Introducing Hermann - no really...

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by slowmover

...Looks good. The maintenance/repairs would be of more concern to me as well. The rest of this you know, but . . . .

Yep - Hermann went to my local VAG specialist today for a service. They called me and said it was the "big one" and not just an oil / filter change.

So I sat down and prepared to cry as they quoted the price...

...which was less than my Aygo (1.0 3cyl hatchback) "big service".

They also rebalanced my front wheels for free and gave me a VCDS (diagnostics scan) printout which shows nothing of worry except for possibly the need for a new battery at some point although the current (!) one may recover with regular use.

I have to say that I have never purchased a battery for any car ever including a Peugeot 205 with a faulty alternator which would drain the one it had in less than an hour.

Originally Posted by slowmover

The F150 comparison is worth exploring...

I mentioned it (the F150) as I have been "slightly sarcastic" to some who think everyone should have a pickup for "just when you need it". I own a house, do DIY, shift stuff and have never felt the need to own one - or indeed a chainsaw or a cement mixer.

However to answer your questions. Hermann is going to be Car no. 2 in the Arragonis household. He will be called upon to do mainly the following :

1. Transport me to work and home again each day when I can't ride with Mrs A - we work at the same place but often have different days planned out.
2. Transport A-junior and friends to/from school maybe 2-4 times a week, this will reduce as A-junior is schooled in how buses work...
3. Transport the "Family A plus dog" to walks probably inside a radius of 50 or so miles 2-3 times a week.
4. Transport the "Family A plus dog" to visit in-laws and remote friends about 200 or so miles away maybe every other month.
5. Transport me and A-junior for our long promised and never planned or executed camping trip locally in Scotland.
6. Shift anything household related which needs either moving or taking to the local dump.
7. Provide me with appropriate attractiveness and excitement to the opposite sex whenever I drive it.
8. Be able to outrun the local "barry boys" (aka in the colonies "ricers")
9. Be not "boring" - so I keep him and not want to trade him.
10. Not rust, or not terminally / unsightly rust.

Obviously Hermann was not selected as a totally economical vehicle but I do intend him to be as "Ecomodder" as possible. I also intend (costs and rust permitting) to keep him as long as possible and to get the best MPG possible - which is the point of this thread.

[mcrews]

Originally Posted by Arragonis

Obviously Hermann was not selected as a totally economical vehicle but I do intend him to be as "Ecomodder" as possible. I also intend (costs and rust permitting) to keep him as long as possible and to get the best MPG possible - which is the point of this thread.

ANd the point of this site!!!!!!

[Arragonis]

Small update. Hermann's service included resetting the trip gauge (probably by accident) so I have no idea how good / bad this tank is. I can still use it to calibrate the SG2 (gallons used estimate vs real) but not to calculate overall MPG - damn.

So this tank cannot be used for MPG.

According to the on-board computer I have 250 miles left. I also have a 450 mile (estimate) round trip to do friday and 40 miles round trip to and from work tomorrow (Thursday).

I also have a voucher for a discount of 5p a litre of fuel from a local supermarket which has to be used this weekend.

So what I need to do is add enough fuel to do the trip leaving the tank as empty as possible when I return so I get as much discount as possible.

Assuming I have 200 miles left and I do 30 MPG (imp - worst case). I need to cover 250 miles, which is 8.33 gallons, or 37.84 litres.

So the plan is tomorrow evening to add 40 litres to the tank, do the trip which will empty it and then fillup on Saturday and get the full tank (an eye watering 70 litres) at 5p a litre discount - £7, or about $12.

And then reset the SG2 again and calibrate it on the next tank.

[mcrews]

Mr A,
while you have a tank to waste............


get some 0-60 and 0-100mph times in!!!!!
always need a baseline!!!

lol

[RedDevil]

Originally Posted by Arragonis

Small update. Hermann's service included resetting the trip gauge (probably by accident) so I have no idea how good / bad this tank is. I can still use it to calibrate the SG2 (gallons used estimate vs real) but not to calculate overall MPG - damn.

So this tank cannot be used for MPG.

Do you have the odometer reading when you bought it, and did you record or reset the trip meter then?
In that case you should be able to work out the current distance on this tank...
I like spritmonitor.de because it requires you to fill in the odometer readings and works out the per tank distance from that.

[Arragonis]

I don't record the odometer readings just the trip - a lesson learned.

[slowmover]

And a good time to run some quality injector cleaner to aid that "Italian tune-up"

[Arragonis]

Ok - managed to add a new fuel up from this tank - forgot the SG2 was linked up and records tank miles - 732. So updated that.

The end of that "tank" was a 400 mile round trip today. I did an experiment and set the cruise at 70 (UK motorway limit) and was of course passed by everyone. At the far end of the journey I got this on the OBD :



It did go over 41 on the way back but I didn't get a pic.

That is cruise alone, no hypermiling. OBD displayed 39.7 at the end of the trip including the last 40 miles being "spirited" driving on the A701

EDIT - for info this tank was split into 2 parts as I wanted as empty a tank as I could manage for a supermarket fuel discount (6p a litre) due this weekend. I got my £4.odd.

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by slowmover

And a good time to run some quality injector cleaner to aid that "Italian tune-up"

I think I did this on the A701 this PM in "S" mode

[Arragonis]

I really hate tyres.



I need to swap for the spare before I go anywhere and get this replaced. Maybe I'll do both fronts but I was planning (hoping) not to as the Gearbox oil also needs replacing and it is spendy.

On the good news side I got 38 MPG consistently today, in town driving.