What do you drive ?,

[Daniel]

Vauxhall Agila '08 (don't laugh).


And the occasional 95TS, 92TS, D78TS, 67TS, 09TS... very occasionally a 96TS...

 

[me123]

I drive a 1.0l Toyota Aygo. Does the job perfectly well. It's more powerful than you'd think with a 1l engine, and it can park just about anywhere in Glasgow. It's also cheap to insure, no VED...

It's hardly the long-term aspiration, but for now I'm happy to stick with it.

I really don't know why petrol is still so popular. You get more miles with a diesel.

My car was actually discontinued in diesel because it wasn't economically worthwhile for anyone. They calculated that you'd need to travel 250,000 miles just to break even. Anyone who knows a Toyota Aygo will have rightly guessed that that isn't going to happen. So petrol still has a valuable place for smaller cars.

 

[Zoe]

I drive a 1.0l Toyota Aygo. Does the job perfectly well. It's more powerful than you'd think with a 1l engine, and it can park just about anywhere in Glasgow.

Can you actually reach 70 mph on the motorway in it? Remember the motorway has to deal with Beattock and Shap like the railway.

 

[jp4712]

@ O L Leigh: I take your point, but my Jag with DPF, common rail 2.7D etc does roughly 36 to the gallon, albeit I tend to do long journeys and I don't have a very heavy right foot.

@ strange6: railway management? Nah, they couldn't afford me!

Paul

 

[strange6]

But the two issues go hand in hand. By concentrating solely on what comes out the back no effort is going into fuel saving, and the less fuel you burn the less you pollute.

The problem at the moment is that because my 2 litre diesel car is designed to meet Euro 4 emissions standards it has so many filters and whatnot in the exhaust that the engine has to work harder just to overcome all the constraints on the exhaust. It also has to burn more fuel than it would otherwise have to in order to get the diesel particulate filter up to working temperature so that all the carbon deposits are burnt off. This is wasted fuel and demands more of the natural resources simply in order to meet environmental legislation. No matter how laudable the reasons behind the legislation this situation is utter madness.

**EDIT**



10 years ago I had my first diesel car, a VW Golf 1.9 TDI. It was a lovely car that didn't have to labour under all the Euro legislation. It never clagged and always returned MPG figures in the mid-high 40's, and on one memorable occasion I got just over 600 miles out of a single fill of fuel.

My current car has a more advanced common-rail diesel engine that is supposed to be more fuel efficient. However, it seldom returns MPG figures better than the mid 30's and at the moment is showing an average MPG of just over 32. If I get this figure over 40 then I consider that I've done incredibly well.

But why should this be? Motor manufacturers should be making engines that are more efficient and use less fuel as well as being less polluting. BBC Top Gear only managed to get 38MPG out of a Fiat 500 Twin Air, and that has a twin cylinder engine displacing just 850cc and is being sold as a fuel efficient car that can attain 68.9MPG on a combined cycle. Repeating the trip in a VW Polo Bluemotion and suddenly they got 50MPG. How is this a good thing?

O L Leigh

I think very small capacity, 2 or 3 cylinder, turbocharged engines are the way to go now. (Assuming that you can't get electric cell technology to be where it should be for every day driving) Ford's Ecoboost 3 cylinder, 1.0 Turbo engine due out in the new B-max is incredible both in terms of performance and fuel efficiency apparantely

 

[142094]

Used to be a Ford Focus petrol 1.8, but changed it for a Ford Focus diesel 1.6. Next one will probably be a Ford Focus Sport.

As for the discussion on Euro rated engines - they made a massive cock-up when planning the Euro IV, which releases more NO2/NOx than the Euro III. This is why a lot of local authorities have been setting up a lot of AQMAs...

 

[O L Leigh]

Ford's Ecoboost 3 cylinder, 1.0 Turbo engine due out in the new B-max is incredible both in terms of performance and fuel efficiency apparantely

It has been my experience that you cannot have performance and fuel economy at the same time. It is usually one at the expense of the other.

Apparently the Fiat 500 Twin Air is an absolute gas to drive, but driving it briskly will use more fuel.

O L Leigh

 

[Mojo]

Can you actually reach 70 mph on the motorway in it? Remember the motorway has to deal with Beattock and Shap like the railway.

My Mum has one of these and I used to drive it regularly before I went to University. I did regular (ie. 2-3 times per month over the course of 12 months) weekend trips between Bristol and Birmingham and did about 80mph most of the way (it could have gone faster but I always eased off as I didn't want to drive at excessive speeds); even had no trouble keeping it at 70mph on the uphill section between Bromsgrove and the M42 going junction going north, and the uphill section heading south past Michaelwood services. My Dad reported he got it up to 89mph on a flat section of the M5 south of Bristol.

 

[me123]

Can you actually reach 70 mph on the motorway in it? Remember the motorway has to deal with Beattock and Shap like the railway.

I can easily reach and maintain 70mph on a motorway. I've never taken that far South, but I reckon it could cope based on my experiences on other Motorways. Actually, I reckon a lot of other cars and lorries underestimate just how well my car can accelerate when they go to overtake me.

The only trouble is if you're joining a motorway at a low speed for some reason than climbing a hill quickly, as I've had to do at this junction; but again it can be done in a lower gear, and quite a lot of the other vehicles on this road struggle a lot more as well (it's not uncommon to see a lorry crawling along there at 45mph, for example).

If I ever do take it down to Beattock or Shap, I'll let you know!

 

[kentuckytony]

Cars - 1996 Subaru Impreza Outback - 62,000 miles.
(wife) 2003 Honda CRV - 6,000 miles.

Train - see avatar and my forum photo gallery.

 

[466.networkers]

I ride a customised one of these. :P

 

[Zoe]

If I ever do take it down to Beattock or Shap, I'll let you know!

No racing the Pendolini though.

 

[strange6]

It has been my experience that you cannot have performance and fuel economy at the same time. It is usually one at the expense of the other.

Apparently the Fiat 500 Twin Air is an absolute gas to drive, but driving it briskly will use more fuel.

O L Leigh

Technology has moved on my friend. I'm not saying you would get Cosworth performance from said engine, but Ford are quoting 70 mpg combined and 0-60 in 10 seconds for this engine in the B-max. Now that's not bad at all

 

[O L Leigh]

Technology has moved on my friend. I'm not saying you would get Cosworth performance from said engine, but Ford are quoting 70 mpg combined and 0-60 in 10 seconds for this engine in the B-max. Now that's not bad at all

It doesn't matter what technology has done, if you want to get 70mpg out of this (or any other) engine you will have to drive it like Granny. Getting any performance out of the engine will mean burning more fuel. If you try and get to 60mph in 10 seconds you will be doing very much less than 70mpg. And that's the point I'm making. You can't have performance and fuel efficiency. It's one or the other.

But the Fiat Twin Air engine isn't exactly "old tech" either.

O L Leigh

 

[Rich_D3167]

Vauxhall Corsa 1.3 CDTi. Suits what I need from a car. £30/year road tax, 60 - 65 mpg (book reckons 74mpg, but i've never achieved this), and plenty of low down grunt that you expect from a diesel. Doesn't like being below the turbo range, but you don't really need to have the engine revving that low, anyway.

Hopefully getting something bigger & sportier soon, though.

 

[me123]

No racing the Pendolini though.

 

[The Barlow Boy]

02 plate BMW 530d. RHD originally imported from the fatherland by an army occifer and has all the bells and whistles including a television! (Only viewable with the gearbox in "P"). Driven carefully will return 36-38 mpg. Seats four people in superb comfort with a build quality to make a 1970s B.L. Manager weep.

 

[Kernowfem]

Two landrovers (one disco, one defender) and a vauxhall insignia.

 

[chuffchuff]

Focus and a Firebird

 

[K9-70]

1997 Suzuki GSX 750F, Italian import, reg new in 2000 approx 96,000+ miles to date and still going strong.

K9-70

 

[atomicdanny]

Until about 6 months ago I had a Seat Altea 1.9TDI, well until I decided to take flying lessons! (in the car! ). Now I have a very Green (bright green!) Ford Fiesta 1.6 Diesel!

 

[Ibex]

As I'm generally useless at driving, I am still driving one of these.

One day I'll pass!

 

[starrymarkb]

I really don't know why petrol is still so popular. You get more miles with a diesel.

I would have preferred the Diesel, but it was out of my budget at the time....

 

[Kneedown]

153's, 156's, 158's, HST's, a Landy Freelander and a Kwak ZZR1200.

 

[Ivo]

A new answer for this thread:

Sod all :cry:

I hope to start lessons soon though (probably the summer), and then I would like to have something like a BMW 1 series, although that might be asking a bit much price-wise; if so, an Astra or Corsa (both Vauxhall models). In the longer run, I would hope to be driving an M3 (or any future version of it, and not the one shown on Top Gear recently), and also a Volvo B9L; if you don't recognise the model, that might be because it's a bus.

 

[Captain Chaos]

A Honda CG125! (I will get round to doing my test one day.....)

Still having said that I find that even though it doesn't have much power and not a very high top speed (usually get about 65 on it) I find it to be an absolute joy to ride. Will be sad when I get rid of it at some point.

 

[Pumbaa]

Fiat Punto Mia 1.2 Petrol 3 door at the moment, although I'm doing increasingly more mileage and am looking out for a diesel, small preferably like a Suzuki Swift or Golf.

Absolutely hate the Aygos/C1/107s etc, the gear range is abysmal for truly economic driving (which I do fairly well) and I felt very exposed driving them for a short while. I also immensely disliked the space available, and the fact the car shook when another car passed at speed

 

[j0hn0]

Saab 9-3 turbo, beats an audi rs4 and civic type r away from the lights, nice.

Will get a new mini cooper soon, the saab gets 24mpg at best

 

[strange6]

Ford Fiesta Zetec-S 1.6 TDCi. Lovely looking motor, still turns heads. Quite nippy when chipped but very economical (66mpg combined 0-60 in 8.7s chipped to 120 bhp)

 

[Darandio]

Saab 9-3 turbo, beats an audi rs4 and civic type r away from the lights, nice.

I'll guess it's the older RS4 then, not the newer B7 version where they went a bit "all out".

As for me, 01 Vectra 2.0 DTI, a good mix, pulls well when needed but can equally achieve cracking figures. Been a very reliable family car.

My days of powwerrrrr are now gone although I do miss some of my ex-cars.