was a steering rack end & I did the cambelt. You mention "short sighted misers" after saying you'd rather have an old shitter that was "cheaper" to buy anyway. Petrol will NEVER come down much from now on. It will trend upwards. There are better things to spend $ on than running some old slug (yes, I know classics are different).
zetec,
Jul 11, 6:40pm
I would recommend a Mk1 Ford Focus, 1.6 manual. I do around 60km round trip commute a day, 300km a week, the weekly fill of 95 is about $45. it uses about 7l/100km. They are quite high geared, only doing 2800 rpm in 5th at 100km/h. Plenty of room in hatchback, good ride and handling and mine has been extremely reliable. Get an NZ new version, 2003 to early 2005, needs a cambelt change at 150,000km or 10 years.
tonyrockyhorror,
Jul 11, 10:33pm
They're short-sighted because they don't consider the cost to "upgrade" to a car that might save them $50 in fuel per 1000km. and cost more than that in depreciation. Where did I say "old shitter"! Oh, that's right - I didn't. I said "older car". I choose to drive an older car for the reason that I'd still be spending pretty much the same on fuel anyway, but the depreciation cost would be considerably higher with a newer model. Someone else can pay the bulk of that - I'll have the free time instead of working in lieu of a newer car.
flack88,
Jul 12, 7:04am
Has any one taken into account SAFETY !if you have ever had a prang you will have !alot of sheeple must really trust the driver coming at them,with a whiteline between!Rather pay more for fuel and have a bit of comfort.
urbanwholesale,
Jul 12, 9:39am
Is the school 40 km away. I can drive from Howick to Massey and back on $20 petrol in a BA falcon. That's 40km each way, mostly motorway.
trogedon,
Jul 12, 12:06pm
There are a lot of smaller cars that have better safety ratings than bigger cars.
flack88,
Jul 12, 1:02pm
Yeah be ok if every thing was the same SIZE ,look upYaris v Camry ,run suzki swift in too a vx cruiser at 64kph and see how you go!
I have a 1.5 Honda Civic and love its miserly petrol use. Very comfortable and can go 550 kms with still a 1/4 tank left.
morrisman1,
Jul 12, 3:45pm
A boeing 777 can go 5000 miles and still have half a tank left.
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