We live in an awkward imperial/metric balance. Might well be the fact that the nation that we live in had the largest Empire that the globe has ever seen or more likely that the USA doesn’t like change and still uses imperial units (albeit different ones to us) or it could be that we just don't like change engineering wise. I still work in both systems. Try engineering … Bar/PSI… C/F... Thou/100th it all confuses the matter.
I'm fluent in metric and imperial measures. I was taught metric only at school, but in the real world, shops, recipes, etc, imperial measures were used only. Now, weights and volume are all metric based (EU's fault?). The younger generations now think in metric, it's all they ever come across.
Richard wrote:In fact, how many people know how far say 50k is in miles !
I know 80 km = 50 miles so (calculator out .... la la la ...) 50 km = 31.25 miles
I'd just started infant school when South Africa decided to go metric in the late 1960s so I grew up with just a vague memory of pints, lbs and miles. When we came back in the early 1980s, I had to relearn what was what (good job I didn't have to learn old money as well LOL)
Richard wrote:I wonder how many people actually work out if their car is doing the MPG it's supposed to.
My first car was a Citroen 2CV6 and I actually kept a record for a long time on how many miles I did between fill ups and how much petrol it used, cost etc. I was living in Croydon at the time and did a lot of travelling around to see lots of historic sites etc in the southern part of England (my first trip ever was to Stonehenge) It helped me to find out what the most efficient speed was for maximum miles per gallon (turns out it was 64.5 mph on the motorway) At that speed, it could get me from Croydon (via the M25) to Bolton on one tank (5.5 gal) of petrol .... in theory, but of course I never tested it properly just in case there was some delays/traffic jam on the latter half of the journey and the car was already running on fumes LOL These days I just don't do the driving like I used to (very rarely on the motorway) and most of it is first/2nd gear driving to and from work while Nottingham has umpteen roadworks going on.
I work on the basis that 50k is roughly 30 miles. Please don't tell me I'm wrong because when I go to France I use this to work out speed limits equivalence. The kilometre figures on my speedo are very small and dark red - no use at all.
Bea; 19 hens (most of whom I intended to get); 6 bantams (which I never intended to have); old Benji dog and young Toby dog (who I definitely wanted). Three years into country living and loving it.
My car (55 litre tank) has a computer which gives average and instant MPG readings but I don't trust it. So I usually fill up once a month, reset the trip meter to zero and if it gets to 400 miles before the low fuel light comes on I know i'm getting 35MPG and i'm happy with that.
my tank takes about £90 of diesel to fill it from empty, this lasts about 300 miles, did work it out once, was in the low 20`s per gallon, makes me weep like a babba every time I fill it up
My Passat has a MPG counter on the dash that shows me my MPG at any point and also the rolling average on any journey so I don't need my calculator. Just as well on these bendy country lanes!
I put 20 quid of desiel in my passat monday morning at 138.1 per litre. I had 30 miles remaining showing on the computer when I filled up. Ive covered 160 miles since and have 50 miles left showing on the computer.
My weekly commute is 200 miles and that swallows up roughly 20 quid.
Since the last fill up I've had no open road driving, all going to Canterbury and back or my son's place, both of which are a bit stop go with lights and junctions etc.
The Kia Picanto specs are 52.3mpg urban and 78.5mpg 'extra urban'.
So I guess I'm getting about right.
Cheers, Richard
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Well, metric or imperial, I don't know what is wrong with my car then. I put £30 or £35 in last friday, have done a 24 mile round trip 4 times, plus another 10 miles plus 8 miles. Plus 2 12 mile round trips, and a daily drive to Bailey's walk which is only a mile round trip each time. I make that under 150 miles.
I will only be able to drive Bailey to her walk once more, and do another 24 mile trip to work. That will be it. 175 miles
p.penn wrote:and a daily drive to Bailey's walk which is only a mile round trip each time
I'm afraid that is one of the reasons of the high consumption. You waste a lot of fuel when doing short journeys - starting the car uses up a lot of fuel, and then driving it on short journeys while the engine is still cold so it has to work harder to avoid stalling. Cold weather driving (as in winter) also uses up more fuel too until the engine warms up - as does having the heater on and umpteen electrical items like lights, windscreen wipers, radio etc while the engine is still cold. Another reason for higher fuel consumption is driving in lower gear - that's why city/stop-go driving has a much lower mpg than when doing say motorway driving (providing it is free flowing), and once in the higher gear and at optimum speed, you use less fuel over long journeys. Also terrain plays a role - bendy roads where you need to change gears and when you drive up hills, you need to accelerate to maintain a speed. Accelerating = more fuel consumption which is why aggressive driving (revving, overtaking, flooring it between traffic lights and braking hard) uses up more fuel than someone tootling along. One small saving (emphasis on small) if you do find yourself regularly doing stop/start driving is to keep your foot down on the clutch when stopped (even in neutral gear) and this just a little less work on the engine (= less fuel)
so (calculator out .... la la la ...) 50 km = 31.25 miles
