How often do you fill your car?

[threebikesmcginty]

Its not a myth, I was looking at trains to go to Glasgow (from Aberdeen) a few weeks ago, 60 quid each return. Llandudno last summer? £200 each.

I agree, I wanted to take the Oxford to Newcastle train a couple of weeks ago, stumbled on the train up - £190 and I had to set off at midnight for an 11am meeting. Cheaper and more convenient in the end to drive up the day before, stay in a hotel, go out for a Chinese and sink a few poncy beers in the BrewDog pub.

 

[simon the viking]

Having just found this thread, I have to say that I am massively disappointed. I was expecting it to he about the proportion of drving people do using all the seats as opposed to cluttering the roads up needlessly.

This thread was just me wondering if people use about the same amount of fuel as me a month now I dont commute to work but I understand what you mean... a lot of cars with a single occupant in them, I have in the past car shared with a colleague driving our cars alternatively until he left. But now unless I drive in to work (less than once a week) my car normally has at least 3 occupants. A thread about single occupancy would be interesting though. I would guess it would involve us cyclist gloating about how many cars we pass stuck in traffic with just one person in

 

[ComedyPilot]

I put somewhere between £10 and £20 per month in my car.

Just worked out that if a colleague gets 40mpg, then she must spend a minimum of £120.00 per week commuting alone.

 

[AndyRM]

Its not a myth, I was looking at trains to go to Glasgow (from Aberdeen) a few weeks ago, 60 quid each return. Llandudno last summer? £200 each.

Away an' bile yer heid. You can get tickets from Glasgow to Aberdeen for £25.

This is derailing the thread, so I apologise. That said, it will always be cheaper to use public transport than a car.

 

[Brandane]

Away an' bile yer heid. You can get tickets from Glasgow to Aberdeen for £25.

If you book 6 months in advance, travel between 2am and 4am, use the route with 4 changes of train, sit in the toilet, etc. etc... Then you might want to get BACK to Glasgow again.

 

[EltonFrog]

I am currently getting 62 mpg out of my mini, I fill it up about once a week, about £50/55. I do a lot of work miles, I work all over the place. When I first started buying fuel it was 35p a gallon. In those days you could still buy spangles, Aztec bars, and a bottle of Watneys cream label for 22p. Oh and there was white dog poo in the streets.

 

[gbb]

I am currently getting 62 mpg out of my mini, I fill it up about once a week, about £50/55. I do a lot of work miles, I work all over the place. When I first started buying fuel it was 35p a gallon. In those days you could still buy spangles, Aztec bars, and a bottle of Watneys cream label for 22p. Oh and there was white dog poo in the streets.

49p a GALLON for me, mid 70s. Funnily enough, my dogs poo turned white in the garden the other day, slightly wierd.

 

[screenman]

According to a quick Google I paid 74 old pennies when I first started riding a motorbike ( I was 12 at the time)

 

[AndyRM]

[QUOTE 2385541, member: 9609"]Not if you already own a car.[/quote]

Not owning a car will always be cheaper than having one.

I genuinely don't have some kind of weird anti car vendetta. I just think they are an expensive commodity and that cheaper alternatives are always available.

I used to have a car. A Nissan Sentra which I named 'Yorba'. Did around 60mpg and felt ludicrously exciting when hitting a ton.

 

[GrasB]

Not owning a car will always be cheaper than having one.

Actually that's wrong, it may be true typically but it's not an absolute. With my lifestyle the shipping costs to or storage costs in Italy, let alone maintaining 2 lots of things for no good reason vasty out-weigh the costs of running my Alfa over the year.

 

[AndyRM]

Actually that's wrong, it may be true typically but it's not an absolute. With my lifestyle the shipping costs to or storage costs in Italy, let alone maintaining 2 lots of things for no good reason vasty out-weigh the costs of running my Alfa over the year.

Alfa Romeos are an obvious exception to the rule. Similarly, old Fiats and Lancias.

 

[Cletus Van Damme]

So that's about 30 mpg to my reckoning.
For my £70 (diesel) I get around 400 miles.

That's not great deal better then. I used to have Focus TDCI and that was quite good around 45 mpg, I never ever saw the 50 + mpg that people seemed to mention on the internet about the same car though.

 

[GrasB]

Alfa Romeos are an obvious exception to the rule. Similarly, old Fiats and Lancias.

Not really it's simple economics. The cost of getting my self & my OH out to Italy by is about the same as the fuel & accommodation costs of the trip once you've added in taxi fares etc. Now the Alfa sitting on the drive doing nothing is £900/year... both shipping costs or secure storage plus the costs of maintaining various bits of equipment etc. make it cheaper to run a car even if it just sat there on the drive all the time.

 

[TheDoctor]

Usually, we tend to fill it every month if that.
When we drove to the Alps we filled up once we got there and again part way back, for an average of 52 mph, driving at or near the speed limit all the way. I'm completely sold on modern turbo diesels

 

[Bromptonaut]

If you book 6 months in advance, travel between 2am and 4am, use the route with 4 changes of train, sit in the toilet, etc. etc... Then you might want to get BACK to Glasgow again.

A full rate daily ticket from Northampton to Euston is £53.80. Book a week or so ahead choosing specific trains and I can do it for £24. A weekly season is £124 so about equal to advance booking but with freedom to use any train.

The car, a 2000/X Citroen Xantia, does 40+mpg. just going to the station plus a few other bits and bobs then an £85 tankful lasts a month.