Fuel Economy - What do you get out of a tank? (3rd gens only)

[matty.c]

I am running normal unleaded (petrol is so freakin expencive these days)

sorry but i chuckle to myself everytime i hear that..

do the maths.. vs what you normally pay for example.. if regular is $1.27 per L (i filled up 20 mins ago and that was the price) 98 octane will usually floats around the 9c per L dearer mark.. (some little more, some little less depending on the servo and the alignment of Neptune)

so 40L @ 1.27L = $50.80
& 40L @ 1.36L = $54.40

now before you go OMG $3.60!!!! thats crazy!!!! what is that realistically??.. a can of coke and a mars bar? you don't have too much hesitation about grabing somthing like that every now and then...

i think we all know that there is very little performance benifits gained from using high octane petrol in the 3rd gen's.. but that doesn't mean that the benifits of the cleansers and additives in the fuel to help keep injectors clean and reduce carbon build up etc etc is a good enough reason for me to miss out on the occasional can of coke.. it doesn't exactly break the bank for me.. plus ever since i made the switch i've noticed i get at least an extra 60km to the tank.. so at my average fuel consumption (11.8L/100km) it's actually costing me $3.00 less to run my car on 98 octane (BP ultimate) vs 91 octane, when you look at the milage covered vs L used..

i have too much time on my hands..

[matty.c]

someone read that and tell me if it makes sense

[Spackbace]

i wish petrol was $1.27/L....!

ok, lets compare... and be realistic
reg unleaded - around $1.40/L
98 RON - $1.49/L
Weekly petrol usage - 60L

Fill up each week:
reg - $84
98 RON - $89.40

thats $5.40 p/w extra, or $280.80 p/year

considering 3rd gens dont actually have a knock sensor, hence seeing no improvement with higher RON petrol, besides it cleaning the engine, tell me how spending $280.80 extra per year is meant to be so worthwhile...?

and this all isnt referring to the recent fuel spike, where petrol could be up to $1.49/L for unleaded, and $1.58 for 98 RON

some people are living on a budget... dont knock them for doing so, its why 4c fuel vouchers are so prevalent

[matty.c]

cos i get on average 60km more to the tank thats costing me an extra $4.50 to fill.. 60km would use in my car about 5.08 L of petrol..

so 60L of regular gets 520km
and 60L of 98 get me usually over 580km (same mix of city/highway)

so in fact it's saving me money.. cos 5L of petrol (cos using normal 91 would need an extra 5L of it @ your 1.40) = $7 and it's only an extra $5.40 to fill it initially with 98 octane.. which would give you the extra 60km milage...

to thats a $1.60 saving per tank

[matty.c]

.. fill up on tuesdays..

i usually go through about 40L per week.. and yes 11.8L is pretty bad.. i have 20's and it's already in the heavier KJ verada.. i don't think it's the best combination for economy!

but thanks for the input!

[matty.c]

yeh sorry my point for using the 98.. is that i had noticed the car idle smoother after some good injector cleaner, t/b clean.. and now that i constantly use 98 octane the car rarley vibrates on idle..

[wookiee]

i wish petrol was $1.27/L....!

ok, lets compare... and be realistic
reg unleaded - around $1.40/L
98 RON - $1.49/L
Weekly petrol usage - 60L

Fill up each week:
reg - $84
98 RON - $89.40

thats $5.40 p/w extra, or $280.80 p/year

considering 3rd gens dont actually have a knock sensor, hence seeing no improvement with higher RON petrol, besides it cleaning the engine, tell me how spending $280.80 extra per year is meant to be so worthwhile...?

and this all isnt referring to the recent fuel spike, where petrol could be up to $1.49/L for unleaded, and $1.58 for 98 RON

some people are living on a budget... dont knock them for doing so, its why 4c fuel vouchers are so prevalent

when you take the percentages into account, if the 98 stays 9-10c/L more expensive than 91, then it makes more sense to use it when the price is high!!

and if you get better than ~8% increase in mileage (i.e. more than about 50kms out of a tank) then you are better off using 98.

.wook

[Spackbace]

when you take the percentages into account, if the 98 stays 9-10c/L more expensive than 91, then it makes more sense to use it when the price is high!!

yes percentage wise it does, but when its already a ~$80 blow to the wallet, why would you wanna pay anything more

and if you get better than ~8% increase in mileage (i.e. more than about 50kms out of a tank) then you are better off using 98.

and this is still in 2 stages at the moment, not everyone has found economy differences anywhere near that.


oh, and we're not including fuel vouchers here (thus a further saving of approx $2.40 p/w), as well as hunting for the cheapest price (sometimes caltex is far cheaper than bp), and this all blows the difference out above $10

*uses fuelwatch*

cheapest reg within decent distance - 136.6 (caltex woolies, so with fuel voucher = 132.6
cheapest 98 RON within decent distance - 146.6 (caltex woolies, so 142.6)
or if u want, cheapest BP 98 RON is 150.5

so minimum 10c/L difference, up to a minimum of 17.9c/L for BP branded fuel

so please, dont push 'economy' figures etc at me when theres huge price differences right now

[matty.c]

i understand that.. but really you only need to be getting an extra 30km to a tank to be breaking even when using the 98 octane.. when u look at the $$$ to mileage..

i understand that for some ppl every $ counts.. like young families and mortages etc etc belive me i know about that! for me it's saving money cos of the less need to go back to the bowser.. and i know it's better for my engine so i do it anyway..

were a little off topic..

[wookiee]

yes percentage wise it does, but when its already a ~$80 blow to the wallet, why would you wanna pay anything more

so you can drive a little further between fill ups?

and this is still in 2 stages at the moment, not everyone has found economy differences anywhere near that.

I'm going from matty.c's numbers. I don't have any other number to go by.

oh, and we're not including fuel vouchers here (thus a further saving of approx $2.40 p/w), as well as hunting for the cheapest price (sometimes caltex is far cheaper than bp), and this all blows the difference out above $10

*uses fuelwatch*

cheapest reg within decent distance - 136.6 (caltex woolies, so with fuel voucher = 132.6
cheapest 98 RON within decent distance - 146.6 (caltex woolies, so 142.6)
or if u want, cheapest BP 98 RON is 150.5

so minimum 10c/L difference, up to a minimum of 17.9c/L for BP branded fuel

so please, dont push 'economy' figures etc at me when theres huge price differences right now

you're not making much sense. pay 8% more to go 18% further (not my numbers). that makes perfect sense to me.

there's not HUGE price differences... your numbers say 10c\L (132.6 vs 142.6) from the same place, and that's only 7.5% more. you can't compare BP 98 to *discounted* Caltex 91 and say that's the price difference when there's discounted 98 at Caltex for 7.9c\L less

.wook