View Full Version : Can I do it?
I live 13 miles from work.
I have just over a quarter tank of petrol according to the gauge.
I need to get home tonight, get to and from work for the rest of the week (so 91 miles this week) and still have enough petrol to get to a petrol station after I get back from holiday.
I think it's time to tie yet more helium baloons to my foot...
Place your bets!
bradc
04-10-2005, 09:24 AM
well, I got 240km from when I had 1/4 tank left, but your fuel gauge might be calibrated differently to mine
DUNLY
04-10-2005, 01:39 PM
um if it was my GLS id say Nae Chance :smug:
Kieran
04-10-2005, 01:49 PM
Just over 1/4 tank and 91 miles? Yeah, you'll do that easy peasy if you're gentle. My GLS could manage that in normal driving.
Has anyone tried filling the car with helium baloons to make it lighter? Derek?
Perhaps I should dump the spare, jack, tools, first aid kit, etc....
Thinking about it I think that I should make it. I reckon there's at least 20 litres in the tank, which is more than 4 gallons, and I'm driving at around 32-33mpg, so that's at least 120-130 miles.
NevGroom
04-10-2005, 03:29 PM
91 miles - Hmmmm, muchos helium. Good chance if one trip on a motorway - Lots of autochoke involved though so I have to give this a :thumbsdow
Now dead on a quarter. 78 miles to do this week and need enough to get to the petrol station, which is another 10 miles. So, begin the countdown... call it 90 miles to go!
DUNLY
04-10-2005, 07:10 PM
maybe u should go for a 1.4 colt isaac. only kidden, would seriously doubt if i could get that amount of miles, if u do, let me no, cos i will need to get mine sorted if u can get that amount of miles to a quarter.
May I point out that about 4 miles of my journey I can do without putting any fuel in the engine because it's going down hill (although I do have to climb those hills first). I'm being overtaken by little girls on tricycles and learners on test burn me away from the lights.
Like I said before, driving like this I can get 32-33 mpg commuting, so I'm not doing too badly. Saw a beautiful 2.4 GDI manual wagon on autotrader recently... had me wondering whether I could crack 40mpg on the commute with that. (I doubt it, but the GDI should be 2-3mpg better and manual should be 2-3 mpg better, so it wouldn't be far off)
Jimbo
04-10-2005, 11:40 PM
I do have to climb those hills first). I'm being overtaken by little girls on tricycles and learners on test burn me away from the lights.
This is a tragic, tragic story. I have tears in my eyes as I read this thread. Isaac, you've clearly hit rock bottom :sad3: It's not too late to cry out for help, pal.
Where do you live? I'll post you some petrol /yes You and your car should not have to suffer like this, it's inhumane.
I live in the middle (literally) of the pennines, right on the edge of the peak district np
Kenneth
05-10-2005, 12:15 AM
hehe, I don't think I could EVER drive that conservatively... I would have to burn off the push bikes for sure.
I could do that in my VR-4 on the 1/4 tank marker, I am certian you can do it in a GLS. If you really are not sure, get a 10L petrol container and keep it in the boot just in case.
The problem I am facing is that the way I do my fuel calculations relies on filling the tank full.
After this morning it's showing a fraction more than an eighth, so it looks like it's not going to be doable :(
bradc
05-10-2005, 10:23 AM
Remember that I went another 40km's after the fuel gauge was past the empty line, you should have heaps of petrol left.
I do agree with Kenneth though, you could always consider carrying some extra petrol with you, just to see how far you can go.
And now the gauge is higher than it was this morning... Strange. Perhaps someone ahead of me was driving a VR4 that was running rich enough that the fumes were enough to drive on and add to the tank...
It's becoming a real "will it, won't it?" because it's very hard to tell!
Roadrunner
05-10-2005, 08:48 PM
No problem. When my guage is on the empty, I can only get 45 litres in, so there's at least 15 litres left ...
Kenneth
05-10-2005, 08:49 PM
my understanding is the fuel gauge works an an averaging system so that when you go around corners, accelerate and go up and down hills it doesn't fluctuate much.
So to get a truly accurate idea, you need to be on the flat for a while... not that the gauge is really accurate in the first place.
ritch_w
05-10-2005, 09:01 PM
this is turning out to be quite a thread Isaac - a bit like jeremy Clarkson on top gear playing fuel light bingo - seeing how far you can go with the red light on..... will he/ will he not make to the next petrol station /Hmmm :inquisiti /Hmmm :inquisiti :rolleyes4
I know ritch.... only 64 miles to go!
I'm now pretty confident.... 36 miles to go and it's still around a 16th above E. In the past I have gone 35 miles from bristol to gloucester with needle on E and only managed to get 56 litres in after that (supposed 64 litre tank). I think I'm there...
come on come on !!! I need updates... Geeze it's like getting addicted to home and away :embarasse
I haven't driven it since the last update!
For further entertainment then.... It's already over 330miles of commuting since I last put petrol in the car (530km for our antipodean friends who may be too lazy to do it for themselves). It's had no motorway runs or anything other than driving to/from work or to/from badminton club.
23 miles to go. The needle is just touching the E mark.
Wouter
07-10-2005, 08:22 AM
You should make that easily!
enigma
07-10-2005, 08:40 AM
You aren't trying! I got nearly 300 miles out of a tank in my VR4!
I contend, sir, that you used optimax whereas this is plain, ordinary, watered-down 95RON from godknowswhere. I also contend that you didn't get over 300 miles doing a commute on very hilly A roads with no journey longer than 13 miles.
Remember, I am the man who's had 38mpg out of a tank of fuel on motorways.
Once the pod runs are decided are we going to have a fuel economy competition?
enigma
07-10-2005, 09:26 AM
I contend, sir, that you used optimax whereas this is plain, ordinary, watered-down 95RON from godknowswhere. I also contend that you didn't get over 300 miles doing a commute on very hilly A roads with no journey longer than 13 miles.
Remember, I am the man who's had 38mpg out of a tank of fuel on motorways.
Once the pod runs are decided are we going to have a fuel economy competition?
A good idea, but not easily verified!
Well, didn't put any petrol in. The light came on at one point on the way home.
10 miles to go.
Tune in in two and a half weeks time for the exciting conclusion.... Where I make it without problems and manage to put 57.5 litres of fuel in (guessing here.... see how close I am).
What's worrying is that the full tank of fuel won't cost much less than the new front tyres I need...
bradc
07-10-2005, 07:44 PM
I've already put up my fuel consumption thread - 640km's from a VR-4, beat that!
Kieran
07-10-2005, 07:48 PM
I've already put up my fuel consumption thread - 640km's from a VR-4, beat that!
397 miles.
Quite a lot!
And the result...
I made it to the petrol station. The light came on while climbing the hills and stayed on across the top of one of them (but went off again going down). I got to the petrol station and put as much as I could in, and then topped to the nearest pound...
I only managed to get 53.39 litres in?! Why is my fuel light coming on with 10 litres in the tank?
Worse than that, my fuel economy figure only worked out to 30.8 mpg, which isn't as good as expected (although I tried a bit harder to get more in the tank than usual, so if it ended up being an extra litre then that would make the difference between 30.8 and 31.6... Which is why average economy over time is the only really accurate measure. ~31mpg over 30000 miles, but that's been with much more motorway driving than currently).
Oh, and the petrol cost me £48. My new front tyres will cost me £78 on thursday... Amazing how much petrol is worth now.
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