I reckon I spend around £15-20 a week on petrol – which isn’t a huge amount but it is noticeable if for any reason I take a longer journey and have to go for more petrol in the same week. I try to drive economically (I don’t think that the 1.8 litre engine is made for economy) in order to lower the spending as much as possible.
I recently made a number of predictions, one of which was regarding the price of fuel. I still shake my head when I see the cost spinning far faster than the litres of fuel when at the pumps. What I’d like to know is how much you spend on fuel every week. Diesel is obviously more expensive, but you can get 10mpg+ better fuel economy from many diesel engines these days, some with significantly more mpg than that over their petrol counterparts.
Are you one of the lucky few who have a fuel card from work? In an increasingly tight private sector economy, this sort of thing will ultimately be under more scrutiny. Perhaps fuel is just another victim of the turbulent (and at this moment still poor) economy. I know there are certain journeys I just won’t take any more because it’ll cost too much in fuel and it has made me reassess when I could walk somewhere rather than take the car, or even motorbike.
Eric Sanderson says
January 15, 2011 at 8:21 amWhilst I think that what you say is generally true, our
passionate love affair with the car will still drive (pardon the
pun) us on with car ownership and use. We have had too long to
become reliant on them.
James Hind says
January 15, 2011 at 9:25 amI spend about £20 on petrol in an average week. In some
weeks sometimes virtually nothing, but then I frequently have long
journeys to London. For me driving to London is still cheaper than
the train, but only just. I live in the countryside so pretty much
none of my journeys could be replaced by walking/public transport.
I work for myself, so it all comes out of my pocket too!
Chris @ Driving Spirit says
January 16, 2011 at 9:35 pmI spend around £35 a week on my commute to work (64 miles a day) then the wife puts another £20 a week into the family car. I was filling up the Focus the other day and for the first time broke through the £60 barrier. Painful times, and it’s only going to get worse.
Mr Butterscotch says
January 16, 2011 at 11:27 pmHi guys,
Just filled up the car again – came to well over what it did last time. I feel sad 🙁
clb says
January 17, 2011 at 1:31 amI bought a hyundai i.10 for one reason only-the alleged frugal fuel consumption. I now find after almost a year of ownership that it is more expensive to run than my previous sportscar! I bought it for the fuel consumption frugality and low co2. Can I get a refund from hyundai for misrepresentation of figures?
Fraser says
January 17, 2011 at 10:36 amYeah I’m finding it painful to be going over £50 for a tank of petrol. I think we fill up every couple of weeks so probably £25/week but thinking of it as an extra £100/month means it’s large monthly bill 🙁
Mr Butterscotch says
January 17, 2011 at 9:40 pmHi clb,
Unfortunately you’ve not listed the actual consumption you’re currently receiving. Does your car have a trip computer that lists the MPG? If not, you may well simply be suffering miscalculations due to the price now being so high.
There are so many variables that can affect MPG that I can’t go into them all here – however driving style is one of the factors that has an extremely high impact. What I mean is that you drive ‘progressively’ you may find that fuel economy is not what the manufacturer claims.
You’ll be hard pushed to find any car on the market that can accurately reproduce the MPG figures supplied by the manufacturer. This is for the simple reason that the tests used are carried out by robots, not real drivers, within the confines and limits set (frequently meaning a 10% operating envelope).
Lastly, an i10 is quite a small vehicle. I have no idea whether you load it up, carry a number of passengers etc but again, this will affect the performance and MPG of your car.