Coming out of Dover yesterday evening still felt normal, M20 or M2 only two lanes like a French one and not busy, so could use cruise and pretend we weren't really back yet.
The M25 put paid to such fantasies in no uncertain fashion, busy busy busy both in volume and driving style and faster than French non-Peage traffic too. The outer lane doing its usual random shunting between 60 and 85. Blood pressure rising steadily. A longish illuminated concrete section with everyone doing 80-plus, tyres going clippety-clop over the expansion joints. That was OK too. But later on A24, one of those supreme prats getting in the way on purpose, outer lane dead on a speedo 60, moved out of the way but back into it again before I could pass, wanted to murder the jerk. In the end though undertook on full beam in a place where anyone red-blooded hits 90 anyway. Back to normal with a jerk in both senses.
The cheapest tank of petrol we got in France (1.30 compared to 1.37-1.43 per litre, somewhere near Le Mans) also took us second furthest: around 350 miles at 36.7 mpg. That included perhaps 100 miles at 70-80 mph, mainly on cruise, the rest being 90 kph or 60mph. Proves the point too that short trips guzzle fuel, long ones are best for economy. This morning discovered a front tyre verging on flat. Repairable fortunately. There's a very good tyre place near here. Nice people too.
I suppose it's all right being back but I'm not used to it. What language shall I speak? Will the natives understand me?
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>> Will the natives understand me?
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Come again? Geezer 'ere's trying to say something, can't make him out. Odd sort of bloke, talks funny.
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Proves the point too that short trips guzzle fuel, long ones are
>> best for economy.
The Italian Tune up effect of a good few hundred ks at a decent speed definitely helps as well.
On my aged astra, by the time I'm 200ks out of town, having been at the ' legal limit' on the freeway for a fair while, the engine is running like a swiss watch, and the SECOND tank of petrol (and subsequent ones) definitely gives better consumption than the first.
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...The Italian Tune up effect of a good few hundred ks at a decent speed definitely helps as well...
Spot on.
I was running a little late for a lunch appointment last week, so gave the CC3 a bit of a belt over about 60 motorway miles.
On the return journey, the mpg figure on the trip increased steadily, and I was still not hanging around.
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I agree. The old Scenic was running beautifully after driving to Northern Italy overnight. 1,000-odd miles in 14 hours, stopping only for fuel, smokes, and driver changes, and the same again coming home. Averaged 43 mpg too, despite being loaded to the gunwhales, seeing 110 mph more than once in Germany, and lugging four people and a bootful of luggage and kiddie paraphernalia across the Alps.
Could almost feel the cack being blown out of the EGR valve and combustion chambers.
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I don't want to sound complacent, but my cars don't usually much need an Italian tuneup. Only after a month or more of exclusively urban driving, and the present jalopy hasn't had a period like that for six months.
No, the fact is that short journeys of say, five to ten miles, with pauses between them, make a measurable difference to fuel consumption compared to long trips of 50 miles plus. It can only be to do with initial fuel enrichment when engines are cold. Of course urban running in the lower gears, with a lot of accelerating and slowing down, also guzzles juice. Although my car is not among the most efficient, even for a 2 litre petrol engine, the same thing would apply with a small engine or a diesel: it would use more fuel when starting from cold than once properly warmed up.
That is the true destiny of electric cars: to be used like milk floats for short journeys with many pauses. There is no loss of efficiency with an electric motor when running from cold. But there is with an internal combustion engine. Those should really only be used for journeys of proper length.
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Back to normal. Not best pleased. - Cliff Pope
