Petrol cost saving challenge
The cost of petrol and diesel at the pumps has reached record levels in the last couple of weeks due to a combination of a weak pound, recent tax rises and the increasing cost of oil.
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But don't despair, money expert Martin Lewis knows some simple steps you can take to reduce the cost of motoring, and we've been putting them to the test.
You can also download our cutting petrol costs factsheet.
Susan Owens lives in an idyllic Kent village, but with limited public transport links, she relies on her car. Particularly so, because her 17 year-old son has learning difficulties, her 71 year-old father needs to be taken to regular medical appointments and her 8 year-old daughter needs ferrying to and from school and after-school activities.
Martin monitored Susan's driving for five days, during which she travelled 245 miles, at a cost of around £36 in petrol. She achieved 37 miles per gallon on average which equates to roughly 15 pence per mile.
Next, Martin, along with Tim Shallcross from the Institute of Advanced Motorists, studied her driving technique and the state of her car. They found that Susan was carrying around a lot of stuff in the boot and on the rear seat of her Ford Focus. To demonstrate, the effect this extra weight was having on her fuel consumption, Martin emptied the contents of her car onto a set of scales. It turned out Susan was driving
around with an unnecessary 32 kilograms of junk.
As well as checking that her tyres are properly inflated and turning off her air conditioning, Martin arranged for Susan to have a special driving lesson. Tim Shallcross demonstrated that by driving more smoothly, and braking less often, her fuel efficiency would improve dramatically.
Finally, Susan was left to drive for another five days on her own, to see if using Martin's
advice, she could go further for less. So what were the results?
Before:
Distance travelled: 245 miles
Average Miles per gallon: 37mpg
Cost per mile: 15p
Estimated cost per year before: £1978.84
After
Distance travelled: 265 miles
Average Miles per gallon: 43mpg
Cost per mile: 13p
Estimated cost per year after: £1713.22
Estimated annual saving: £273.52
(All costs based on petrol price of 120.9p per litre)
Comment number 1.
At 22nd Apr 2010, leon wood wrote:id like to know what Martin Lewis is saving for!!!
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Comment number 2.
At 22nd Apr 2010, Paul wrote:You challenged us to have a go ourselves? Well I did exactly that last week on a trip to Liverpool from Warton (roughly 64 miles).
I drive a 1.5 Diesel Qashqai which averages 47mpg with my style of driving (boy racer-ish).
On this round-trip I managed an average 67mpg. This included 1hr of traffic jams as well as motorway driving I will space out like your example above:
Before:
Distance travelled: 128 miles
Average Miles per gallon: 47mpg
Cost per mile: 12p
Estimated cost per year before: £1380.90
After
Distance travelled: 128 miles
Average Miles per gallon: 67mpg
Cost per mile: 8p
Estimated cost per year after: £968.70
Estimated annual saving: £412.21
(All costs based on petrol price of 119.9p per litre and 12,000 miles/year)
It is possible even for my 2-tonne tank of a car!
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Comment number 3.
At 25th Apr 2010, kat_street wrote:In my old (petrol) Toyota Yaris I would routinely get 50 mpg, especially in the summer when you don't need the heaters, windscreen wipers and headlights so much.
I now have a Toyota Prius, which is bigger, 5-door car (still petrol, but it is a hybrid), and I'm currently getting about 60 mpg. My partner, who has a less stop-start journey to work, gets closer to 70 mpg. I make that somewhere between about 7.9 and 8.9 pence per mile.
Not bad for a decent-sized 5 door car :-)
Now, could someone please explain this to the six (yes, six) drivers who overtook me, one after the other, doing 50 mph in a 50 mph limit the other day? And then (haha) all had to stop for the red traffic lights half a mile further along?
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Comment number 4.
At 26th Apr 2010, helidan wrote:I'm not sure if I agree with the theory that turning off air-con imporves you fuel economy.
I've done loads of runs in my car [removed], some with the air-con on and some with it off and I can tell you now that it does not make the blindest bit of difference to my [removed] if it's on or off.
My father has observed exactly the same in his [car removed], as has a friend of mine in his [car removed], and my supervisor in his [car removed].
We all agree that air-con on or off in a modern, reasonably well maintained car does NOT affect fuel economy and even if it does the figures would be so small that most people just would not care!
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Comment number 5.
At 27th Apr 2010, kat_street wrote:I have debated actually whether it's better to drive with the windows open or with the air con on, assuming it's hot and you don't want to swelter! Windows open causes an awful lot of drag, and that's not good for fuel economy either. I came to the conclusion that at highish speeds (about 40 mph plus) it was better to shut the windows and use the air con, but have it on a moderate setting. At low speeds (less than 40 mph-ish) better to open the windows).
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