A new member from germany

[BennyL]

Hi.

I´m Benny from germany. I hope my english is not too bad...

Im very interested in technical things, especially cars, and having fun in getting a better mpg.

In germany there are a lot of different things in calculating "mpg".

We calculate in "L/100km" (liters of gas you need to drive 100 kilometers). Our fuel-prices are much more expensive than in the us. At the moment we have to pay about 1,75 euro per liter, that means approximately 8,26 dollar per gallon...

Now I bought a "new" car for driving my way to work.

It´s an 1998 VW Golf 1,4 16V with snaily 75 horsepower and manual transmission. But it runs certain.

At the moment there are installed bad all-weather tires (by the first owner), and the car needs an inspection with new oil, filters, spark-plugs, etc.

In the last few days i´ve got its consumption down to 4,9 liter/100km (=47,96 mpg).

I think that there should be some more potential...

Kind regards,

Benny

[MGB=MPG]

benny .. your usage of English [written ] seems excellent

consider adding your machine to the garage and utilizing the fuel log , i think that the MPG vs LPK [liter /kilometer] conversions are apparent there .

i spent many years in Germany , last century . does the autobahn still have unlimited speed sections ...

....
Alles Gute..Bis spatter

michael

[Piwoslaw]

Hi Benny, welcome to EM

Getting less than 5 l/100km in a petrol is quite good
Ecomodding in Germany isn't going to be easy (laws, polizei, etc.), you will probably have to stay with discreet mods (like a warm air intake, grille block, smooth wheel covers, engine block heater, maybe an engine kill switch) and hypermiling techniques. I still think you can easily get below 4.5 l/100km.

Some cars had an engine undertray fitted only in certain versions, usually with diesel engines. Maybe there is an engine tray that will fit your model? Since it will be certified for your car there shouldn't be any legal problems.

[BennyL]

Yes, our autobahn has still unlimited parts, where you can drive as fast as you want.

But in the last few month/years there are more and more less drivers using full throttle. Most people are driving 120-140kmh (75-86mph) in the unlimited parts.

If you´re going very fast you don´t even get very faster to your goal. In cause of road works or slower other cars you cant drive very long in high speeds, and always have to brake and accelerate again. So you arent faster, but your fuel consumption is much higher...

@ Piwoslaw:

You are right, our police is very strict, so my modifications cant be very big.

Yesterday I made an big inspection, with new oil (5W30 synthetic), airfilter, oilfilter, spark-plugs and new aero-wipers in front and a normal new wiper in teh back of the car.

On the way (50km) to the private garage of a good friend i had 4,8l/100km (49mpg), but on the way back it was at 5,3l/100km (44,4mpg). The mistake was a not correctly installed airfilter-cap. There where 2 screws missing, so the engine was able to get air by the side of the air-filter-element, and the data from his boardcomputer was wrong.

So my actual fuel-consumption isnt 4,8 but 5,3l/100km...

But i planned to build a grille block, and to install a new plastic-cover under the engine. The original one was destroyed by the past owner...

Also i´m trying to get some better wheel-covers at ebay, and bought a set of new winter tyres. At the moment there are very bad all-weather tires mounted, and i dont want to inflate them over 2,5bar (36psi), because they are in very bad condition.

With new tires and 44-50psi it should be better.

Kind regards,

Benny