Random Thoughts....

Narf, how much do you drive a year? Because your obsession with feuleconomy/prices is beginning to seem........'unhealty' if I'm honest.
Not an attempted insult, just an observation.
 
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Narf, how much do you drive a year? Because your obsession with feuleconomy/prices is beginning to seem........'unhealty' if I'm honest.
Not an attempted insult, just an observation.

The car's 18 months and will break 20Mm tomorrow. I like my statistics, thanks for your concern.
 
The only problem i had with the Matrix was with the final film. 1st was awesome, 2nd even better. the 3rd just made me walk out of the cinema saying "WTF?" repeatedly. not that i didn't understand it. just that the ending had been so badly written.

Wholeheartedly disagree with you there. Part 2 was SO bad that I never even bothered to watch part 3, and never will. As far as I'm concerned there's only one Matrix film, the rest is Bielefeld-territory.
 
Translated to Anglo-American, that makes 12k miles in 18 months or 8k miles per year, so below the American average of 10-12k miles per year; I don't know what the typical European figures are. What is the city/highway split?
 
So 20Mm is 12427 Miles in 18 months. or 8284 Miles a year or 13331km/yr. That doesn't seem like a lot to me, an American. 15000 miles a year is an rule of thumb for cars over here.

EDIT: I got beaten to the punch. and I always thought 15kmi was the average.
 
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I'm not sure what's it over here, but 20000 km (12500 miles) per year is used alot.

edit: 17400 km/year in 2007, apparently
 
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Translated to Anglo-American, that makes 12k miles in 18 months or 8k miles per year, so below the American average of 10-12k miles per year; I don't know what the typical European figures are. What is the city/highway split?

When people review cost of ownership over here they always assume 15Mm/a, I guess that's "normal".

As for the road types used, my last tank was about 3/4 commuting (2/3 urban, 1/3 extraurban non-Autobahn) and 1/4 purely extraurban (very little Autobahn). Over the life of the car I'd guess 10Mm Autobahn, 6Mm urban, 4Mm extraurban non-Autobahn.

As it happens, here's one I prepared earlier: http://www.spritmonitor.de/en/detail/378682.html (alternatively, click either of the consumption images in my signature)
The split figures on there are skewed because I rarely have tanks that are almost purely one type of road. There are purely Autobahn exceptions where I fill up before setting off and fill up on arrival, surprisingly :lol: those are on the higher end of consumption. There are some purely urban ones as well, particularly in winter with lots of snow involved - again surprisingly :lol: higher figures.
The more interesting statistic is the one with the speedometer indicating my perceived leadfootedness. As it turns out, going quickly averages about 1l/100km more than going normally, and going with some amounts of ecodriving is 1l/100km less than going normally.

According to the Statistisches Bundesamt (yes, we have a Federal Statistical Office) the average Diesel passenger car did 18.5Mm/a and the average petrol passenger car did 11.5Mm/a: http://www.destatis.de/jetspeed/por...aftstoffverbrauch,templateId=renderPrint.psml
Going by that I'm driving 16% more than the average petrol. However, that includes old people who have a car but only drive to the shops once a week or to visit family - those are very likely petrols.


See, that's what happens when you poke a German for statistics.






Meanwhile, in Germany:

Wacken_Opa.jpg

These young ladies are also going https://pic.armedcats.net/n/na/narf/2011/08/04/53.gif

https://pic.armedcats.net/n/na/narf/2011/08/04/2396361.jpg

http://www.rsh.de/2204353/Nachrichten/2396369/Wackoeoeoen....html
 
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I work with statistics at my day job and I wish my usual data sources were as forthcoming as you are :lol:. Interesting split of numbers. With regard to the winter mileage rise, is there any sort of seasonal fuel reformulation that may affect that? One would think that a rise in urban driving and fighting the increased resistance of a snowy road would counteract any gains from cold air-based improvements in mileage.

Oh look, math has invaded this tread too :mrgreen:
 
With regard to the winter mileage rise, is there any sort of seasonal fuel reformulation that may affect that? One would think that a rise in urban driving and fighting the increased resistance of a snowy road would counteract any gains from cold air-based improvements in mileage.
The engine needs longer to warm up in winter, winter tyres have usually a negative effect on fuel economy, rear window heating is on more often, ... and traffic is generelly more stop-and-go-ey in winter than in summer. I usually need about half a litre per 100 km more in winter.
 
Eh I dunno if you truly need to use gum in ice cream. Sure it'll help keep it together but I dunno about taste..

You misunderstand. Did you think I meant chewing gum? I mean stabilizers. Guar gum, xanthan gum, locust bean gum, etc. If you only make a small batch of ice cream and plan to eat it all up right away it's not a big deal, but without any stabilizers your ice cream will be more ice than cream. They keep the ice crystals small, which just makes the ice cream softer and better tasting. All commercial ice creams have gums in them.
 
The engine needs longer to warm up in winter, winter tyres have usually a negative effect on fuel economy, rear window heating is on more often, ... and traffic is generelly more stop-and-go-ey in winter than in summer. I usually need about half a litre per 100 km more in winter.

Ah, I misread "increase" to mean increase in efficiency, not consumption. I was confused as to how the winter would increase it, as I was aware of everything you mentioned above and so it felt counterintuitive. That's that cleared up.
 
I work with statistics at my day job and I wish my usual data sources were as forthcoming as you are :lol:. Interesting split of numbers. With regard to the winter mileage rise, is there any sort of seasonal fuel reformulation that may affect that? One would think that a rise in urban driving and fighting the increased resistance of a snowy road would counteract any gains from cold air-based improvements in mileage.

Oh look, math has invaded this tread too :mrgreen:

Yeah, math tends to do that. It's sneaky.

There are plentiful reasons for increased consumption during the winter (unless compared to a summer that needs a lot of AC).
* Actual Snow and Ice: Slower urban speeds meaning lower gears and more engine friction, increased rolling resistance, more complicated parking (the streets around here tend to become inverted train tracks - two furrows where the weels go and ice between/outside them, many lesser drivers even fail to park alltogether)
* Temperatures: More cold running for the engine, heated seats, heated windows, heated mirrors
* Tyres: Grippy on snow and ice means more friction on recular pavement
* Laziness: If it's cold and :yucky: outside there is a tendency to swap bicycle for car, resulting in some additional shorter trips
* It's Just Not Summer: Going to Denmark or other recreational spots around here tends to be good on fuel, not much of that in the winter
( * For other drivers: Letting the car idle itself warm to get rid of snow and ice on it, will ruin any mileage figures. I like snow and ice, hence no need to do that. Also, I don't see the point in punishing your engine with extra-long cold running time. Start, get out of the parking spot, set off at low revs with medium load. It'll get warm in no time. Idling = no load = little fuel = little heat = great pain for the poor engine.)

As for different fuels, we have three types of 95 petrol: Winter, Sumer, Inbetween. Here's the "rough" specification: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bJ3k506aLQkKYNmZI33a-GMvUqwc0uIadUMOAJvG9Aw/edit?hl=en_US
The major difference is the way it boils (see graph, red is summer petrol and blue is winter petrol) and its dry vapour pressure equivalent. Simply put, they use more isopentane and butane in the winter to aid cold starts - more fuel vaporizes at lower temperatures. No idea whether it affects consumption.

https://pic.armedcats.net/n/na/narf/2011/08/04/500px-Siedekurven_white.svg.png

Cold air, :dunno: if my charged and intercooled car notices much of that.
 
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