Stephen Seagull
Well-known member
Every time I drive to the summer village (costa brava). Diesel is considerably cheaper than in Barcelona city center.
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[Travel] When do you top up the fuel in your car?
- Thread starter Badger Boy
- Start date
Ghost of Killer Reeves
Well-known member
Esso Squelchers ... Banks v Irvine
Birdie Boy
Well-known member
- Jun 17, 2011
- 4,127
It is roughly 30 miles from zero, I've tested it. [emoji4]
Yes, but it depends on the car and how you drive it.
My mondeo has been remapped and egr deleted, it’s had v power diesel in the 4 1/2 years I’ve had it apart from a couple of supermarket fill ups that it didn’t like at all. If you’re going premium you won’t get the benefit unless you use it all the time.
FUel varies quite wildly due to the quantity and quality of additives, can't really comment on diesel as I don't like it. But What upthalbion1970 says is similar to my race experience.
Going back ten years or so lots of people were having reliability issues with old race engines, all down to detonation with varying degres of damage. at Goodwood in 2011 the AAOC were there selling proper race fuel, American Sunoco, given its a big event on TV etc I thought to hell with the expense and used 105 octane leaded, 5 or 6* in old money. Goodwood is a flat out track and the Cortina engine doesn't really dip below 5500 RPM on a hot lap. Doing that for 25 minutes with an old engine is hard work. It survived that 4 times over the weekend and didn't skip a beat. I've used nothing else since and had no reliabilty issues. From a fine tuning point of view ( we're talking 150 BHP out of a 1540cc push rod engine, from what was 58/78 in Std/GT trim) we could push it and be more specific because the fuel is better and more importantly consistent. Over the years I also made the engine more efficient so it produces more torque, and burns less fuel without giving up power. The old road Cortina is very sensitive to pump fuel, so I detuned. Its all a bit daft really, they make fuel worse and worse, so engineers retune their engines to produce the same or more from what ever juice thay have to play with.
As for running out . . . . At Spa back when I was spannering we had a discussion with the driver as to how much fuel for an hour in a Lotus Cortina . . . . We said brim it ( 50 litres) he said he only needed 45 . . . He raced from 28th to 11th, in a field of 60 ran out on the last lap and limped home 28th!
Going back ten years or so lots of people were having reliability issues with old race engines, all down to detonation with varying degres of damage. at Goodwood in 2011 the AAOC were there selling proper race fuel, American Sunoco, given its a big event on TV etc I thought to hell with the expense and used 105 octane leaded, 5 or 6* in old money. Goodwood is a flat out track and the Cortina engine doesn't really dip below 5500 RPM on a hot lap. Doing that for 25 minutes with an old engine is hard work. It survived that 4 times over the weekend and didn't skip a beat. I've used nothing else since and had no reliabilty issues. From a fine tuning point of view ( we're talking 150 BHP out of a 1540cc push rod engine, from what was 58/78 in Std/GT trim) we could push it and be more specific because the fuel is better and more importantly consistent. Over the years I also made the engine more efficient so it produces more torque, and burns less fuel without giving up power. The old road Cortina is very sensitive to pump fuel, so I detuned. Its all a bit daft really, they make fuel worse and worse, so engineers retune their engines to produce the same or more from what ever juice thay have to play with.
As for running out . . . . At Spa back when I was spannering we had a discussion with the driver as to how much fuel for an hour in a Lotus Cortina . . . . We said brim it ( 50 litres) he said he only needed 45 . . . He raced from 28th to 11th, in a field of 60 ran out on the last lap and limped home 28th!
Sorrel
Well-known member
I don't think I've ever let it get much less than half full...
Trufflehound
Re-enfranchised
Similar here. We last filled up at the end of last September, just over six months ago. Drove the car to a garden centre on Saturday and on the way back I noticed that we have driven a grand total of 110 km since the last fill.
I walk a lot for exercise and calculate that I have covered at least ten times that driving distance on foot over the same period.
Before lockdown Mrs Trufflehound had to travel a lot for work (it's a company car), and was averaging 30,000 km a year - that's what Zoom and MS Teams (and lockdown) can do for the environment...
When the light comes on, unless the nearest garage is an M&S franchise, in which case I would rather run out of petrol.
Between the staff who think because they have got an M&S overall on, means they don't have to make any effort to serve you and the absolute whatsists, who get to the checkout and then try and make their mind up if they need more Percy Pigs/Prosecco/any other shit they really don't need to spend 10 minutes "thinking" about, followed by the long hunt for the credit card (usually somewhere towards the bottom of the handbag), all whilst continuing the inane conversation on their mobile.
Between the staff who think because they have got an M&S overall on, means they don't have to make any effort to serve you and the absolute whatsists, who get to the checkout and then try and make their mind up if they need more Percy Pigs/Prosecco/any other shit they really don't need to spend 10 minutes "thinking" about, followed by the long hunt for the credit card (usually somewhere towards the bottom of the handbag), all whilst continuing the inane conversation on their mobile.