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Today I put a grand total of £15 in my XC60, I think this is the first time since I got the car over 3 years ago when I haven’t gone from empty to full at between £65 and £80 a time depending on fuel prices, and it got me wondering.
I expect the car to go back in the next week or so and when I collected it, I immediately took it to a Petrol station and filled it up which cost me a little over £50 if memory serves. If they gave me the car with around a tenner in the tank, that’s exactly how they’ll get it back is my justification.
The XC60 range estimator quits once it passes 20 miles left and then displays zero, and most of the time, I fill up within a day or two of this happening, driving around on the Red for a bit purely because, most days, I do about 7-8 miles, school run and work run. If I know I’m going further I’ll fill up early but generally, its two days on the red then a full tank.
On the other hand, my Mother panics the second the yellow light goes on in her 70mpg VW Polo and runs off to put in a tenner every time. My 23 year old son always puts £25 in his car, again, often before the light even comes on. Made me realise that different people are very different in refuelling habits and I wondered if I was the odd one for “pushing my luck” or if it’s more common than in my immediate family.
"Man is born in freedom, but he soon becomes a slave, in cages of convention, from the cradle, to the grave."
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On this topic, I’ve just been to the docs and have noticed that fuel has gone up 5p per litre since the end of December. Every year in early December, I’ve noticed for at least five years now that fuel reduces in price. Then after Christmas, it goes back up plus a little extra. Nice of them! ??
Yes same here and its all down to the American / Iranian sabre rattling the past few week or so.
It’s all settled down out there now (for now?) but you can bet as day follows night the price of fuel will not go back down as fast as it goes up, apart from the fact that retailers buy their fuel 3 months in advance so another simple case of being ripped off.
Thanks Vinalspin, I remember you mentioning the Rifter and yes I did dismiss it without a closer look. I will look at it as I would love the mpg you mention.
Regards, wonkyI was always told that letting your fuel run down to the dregs in the tank was bad for your car.
Is this no longer the case?
Pretty sure that advice is kinda outdated – from what I recall, it was down to crap accumulating in the base of the tank which would get pulled through if the tank got really low. Modern engines have much more advanced self-cleaning systems, combined with the fact that modern fuel is a lot cleaner and has more detergents and lubricators in it.
You would have to let a car sit a long time for the fuel to break down and all the junk to sit at the bottom of the tank – every time you drive, just going over speedbumps and around corners remixes any debris in the tank.
Add to this the fact that pretty much every car on the market takes fuel out of the bottom of the tank (letting gravity take the strain off of the fuel pump) and I honestly think this is outdated advice IF it was ever really relevant and not one of those theories which has just been around forever with no actual scientific basis, just repeated often enough to become “truth”.
I’ve always been a full tank to empty driver, and with one exception, a Corolla back in the early 2000’s, every car I ever had was a diesel, which is traditionally thought of as the dirtier fuel, and I’ve never had an issue with it in over 2 decades.
"Man is born in freedom, but he soon becomes a slave, in cages of convention, from the cradle, to the grave."
Old fuel tanks were made out of the cheapest thinnest crappy metal possible, I have had to drop, drain and weld dozens over the years, modern cars now have either a composite fuel tank or are a lot thicker and stronger galvanised metal to meet stringent safety regulations brought in after a load of cars caught fire or exploded after rear end collisions.
Vinalspin apologies I was reading the thread as refuelling habits and as you know my refuelling little and often nowhere near a petrol station is quite different…. in hindsight I’m getting a bit boring with advocating all things electric and you are right the post directly above mine was about large car choice.
Depends what I’m planning to do whether I fill the tank or not, I usually run the Alhambra around half full unless ‘m planning on a long journey then it’s filled to the brim. I never run in the red.
When it goes back I’m hoping it will be running on fumes.Ian, I wish there was a large electric vehicle on the market in general never mind the scheme as I’d be going 4 it however way.
Unfortunately nothing like that is even on the horizon atm.
You would be surprised how much dirt and debris collects even in a modern diesel.
I have witnessed first hand after our last car was rear ended once, the guy came to drain the tank at my mates body shop and he showed me the black fuel and moisture in the very end of the tank. It was a Vw touran with a composite tank.
Weather that would just cause the car to smoke for a bit rather then do any real damage I don’t know.It’s not pure filtered water it’s diesel so will naturally have impurities and foreign deposits in it that will gradually settle to the bottom of the tank over months and years of sitting stationary when parked.
Vinalspin I know……..I’m completely hooked want a big electric car now! 4 months into ownership and have never enjoyed a car as much!
Well, the car got it’s second £15 today and bonus, I got super diesel for the price of normal as they were out of standard diesel – not a big believer in the super fuels but I did tend to get an extra 30-50 miles a tank out of my 407sw as I would give it a tank of super every now and again just as a cleaner kinda thing.
"Man is born in freedom, but he soon becomes a slave, in cages of convention, from the cradle, to the grave."
Ordinarily I wait until the warning comes on the infotainment screen and fill up within a day or two.
I’ve been very good over the last 2 1/2 years and used fuelly. I only missed the first two tank fulls.
My Octy is also a caravan puller (see June/July 2018 for towing figures when I covered more than 4,500 miles).
Today she cracked 40,000 miles and there’s another set of touring figures to add.
Officially my best mpg is 54.5 for a tank full. However, I managed 69.9 for a drive from Cornwall to Teesside.
The amount spent on fuel is inaccurate due to the inability to enter local currency conversions. In Hungary it was 330HUF for a litre – about the same per litre in Sterling.
http://www.fuelly.com/car/skoda/octavia/2017/blueclouduk/689154
Guess it really depends, if i’m doing a long journey, i’ll fill it up, so i know i have enough to get back home as locally the fuel is cheaper than most other places i goto on a regular basis. so makes sence right.
Then the rest of the time i’ll run it till its empty sometimes till it says 0 miles then put £20 in, basically becoz around town / stop start you carrying extra fuel and my car is just faster away from a stop when it’s just me in it not the whole family. Same with a full tank. guess thats why hot lap times get set with less fuel..
I also think modern cars having fuel injection, a full tank of juice for pressure is not needed like i think it was with older cars seemed to get better mpg with over half a tank and never had any problems with anything fuel related or ran out of fuel.
So far on the scheme every vehicle has been a diesel, This time i going petrol, just placed my order last week. That’ll be better around town but worse on a long journey than a diesel but again it’s driving style as well as other factors as to what works best for you and need to be taken into account.
So no way is wrong imo.
Sometimes we limited in our choices as to the engine in certain trims etc that meet your overall needs. it’s a trade off.
You would be surprised how much dirt and debris collects even in a modern diesel
A great point. This is why, whatever the age of car I have, I always use Redex. When I’ve bought second hand, I always give them a good flush through. It can work wonders on older cars.
? I will be remembered for nothing but had great fun doing it ?
You’d be amazed how much good a couple litres of Petrol in a full tank of diesel can do. We had a work van, a older Peugeot Partner (think it was approaching 170k miles and 8 years old at the time) and I put a tenner of Petrol in it by mistake once, immediately panicked and called the boss – he sent someone down with the fuel card and we filled it to the brim with diesel. Never missed a beat and ran better than it had in years afterwards.
This is NOT a recommendation lol, do this at your own risk, and definitely not in your Motability car lol
"Man is born in freedom, but he soon becomes a slave, in cages of convention, from the cradle, to the grave."
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