How much do you spend on fuel?

[Dod101]

It's not hard to work mpg and most on here are financially savvy

Some of us are sad enough to keep records and spreadsheets.

That's not at all sad - unless we are a small club
I have one called miles and costs
Fuel and cosumption rate on one sheet , everything else I spend on the car on the other

Not getting at you but why? Do you do anything with the figures, like altering your driving habits ore leaving the car at home more often and walking or taking a bus?

I actually keep quite a detailed expense sheet and frankly use it only to try to cut down on booze consumption and the cost of electricity and oil (we have no gas). Been quite successful with electricity I must say. I do not use a lot of petrol since lockdown and find that I use my car much less on a whim than I used to. Maybe you do that as well.

Dod

[pje16]

No offence taken at all
don't do much with the figures, I just to see how my pride and joy is doing
I use public transport for work and the car mainly at weekends
but the spreadsheet doesn't make me change anything
I am a bit anal over finances though

[Breelander]

Not getting at you but why? Do you do anything with the figures, like altering your driving habits...

It's a habit I've kept up since I started keeping records with my first car (in a notebook back then, spreadsheets hadn't been invented yet).

Primarily, I use it as an early warning of impending mechanical problems. An unexplained drop in mile per gallon would need investigating promptly. A side effect is that I find myself trying to get the most mpg out of my cars. So yes, it does/has altered/trained my driving habits.

[pje16]

Good points but these days, my car anyway, there are numerous warning systems for all sorts of things
But a fuel drop is a good reason anyway

[Dod101]

Good points but these days, my car anyway, there are numerous warning systems for all sorts of things
But a fuel drop is a good reason anyway

Of course most cars these days seem to give you MPG figures in real time if you want it, mine does anyway and I must say that driving 55/60 on a country road with few hold ups is much more economical than driving at 60/65 or more on the same road, as I have discovered. I am sure the same applies to dual carriageways.

Sunak has lowered the tax on fuel. As I said that seems to me to be just silly.

Dod

[Dod101]

Good points but these days, my car anyway, there are numerous warning systems for all sorts of things
But a fuel drop is a good reason anyway

Of course most cars these days seem to give you MPG figures in real time if you want it, mine does anyway and I must say that driving 55/60 on a country road with few hold ups is much more economical than driving at 60/65 or more on the same road, as I have discovered. I am sure the same applies to dual carriageways.

Sunak has lowered the tax on fuel. As I said that seems to me to be just silly.

Dod

In any case, how will we know if it is being passed on by retailers with such big fluctuations in the day to day price?

Dod

[pje16]

My local Esso thief - diesel prices
yesterday 184.9
this morning 186.9
wonder which price the 6p will come off

[swill453]

My local Esso thief - diesel prices
yesterday 184.9
this morning 186.9
wonder which price the 6p will come off

That's the same price (or maybe 1p more) as my local smallish-town BP station, nothing out of the ordinary around here.

Scott.

[pje16]

There are 18 Esso stations with a 5 mile radius of where I live
cheapest 172.9 and then the thief

[daveh]

Not getting at you but why? Do you do anything with the figures, like altering your driving habits...

It's a habit I've kept up since I started keeping records with my first car (in a notebook back then, spreadsheets hadn't been invented yet).

Primarily, I use it as an early warning of impending mechanical problems. An unexplained drop in mile per gallon would need investigating promptly. A side effect is that I find myself trying to get the most mpg out of my cars. So yes, it does/has altered/trained my driving habits.

Same here. I also found that the "green" cars were not so green. I've owned 3 diesel Fabia's
1) 1.9l normally aspirated diesel bought 2nd hand and run into the ground* It did just over 60mpg which was close to the quoted euro combined cycle mileage. It drove like a lead brick and had no acceleration.
2) 1.9l turbo charged diesel bought 2nd hand and run into the ground which drove nicely and got 59.82mpg which wasn't as good as 1) and was not as close to the quoted euro combined cycle mileage as 1). This car was supposed to have better fuel economy than 1).
3) 1.2l 3 cylinder " blue motion" turbo diesel, bought new (ex demo). sold after 3 years cos it was crap, kept breaking down and was starting to sound as if the engine was terminally knackered. This one did 57.81mpg, so not as good as the two earlier non green Fabias and miles off the euro combined cycle mileage figures quoted by Skoda. Basically it was terribly under powered so performed well in the lab tests, but not in reality when you had to drive up hills or into a breeze.

* I drove it for ~6 months with no power steering (which was "interesting") as it was going to cost more to fix than the car was worth. It would be illegal today as now under present regs it would have failed it's MOT, but at the time it passed. The garage I exchanged it with was not pleased when I warned them to be careful as it had no power steering after the deal was done and I was driving off in car 2)

[Amilie]

To give you a ballpark estimate for your budget, the average American spends between $150 and $200 on gas each month. However, your exact costs on fuel will depend on several factors—mainly, which state you live in, how much you drive, and the fuel-grade you use for your car.

[pje16]

just saw this image on another forum

https://www.bimmerfest.com/cdn-cgi/imag ... g.1060348/

[AF62]

I just saw that the app for my home charger for my BEV has been updated to show the historical cost of charging sessions.

So far this year to do 7,500 miles it has cost me £98.73 at home, £6.05 for the odd couple of times I have had to pay whilst away from home, plus in addition I managed to grab 450kWh for free from supermarket chargers.

Since the vast majority of my journeys are short trips of a couple of miles from cold (and no I am not going to walk or cycle), then I estimate that would have used around £1,700 of petrol - so effectively £1,600 of fuel savings to offset the cost of the BEV.

Even with increased electricity prices a similar mileage for the coming year should be under £200.

[Arborbridge]

I just saw that the app for my home charger for my BEV has been updated to show the historical cost of charging sessions.

So far this year to do 7,500 miles it has cost me £98.73 at home, £6.05 for the odd couple of times I have had to pay whilst away from home, plus in addition I managed to grab 450kWh for free from supermarket chargers.

Since the vast majority of my journeys are short trips of a couple of miles from cold (and no I am not going to walk or cycle), then I estimate that would have used around £1,700 of petrol - so effectively £1,600 of fuel savings to offset the cost of the BEV.

Even with increased electricity prices a similar mileage for the coming year should be under £200.

That seems very cheap - you must have an exception rate and an efficient car, even with the free help. Mind you, that free help seems to be disappearing in places.

Arb.

[AF62]

That seems very cheap - you must have an exception rate and an efficient car, even with the free help. Mind you, that free help seems to be disappearing in places.

The rate was the old Octopus ‘Go Faster’ rate of 5.5p per kWh but even with the new increased rates the replacement Octopus ‘Intelligent’ rate of 10p isn’t too bad.

As for efficiency, it is the usual EV sort of efficiency swinging between 3.5 and 4.2 miles per kWh depending on outside temperature and speed.

And in respect of free chargers, yes some have disappeared (Tesco mainly) but some haven’t, and you can still get a free charge at Tesco if you are prepared to jump through some hoops.

[Arborbridge]

That seems very cheap - you must have an exception rate and an efficient car, even with the free help. Mind you, that free help seems to be disappearing in places.

The rate was the old Octopus ‘Go Faster’ rate of 5.5p per kWh but even with the new increased rates the replacement Octopus ‘Intelligent’ rate of 10p isn’t too bad.

As for efficiency, it is the usual EV sort of efficiency swinging between 3.5 and 4.2 miles per kWh depending on outside temperature and speed.

And in respect of free chargers, yes some have disappeared (Tesco mainly) but some haven’t, and you can still get a free charge at Tesco if you are prepared to jump through some hoops.

I'm on Octopus, but I doubt whether having the "Go" tarrif is worthwhile as the daytime rate is so much more expensive. One would have to calculate carefully, and I don't doubt you have. In effect, I might be getting cheaper transport but more expensive everything else. As a low mileage user (I can do much of my shopping by walking) it's a close call.

Arb.

[AF62]

I'm on Octopus, but I doubt whether having the "Go" tarrif is worthwhile as the daytime rate is so much more expensive. One would have to calculate carefully, and I don't doubt you have. In effect, I might be getting cheaper transport but more expensive everything else. As a low mileage user (I can do much of my shopping by walking) it's a close call.

For me it’s worth it as I shift most of my home’s high electricity consumption into the cheap period, so around 2/3rds of the electricity used is at the cheap rate.