Hello from Cambridge, England

[kingsway]

I'm helping out my pension by working as a Driving Instructor and fuel is an ever worrying and increasing cost!

I have two cars - a 2002 VW Golf SDI 1.9L Diesel which I use for teaching manual gears.

I also have a little automatic 2003 Perodua Kelisa - it's a Malayan version of the Daihatsu Cuore (which itself is a later version of the Mira)



The larger car is more economical than the little automatic, despite being twice the size and weight. It has a normally aspirated (ie non turbo) diesel engine and I get about 48mpg (imp) around town, and 60 mpg (imp) on a long run.

I have added an almost full grill block on both cars. The Golf now warms-up in half the time (about 5 minutes instead of ten) and the little automatic is at operating temp in about 3 minutes - even when the ambient temp is below freezing!


My wife also has a manual 5 speed version of the Perodua - I've also put a grill block on that, as well as a correx belly-pan under the engine bay.

I'm hoping to soon fit smooth wheel disks and side -skirts to the rear wheels in the hope it may help with the mpg.

The manual Perodua has a 5 speed g/box and has nice long gearing. But the auto is only 3 speed and at cruising speed is doing a couple of thousand revs more than the manual!

It needs new tires, so am thinking of going up a size (approx 2.5%) so I can fit Michelin Energy 3 covers.

I have to keep the cars looking 'professional' but hope my mods may attract some interest, and also help me teach my pupils a little about 'eco-driving' - I've just got an Ultraguage which I am hoping will work with the VW. In the Perodua I use an Adroid App called 'Torque' and a bluetooth OBD2 adapter (which has helped be up my mpg from 35 to 40!)

[larrybuck]

Welcome to the site! Just curious....How did you find us here?
I found it just car subject channel surfing one day!

I have an '84 Quantum wagon awaiting a 1.6 diesel transplant, so I can repeat the 55-57mpg on trips, 46mpg daily, and all time car record for me w low 70's that
my previous '82 Quantum wagon returned.

More daily, my '87 CRX does me well with my trip record at 62.9 mpg so far.

Hope your weather warms up soon for you!

[mcrews]

get an eco modding window sticker. see link:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ock-11551.html

You can buy your scangauge http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tly-11396.html
here and the sticker.
The sticker looks professional and give the kids a site to go to.....then they can follow your car!!!!

[Daox]

Welcome to the site. Sounds like you got a decent handle on things. Good luck with your mods.

[euromodder]

Welcome to ecomodder.

Originally Posted by kingsway

I'm hoping to soon fit smooth wheel disks and side -skirts to the rear wheels in the hope it may help with the mpg.

It seems both vehicles already have fairly smooth wheel covers, leaving less room for improvement with completely smooth covers.
Covering the holes in the original covers is another option - done from behind / inside the hubcap, it could be very stealthy.

Rear-wheel skirts will significantly increase the weird-factor.

The manual Perodua has a 5 speed g/box and has nice long gearing. But the auto is only 3 speed and at cruising speed is doing a couple of thousand revs more than the manual!

Those old style automatics are definitely technology from a different era.

It needs new tires, so am thinking of going up a size (approx 2.5%) so I can fit Michelin Energy 3 covers.

If you can, get the Energy Saver - lots better than the Energy 3.

I've just got an Ultraguage which I am hoping will work with the VW.

Are you going to leave it in there when driving with students ?
It would be a monumental distraction.

[kingsway]

Funny you should ask... I have indeed tried introducing the idea of 'driving without brakes' to a couple of more advanced students.

It makes them anticipate and look-ahead more. They also tend to drive much smoother and with better control of speed on approach to hazards.

Its something I will definitely be covering a lot more with my students.

Do I get them to drive to a particular MPG using the Ultraguage? No, definitely too much of a distraction - but, later in the lesson I turn the UG around and show them their avg MPG using the new style of driving.

They are both suprised and pleased with the results - so good, positive feedback and encouragement!

I was also pleased - my fuel costs are around UK£300 a month - so a few percent reduction in consumption when the students are behind the wheel is very good news for me - as well as reducing wear and tear on the vehicle and tyres! A definite win-win!

BTW many years ago I lived in what was then Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) at a time when we had fuel rationing... I thought I already knew a lot about how to drive economically - but I've learned a lot here on Ecomodders. needless to say, the best help is the direct feedback you can get from a device like the Ultraguage.

[kingsway]

It's just struck me as a little ironic that I should be learning so much about fuel-economy from a site in the US!!

I'm old enough to remember the days when you were all driving huge V8 powered gas-guzzlers and it was us here in Europe who were driving the little bitty econo-boxes!

But the world moves on...

You have one major advantage over us in the UK - with your big local market many auto parts are much cheaper and more readily available in the US than here in the UK.

Even Correx - or is it Coroplast in the US? - is double the price here!

I think we're also still paying a LOT more for our fuel than you (mostly TAX!!!) I am currently paying USD2.26 per litre for Diesel or USD8.55 per US Gallon!

[kingsway]

Apart from monitoring my fuel use from tank to tank, the only real testing I've done was to note how long it takes for my cars to slow in neutral from 50mph to 40mph on a nearby road.

Although both my cars are similar in shape, the VW took 34 seconds to slow to 40. The smaller car did it in only 14 seconds...

The VW is much heavier and it has bigger wheels (less rolling resistance?) but I was quite shocked at the difference.

I did wonder if the little cars brakes were binding. In fact they weren't, but I found the amount of load/drag when trying to turn a front wheel by hand was quite significant. I immediately changed the oil in my wife's manual transmission to fully synthetic to see if that will make a difference. But I can't say I noticed anything afterwards...


She does a fairly long commute every day so, if she can stand the 'weirdness factor', I'd like to try skirts and a Kammback on her car to see if it will help.

She'll be driving with the Ultragauge in her car (out of sight!) for the next week to monitor her real-world consumption. Then we can do comparisons with the mods installed.

Like always, it will be adjustments to the nut behind the wheel that will make the biggest difference - but motivating her to change her kamikazi driving style may by a bigger hurdle than modifying the car!


My little automatic car will be getting a new set of tyres this week - Michelin Energy E3B Green X 165/65 R13 T (77)

Not cheap - but they are one size up which I hope will help with the gearing, and have low rolling resistance which may also help the MPG....