15% Fuel Savings, No Fitch, No Gimmicks!

50 kmh is idiotic! 105 kmh in most cases is over the maximum!

Low first? You are either kidding or got nfi.

come to a full stop with your engine off and you save even more fuel.......but their isnt much point to that is there.

Another POV....

Sometimes the quest to save a bit of fuel can cost you more that you will save, eg having to spend another night in a motel on a long drive, or having to buy and extra meal or two for yourself (and the family) enroute due to taking longer to do the trip. It boils down to how much you value your time. If you are on $25/hr at work, why should you value your time any less on holidays. If a 2000km trip takes half a day longer than at a slower speed, then add in the extra food enroute (+ extra night accom?, 2 full days vs. 2.5 days) have you really gained anything???????? I would put it to you that you have lost one day of your holiday ( worth $200) and possibly lost money as well (fuel savings vs costs incurred to gain fuel savings).

BTW your savings work out to $2.50/hr based on using 15l/100km at 100 km/h.

Don't spend it all at once...........

I'm all for people slowing down, our local roads have seen at least 4 fatalities of local kids in the past two months in seperate accidents. In the last week we have had over 6 major accidents including some still critical. Everyone cringes every time they hear a siren now.

Fuel saving or not SLOW DOWN.

I'm talking about the looong stretches between towns not within towns/cities. Given the original poster was talking about speeds in the 100km/h range anyway, I think that is what he was referrng to as well....

You are missing the point, people drive way across town, or buy all sorts of devices to save a couple of cents a litre on fuel.

Plus as I pointed out ... in most cases 100 kmh - 105 kmh is the maximum or over the maximum limit, as is the case in most "looong stretches between towns".

I relax when I am on holidays, & certainly don't price it by the minute.

BTW it takes an extra 1hr 42 mins, & saves at least $41.00 in fuel, not to mention a possible photo infringement notice a short time after you get home!

....... & probably a better chance of bringing all your family home alive!

A - 2000 km @ 115 km/h = 17.3 hours
B - 2000 km @ 105 km/h = 19.0 hours
difference being 1.7 hours (1hr42min) @ $25/hour = $42.5

A - 11.7L/100km over 2000km = 234 Litres (@ $1.30/L = $304.20)
B - 10.2L/100km over 2000km = 204 Litres (@ $1.30/L = $265.20)
difference being $39.00 (and safer)

Gary, and others knocking the slow down method of fuel savings, think about this.

On Jan 2 this year I drove from Broken Hill to Ballina, a distance of 1545km. It took me 16 hours and 10 min, including stops from when I pulled out of my driveway to when I stopped at the Mother-in-laws place.

When I got there I was tired, but who wouldn't be having just driven from the most westerly town in NSW to one of the most easterly. It is a long way, but I was not exhausted and I was not stressed, no headache or the like, just tired. I can't tell you what my fuel figures were, to be honest I didn't really care. We filled up in Cobar, Gilgandra and Tenterfield but I don't remember how much I put in at each stop. Our only other stop was Bingara where we had lunch.

Apart for the section from about Emdale roadhouse to Cobar where I did get a little excited I was at or below the speed limit all the way. Now for those doing the maths remember that the speed limit for most of that journey is 110.

My point is this, we normally do that drive over two days, this time we had a reason to do it in one. Because of a sensible approach and an early start that worked for us. I was tempted to drive faster but held myself back on purpose. I had done the planning properly. I monitored my trip for expected travel times all the way and was on schedule at every stop, except Cobar. I was a little early there.

I slowed down and had a much more pleasant trip. Probably saved a few bbucks on diesel as well.

Duncs

I'm still laughing at Shakers' serious-in-a-huff response to Trucky's tongue-in-cheek reply! Hehe.

Avagoodn
Pezza

Wind to push you along? Three hiclones in a cyclone would be unbeatable!

No,

wait,

there is a kernel of an idea here -

SAILS!

Lets all put sails on our 4by's. One of those hi tech wings they use in sail speed attempts would probably push the heritage listed Paj to ... oh ... 20kph before it fell over.

Cheers

Pete

Ha hahahaha...a new Sails pitch for the caryards...hahahahaha .free mast with sail for the alloy bar.

One of these should do the trick, have been clocked at 80 km/h

but its not a 4by Gary...get your act together:)

#1, he had a coopers on teh other corner and it is away for warranty

I use two Hi-clones and run my winch reverse polarity and it actually fills the fuel talk as you drive

and its not even a toyota !!!

If:

2x4 = two driven wheels out of four and
4x4 = four driven wheels out of four.

does that make it a 0x3?

You would get seasick doing the Simpson.

"Member No 1 posted this followup

but its not a 4by Gary...get your act together:)"

I must state a point here and shall use your formal title Mr No 1, after all this is a formal rebuke :). As the wind drives vie the mast and thru the tyres, all the tyres it is indeed an ALL WHEEL DRIVE and we all know that means 4WD, the No 4 literally and numerically translates into $ (hold the shift key down and try for yourself). In that respect we are all kindred spirits all driving $WD's.

Now go and change your armour :))

the wheels are just rolling stock

when i tow my camper am i driving a 6wd?...points to heaven if i hold the shift key down^ so i aint lieing

I heard a story about someone who was being raced by a push bike. No matter how fast he went (80 , 90, 100, 150, 200 km/h) the pushbike guy kept up with him.

When he finally gave up - and stopped to talk to the bike rider and congratulate him for being so fast - he discovred that the bike rider's braces got stuck in his car door when he last stopped for fuel 3 hours before.

I had to do that years ago, when I assumed the next town shown on the map would have had a fuel stop!

done that all the way to sydney many times.. great savings.. just talk to the dude on the UHF and go :D

I was being told about that one and the bloke driving even gave a demo... Then a rock flew up and a $300 later for him I was taught a free lesson.

I agree I'm Easy. (thats replying tot he above author not stating a fact about myself.....) How far do we go in saving fuel??? If we were serious about saving fuel, why not buy a hyundai....... Each to their own I guess, but i resigned myself to a big fuel bill when I bout a 4WD. I dont complain about the cost of usage of fuel because no matter what it costs, I stillintend to use my 4WD to go to places most other cant. I made the decison to buy a 4WD so I live withthe high cost in running it.. I figured it's not worth creating ulcers worrying about saving a few L here and there.. Although I do use the coles discount etc whn I'm filling right up.. but really even though it costs me $160 tofil up, the coples voucher only saves me $4 or $5 and weas my grocvery billat coles $4 or $5 more than is I shopped at BiLo???? Geezz. I recon I could save a few $$ in doctors fees if I just stopped worrying about saving 2L here, $3 there etcetc.. jsut resign myself to the fact that it will cost me $1000 to srive to Uluru and back but it would cost me that to fly the two of us there anyway and we wouldn't have half the fun...
I know the original poster wasnt complaining about fuel proces, but geez I wish everyone else would.. fuel prices are just catching up with where they should be in compariosn to the GDP... Our generation is the wealthiest ever.. stop complaining about a few cents in the price of diesel and dont buy the Flat screen plazm, cofe machine and or send the kids to childcare blah blah.. Tell me iif there has ever been another generation who had the luxuries and the average income we have today... My parents and grandparents didnt have it as good as we do.. lets just be gratefull for what we have and stop complaining...

Part of the problem is that some of us aren't rich enough to have an economical car to buzz around town in. Our 4wd is our daily driver, and high fuel prices impact on our living expenses every day, not just on trips.
High fuel expenses also impact on many many other things. Not just groceries and supplies, but also business confidence and even the stock market.
Not complaining kinda assumes that there's nothing that we can do about it. In Australia we've accepted that premise for a long time. But it seems that this generation also has something that its parents and grandparents didn't have. A level of education and awareness of the rest of the world. Basically we know more about what's really happening.
For example does anyone know the price of diesel in, say, Indonesia in AUD ? (Iran pays around 12 CENTS a litre AFAIK) It's cheaper than here, right ? Why ? Because our GDP is higher? We have more so we can afford higher prices, right ? Does that mean that we HAVE to pay more ?
So if your income is bigger than mine a loaf of bread should cost you more ?
I think not.

Just back from South Africa. Unleaded $1.26 at current exchange rate, diesel a little cheaper.

Phil I

Ok Footloose ,so a lt in Iran costs 12c and we pay $1.35 , your average wage in Iran is ? and your average wage in Aus is ? I can remember paying 30c a gallon or just under 7c a lt , my pay packet back then was $15 so I could buy 214lt ,,today the same 214lts cost me $288 ,,less than 1/3 of the pay packet ,,fuel is actualy cheaper per hr of labour in Aus now than it was in the late 60s early 70s.

Whether you can pay more should have nothing to do with the cost. And how many welfare recepients , pensioners and self funded retirees etc can afford higher unnecessary prices ?

Footloose ,you dont seem to comprehend , In Australia right now the average weekly wage is "supposedly" just under $1000 per week and fuel just for discusions sake is $1.50 per lt ,or 666lt worth of fuel ,,in Iran the weekly wage is ?? and how much fuel can you buy ?? a bl__dy lot less than 666lt.

Exactly Alloy... the price of fuel today is still a smaller percent of the average income than it was say 30 years ago... Yes it is expensive to everyone, especially a pensioner.. but 30 years ago a pensioner would have been able to buy even less fuel on the pension, mind you they probably didn't drive guzzling 4WD's around the place

I think Footloose was making a point (among others) that because we can afford more we shouldn't be charged more. In whatever line of business you're in do you charge according to the bank-balance or estate of your customers? The past is irrelevant, we live here and now. And as for the 'average wage' it goes like this- if 100 people earn 500 and 1 person earns 1 000 000 then the average wage is the combined wages divided by the number of people (100x500+1000000=1050000/51=20588.23) so in this test group the average wage is $20588.23 even though 100 out of 101 people actually earn $500 so let's forget averages shall we?

Alloy, you're right. cant see why I should be ripped off just because I can afford it !
Using your logic I should be paying $10 for a loaf of bread.
Why ? Because I can afford it.
Oh come on !
Indonesia is a good example because they are close to the Singapore refineries. Yet their fuel is much cheaper than ours. Because their income is lower ? What sort of logic is that ?
Its the logic of a pricing system that selectively rips us off.

Bware , yes yes yes ,forget the averages ,but lets get real ,, compare apples with apples and oranges with oranges ,if you live in a country that has 10 oranges and values each orange at $1 in its OWN currency or you go to a country that also has 10 oranges but says the price is 50p ,,what is the real price of the orange ,,, the real price you pay is the same World wide ,, a man /woman in Iran /England /India /China ect.ect "pay" the same in relation to "income" ,, Trouble is that "we" in the western so called 1st world forget conveniently forget about our 2nd and 3rd world cousins.

Oil isn't grown. It's supplied to customers by the worlds oil producers and they are a cartel, OPEC. Oil is supplied to the refineries, and then the oil companies distribute it...at whatever price they wish. Yes the govt has their greasy paws in there too but thats another story.
Oil has become a very important cost to many industries, not just the transport industry.
It's slightly different to apples as there are few real substitutes, and its essential lifeblood for most developed or developing countries, unlike apples. You can't compare them. In fact you can't compare oil to anything else in that regard.
Using a McDonalds burger economic analysis just doesn't wash.
In fact, the oil industry tells more lies to justify their pricing than their mates the politicians.
Lets just look at one of them. They have to charge more as the price of oil goes up. OK sounds fair doesn't it ? Now lets have a look at the profits of the oil comapnies and graph them along with the price of oil.
Huh ?
Their profits increase as the cost of oil increases.
What other business actually increases its profits as its input costs increase ?
Me think it mazing.

Footloose ,,lets get it staight ,you wish to complain that you pay too much for fuel ,,ok ,fair enough ,, now the only way that Austrailia can have fuel cheaper is
A. stop being a partner in world price parity ,
B. become totally self sufficient
C.reduce/remove the excise/gst.
laymans terms why YOU pay what you do
A .if we dont play the game with the price of oil world wide, the world will not play the game with us on the other bits that just may affect you life ,like iron ore/wheat/meat/ ect ect ect ,,
B.we may like to think we are "self sufficient" but in reality 20odd million equates to a pimple on the world bum of close to 4 billion
C. any government remove a tax ? your dreaming right ?the government instead of a surplus of funds would be "bankrupt " in less tha 12mths,, do you want to revert to the 18% interest /inflation rate ?? NOT THIS LITTLE DUCK.

Hmmm... So Alloy what you're saying is that those who export oil charge according to the wages of the populace of each country they export to? I understand your value of oranges in different countries but isn't that more relative to the prices of things they produce in their individual countries? If a product costs X dollars to produce and export then you aren't going to sell it for less than that price because a country's people can't afford to pay for the product. So if X dollars to a country why 10X to another country?

BTW Alloy, I'm not having a go, I really don't freakin' get it. I really don't understand the propensity for lack of simplicity in our 'sophisticated' world. Even if you can explain to me the way it works I will think it shouldn't be that complicated and ask why?

Bware ,fuel is no different to any other commoditty , a lt of fuel costs X in Aus ,a loaf of bread= 2xX,,,,and in most other places on earth a lt of fuel costs X and a loaf of bread costs 2xX ,,

Fuel is VERY different to most other commodities. Differential pricing does exist, even without Govt stealing.
Hmm..methinks that some here have a vested interest they're not telling us about ? :)))

Footloose ,if you believe that then you would have to believe in the old theory of "The seven gnomes of Zurich " , and mores the pity for their passing.

The bread analogy doesn't explain it ; every town bakes it's own bread. A barrel of oil costs X; how can it be so cheap in Iran and so expensive here?

Alloy, nope, no gnomes at the end of my garden path :)
It's interesting that every time a piece on the price of fuel is posted, there are always a couple of advocates for the status quo. And a few for "I don't care about the price of fuel" etc etc.
Few posters actually declare that they have a vested interest in the topic.
It's an often emotive issue, precisely because it impacts on almost everyone, and the public doesn't believe , rightly or wrongly, that they are getting a fair shake from the oil companies.
And they aren't.

Footloose , the "seven gnomes of Zurich " are not garden gnomes ,, they / it is the oldest conspiracy theory in the world ,, goes by various names in different countries since time began , seven faceless unknown people run the world ,

Yes, I am well aware of that conspiracy theory, its so old that its got whiskers on it. I was attempting to show a bit of humour, hence the :)))))))

i gave up that habit a long time ago....took up another...got married and now have 3 kids????
i know how to stay broke

LOL, yeah, it doesn't take much effort to stay broke; kids, a 4by and a healthy disdain for working more than you have to.

It's been about 8 months since my last smoke. I've purchased lots of stuff to keep me happy and off the smokes, don't even think about them now. I win and the family wins :)

winners are grinners :)

Congratulations to anybody that gives up smoking!

Will be 4yrs on the 17th of this month ,smoked for 33yrs from the age of 15 when I finally gave it a miss, was up to 100 16mg peter jackson per day ,, I will sing the praises of ZYBAN for ever and a day ,, the $ saved is secondary to the other benifits ,although 20thou saved in 4yrs is not to be sneezed at.

I haven't read anywhere here where it has been stated that it couldn't be afforded!

So what are you saying ? That if we get ripped off then don't consume ? If we think that somethings not right, don't compalin or seek to explain ?

Footloose ,you still recon you getting ripped off on the price of fuel ??? A finite resource that HAS to be priced by world wide supply and demand ,,try beer, it works out at $4 per lt , try water $2 per 375ml bottle and both are totally renewable ,dont believe me ? do the google ,every single drop of water that ever existed on earth is STILL on earth ,,,you cant say that about oil .

South .... you may not worry about fuel consumption, but I reckon the other 982 people that have viewed this thread may do.

I guess you re-read the post and found that some people may not be able to fully afford the price of fuel (for holdiaying purposese) around that of having to pay for other necessities.

Either way, everyone is well aware that there is really not a lot that the general public can do about it. Its pretty evident that the government is VERY happy with the coinage that they make off every drop of fuel...

Dont you have anything better in life to think or do, rather than sit down and whinge and whine about how much it costs to run a vehicle?

South, that's a personal comment isn't it ? Don't you have anything better to do ?

Its a general question for those persons involved in this topic that are concerned about the cost of fuel and if they are being ripped off or not...

At this present time, no I dont have any better offers, how about you? :P

Well I was going to nip down to the garage and fill my tanks, but I already have a mortgage :P

You're a crack-up Footie, LOL

Equity Mate!

Sorry, used all my equity to buy shares in the oil companies LOL

South, what a moronic post!
At no stage did I mention anything about vehicle running costs.
I said & I REPEAT ..... that slowing down slightly helps consumption disproportionately!
Which, correct me if I am wrong, is not a bad thing for the environment.

But, then you may be the 4x4 driver that has race past nearly taking other peoples mirrors off, merely to save a few seconds & helping the anti 4WD lobbyists.

Ok so ltes get into whether our fuel is more affordable than 30 years ago!
1.Why do most families need 2 jobs or more.
2.Inflation is calculated by the increase in money supply, ie that is how much paper the govt prints each year. Acoording to the ultimate authority, the Reserve Bank of Aust reports it has been between 9-10% p.a. during that time, not the 2-3% that cossie tells us so often with his usual smile!
4.hence our disposable income is far less than it used to be.
5.The proliferation of credit & handing easy money by banks & others gives an illusion of prosperity. Ask Roachie, he prolly gets a bonus based upon volume each year & the counter staff at the Comm,on-wealth seem dead set upon binding you up in some managed fund or scheme/.

Shaker, did I say it was you how was concerned about the running costs? Doesnt look like it to me, however there was another person that did mention it. In previous posts it is stated that persons were having difficulty coming up with the goods to go on a holiday...

What are your actual reasons for increasing fuel economy? If its not financial then what is it?

I like how you jump to conculsions in regards to my driving style...

Last time I looked crude oil was a non renewable fossil fuel!

The reason I get annoyed is that you and/or others make it sound as if it is either scrooge mentality or a lack of masculinity to try to save fuel.
It is no different to turning off a light if you leave a room, or turning off the TV when you go out. It is just basic common sense.

We will be long gone before crude oil resources are depleted... By which time holidaying and/or offroad excursions will be outlawed!

Hydrogen/Solar/Electric cars will then be much more refined and only available to a minority group...

Live for the present, not the future (of which is not guaranteed).