merc0447:
Went from bellshill to Leicester the other week in a golf diesel, coordinator drove down full tank used, i drove back half a tank used
He just speeds up to everything even when he knows he is going to stop, he accelerates only to find 2 seconds later he brakes
I commented on his harsh braking but he didn’t take any notice, he knows best
Yep, I’ve educated the wife since we now have only 1 car-by asking her “why accelerate to the lights and then brake? You might aswell syphon fuel out and give it to the ■■■■■■!” She tries to explain this theory to her boss but “your hubby drives lorries, a car’s different…”
I use the foot off gas method as I approach speed limits, red lights etc… Winds other drivers up a treat, they normally overtake and then stand on the brakes.
del949:
Not directly on topic, I drive a disco TD5 and have noticed that if I have to cancel CC, slow down and then press resume, she accelerates at full throttle. Far harder than I would push it. You can almost hear it sucking the diesel. Having said that it returns more or less what the book claims.
Do all CC’s resume under full power?
T&D gave out a Daf driving supplement about 18 months ago and it said not to hit resume until you’re close to the target speed, for the reason you said…
Case in point (although not a truck in this instance). The guy I ‘employed’ to drive my new 1.7 Astravan back from Knebworth (170 miles in total) followed me all the way back and it was a clear run sat around 80-85mph for the majority. I checked the average mpg on the trip computer when we got back home - 38 mpg . For reference, my 3 litre beemer which is about twice as heavy and has twice the bhp managed to do 49 mpg. Both are 6 speed manual boxes.
I was seriously worried there was something wrong with it so I reset the trip computer, drove him home to Bradford in it and then back to mine again (around 12 miles) which is all local roads 30/40mph and even with a couple of short blasts to see what the power was like I managed to get 44.5 mpg from it . My faith was completely restored when I had to go over to Manchester last night which turned out to be a 100 round trip near enough, doing 80-85mph and the trip computer returned a healthy 57.7 mpg (reset prior to leaving).
So how the [zb] did he only get 38 mpg? I’m tempted to ask him but I don’t want to upset him . He must’ve driven it back in 3rd gear or something. . I did reset it prior to leaving Knebworth too, so nothing before picking it up could’ve affected the figure.
Some people just don’t seem able to drive economically. I’ve been a passenger in cars/vans/trucks with other people and very few of them could drive smoothly. They were either fully on and off the gas all the time like a damned yoyo or had some inbred thing of having to tear arse away up to the speed limit as fast as the vehicle would let them. WTF is that all about?
Do you know or employee a driver that can’t drive for [zb] or are you even one yourself that consistently gets poor mpg?
why dont you put him on a fuel bonus scheme,say for instance £3.50 a day if he get over 55 m.p.g,he still may not get the fuel figures you require but BOY WILL IT ■■■■ HIM OFF WHEN HE DOESNT GET HIS £3.50 IN HIS WAGE PACKET,[i can vouch for that]
rob just be carefull with these bonus schemes as they are open to abuse ,if youve iso-trac in the van make sure he logs on before he leaves yard, not after hes done 50 miles on a-b roads then reaches the motorway,only something i heard, never tried it myself
Rob K:
‘…drivers that can’t drive economically … How do they manage it? … Do you know one…?’
I’m certain we’ve known many who’d swankily demonstrate driving prowess by spanking the 'nads through every gear in a diesel to get there faster - when all it could do was wheeze.
Maybe we’re simply unlucky to have learned that basic diesels are a different beast to an Imprezza donk.
Rob, nice to see you back from the land of the living dead & posting regularly again.
As others have mentioned he may not have found 6th. Many drivers who drive a variety of vehicles regularly as it sounds he would, given his occupation, would expect a flash car to have a 6 spd box, but wouldn’t really expect it on an Astra van. (they used 2b flying machines… expect they still are).
His driving style may be that of a Dublin bus driver: either gas pedal or brake must be pressed hard at any one time. No inbetween.
Most drivers never get their driving assessed from the day they pass their test to the day they are no longer capable of driving. I’m 100% for 5 yearly driving & eye sight testing.
Many of those drivers consider their driving to come in the “good to better than average” class. They usually turn out to be the very worst!
Rolls Royce accelerate hard when “resume” is used & with 6.7 litres up front that can be interesting at times!
Some years ago, a friend, a rather eccentric but likeable lady of a certain age, a reformed lush,(sadly no longer with us thanks to the big C) wangled herself an invite for 2 people to an MG racing day at Silverstone. This came about through her recent purchase of her 2nd new MGF.
She wanted a chaperone to accompany her so I volunteered, not realising at the time said chaperone would be expected to cough up half the fuel bill However it came with the enticement of driving the new sports car one way
She drove down & asked me to pay for the fill up when we got near. Having witnessed her driving style, varying from braking down to 50 behind trucks to accelerating up to 100 & knowing I would be driving back, I refused saying i would fill it up for my driving stint when we got near home. Even though i explained the reasons why, she was a little narked at this, so to smooth ruffled feathers I put £20 in the ashtray. (this was a few years ago).
After an interesting, enjoyable & well fed day, courtesy of MG cars, I subsequently drove back. We were stuck in slow moving traffic for maybe an hour getting away from Silverstone. Most of the journey back was in the dark, so more load on the alternator than on the way down. Once clear of the traffic I put her bang on 80 & held it exactly there wherever & whenever possible all the way to Preston.
On getting back to Preston off the m/way & fill up. 3.5 mpg better than the trip down. First & only time I ever saw her stuck for words.
I’m a london bus driver.
We have a system at work called RIBAS. It’s a little black box computer in all the buses and when you get in a bus you insert your issued key. It records everything about your driving.
R=over revving, so if your on a dual carrigeway and your foots flat to the floor it will register over revving.
I=excessive idle, although the buses switch of automatically after 5 mins stationery.
B=harsh braking, if your heavy on the brakes it records this.
A=acceleration, if you pull away to quick.
S=over speeding, although the new buses are limited to 45mph
A chart is published every week and monthly showing your scores, the aim is to stay in the green zone. When it was 1st introduced, 90% of the drivers were in the red or amber, now, 90% are in the green.
It has saved the company a fortune in fuel and helped us get our pay rise, 2% above inflation.
The top drivers get sent to millbrook for a driving day and the winner wins a brand new car!!
I’ve got a 1.7 Astravan ( ) and find them it economical. 70mph in 6th is 2,000rpm, 80-85 about 2,600.
I get 51-55 on a run and no worse than 45-48 round town. I haven’t tried it but i reckon 80-85mph in 5th rather than 6th the bloody thing would be revving its nuts off (3,500rpm roughly). I would say this would be your problem because 38mpg is bloody awful.
Also, how does he pull away from standstill? A mate of mine drives like he’s got three light switches down there - totally on or totally off, nothing in between! Not very smooth, or fuel efficient!
Happy Keith:
Maybe we’re simply unlucky to have learned that basic diesels are a different beast to an Imprezza donk.
My guess is that we (as a collective) havn’t learnt that at all. Most trucks are rev limited and come as ‘auto’ to save fuel, wheras Imprezzas dont !!
Indeed, although I was trying to convey that different types of engine (SOHC, DOHC, V’s, push-rod, governed & ungoverned diesels, etc) all require an understanding & reappraisal of one’s driving style re’ what the engine needs to coax its max potential for decent progress vs. fuel efficiency vs. achieving mechanical kindness, etc, etc.
Broadly speaking, a vehicle vendor won’t care if you’ve lead boots (or care about achieving big-end longevity) nor will the (fuel) taxman. The state doesn’t have much appetite to legislate for improved standards either, for fear of nannying & upsetting the masses. The only pro-active & national body seeking improvement seems to be the charitable Institute of Advanced Motorists.
So, unless the owner and driver are proactive in learning what is under their bonnet, diddly squat gets done to educate the sub-average to average British driving guppy at the wheel.
Thus, few know any better, fuel gets wasted & donks get abused. Dancing on Ice, Corrie and X Factor, etc, being far more interesting to ‘learn about’ during ‘quality time’, of course
I have the use of a motobility car. I am a named driver as the owner doesn’t drive. The car is a 1.5 Diesel Megane and is the best car I have ever driven, I have driven a few with my links to the motor trade. This thing will do 50mpg all day long and occasionally delivers 60+
We went up to Whitby over Christmas and the light was on when were ready to come home. I put 20 quids worth in which got us home whilst making good progress .
Whitby to South Derbyshire gave us about 50mpg but I like to think the 6th gear makes that possible.
I agree strongly about resume not being used until closer to the target speed
Wheel Nut:
I have the use of a motobility car. I am a named driver as the owner doesn’t drive. The car is a 1.5 Diesel Megane and is the best car I have ever driven, I have driven a few with my links to the motor trade. This thing will do 50mpg all day long and occasionally delivers 60+
We went up to Whitby over Christmas and the light was on when were ready to come home. I put 20 quids worth in which got us home whilst making good progress .
Whitby to South Derbyshire gave us about 50mpg but I like to think the 6th gear makes that possible.
I agree strongly about resume not being used until closer to the target speed
Should be getting more than 60mpg out of that Malc. Apart from a couple of kinks in the 169 between Whitby and Pickering, the rest of it is all fast road right down to where you are. Can’t imagine 6th does much on an engine that small. My 1.7 needs to be doing at least 80 in 6th for it to pull in that gear when required, otherwise you have to drop a cog.
Hammer, yes they are good little vans. I have 2 of each now in the Astra G and H models, a 2.0 Di, a 2.0 DTi a 1.9 CDTi and now a 1.7 CDTi. They’re brilliant for shifting our tackle around and nice to drive on long runs once you get the seat adjusted right .
My car doesn’t power up to the set speed when I hit resume, it has some gizmo on it that shuts it down to only 4 cylinders when cruising and using light throttle, so maybe that’s wired into the CC.
A lot of people drive on and off the throttle rather than keeping it steady or using CC, having been a road tester and a small fleet owner I’ve obviously learned to drive economically, but even as a young hooligan I could hold a steady throttle, in the days before limiters and CC my tacho traces were not much different to what they were when I was on the limiter all day or using CC and that’s the key to economy, consistency, coupled with reading the road and using momentum.
Muckaway:
Got told on safed course, that using Jake Btake somehow improves mpg; returning unused fuel to the tank or something like that I was told…
Not sure what he means there & not many trucks have a jake brake, presume you mean exhaust brake?
If your’e an ower driver paying for your own repairs it helps to save brake lining wear.
All diesel engines have a return to tank feed for unused fuel.
Newer vehicles with electronically controlled injectors don’t inject any fuel at all on the over run.
yeah, I wasn’t sure and I didn’t ask him to elaborate…that day was a snooze-fest. i think the jist of it was that you’re meant to jump as many gears as possible, burn the clutch out in order to save 0.4mpg (in my case). You’re right regarding not many having Jakes, just our decent ones have those…
Do you know one?
. My faith was completely restored when I had to go over to Manchester last night which turned out to be a 100 round trip near enough, doing 80-85mph and the trip computer returned a healthy 57.7 mpg (reset prior to leaving).
) and find them it economical. 70mph in 6th is 2,000rpm, 80-85 about 2,600.
.