Fuel costs

Neil Fat man on a bike

£1.62 per litre od diesel ............is this the most expensive fuel in the UK?
Location Durness, Highlands.
:?:

The Northern Monkey

Just serviced my car and get approx 5-10 more mpg

Happier now!

edhornby

oof !! I'd bet that the highlands are the most expensive but perversely this may be matched by the posh bits of inner london where the higher cost of living and the logistic of getting the fuel tanker in makes it pricy

ThePriory1978

edhornby wrote:

... logistic of getting the fuel tanker in makes it pricy

Logistics dont mean diddly.

Fuel where i live is always more expensive in the BP/Esso/Total's etc in the middle of town. Drive two miles out of the centre and the same BP/Esso/Total's etc are 1p cheaper. Its just another way of racking up the millions in profit :evil:

Diesel round these parts is about £1.40 a litre.

bails87

I've been using BP ultimate lately. The engine runs smoother and the improved MPG I get more than makes up for the extra few pence per litre.

I've also been cycling into work lots, so have pretty much halved my diesel use.

t0pc4t

so you reckon the ultimate makes a difference?

I put a tank in once by mistake but haven't tried it since, on my first oil burner so I've never really tried premium fuels.

Cycling in is the best reduction in cost though, you're right

bails87

I'm no expert. I just notcied my fuel efficiency has gone from ~45mpg average to 50mpg on a tank.

Maybe I'm driving more carefully or maybe it's because more of my driving is motorway cruising rather than commuting (still on open roads though).

The way I see it, on a 50 litre tank, it's only about £2 extra, so worth a try.

t0pc4t

I might give it a whirl then, cheers bails

MarcBC

Neil Fat man on a bike wrote:

£1.62 per litre od diesel ............is this the most expensive fuel in the UK?
Location Durness, Highlands.
:?:

That is disgusting. One place where a car is an absolute essential and prices are allowed to go wild. I just paid 139.9o for a litre of diesel.

My 77 yr old mother in law lives in the highlands and has an 80 mile round trip just to buy food. Before anyone jumps in, for various reasons, no she cannot move.

IanLD

Don't know what the price is on Barra now but it was shocking there last summer. It may beat the price in Durness.

PXR5

Fuels chuffin expensive everywhere - except in the US.
Petrol here is about €1.55 a litre and diesel about €1.35.
When we moved here about 8 years ago Diesel was €0.85 a litre !! :shock:

lvquestpaddler

When I moved to the highlands 2 yrs ago diesel was about £1.10 a litre, now closer to £1.50.
Been looking for work locally, at moment do a 4 day week and even at that my fuel bill is now close to £80 a week as I work down in Perth(600miles a week). It's at the point where I'm going to take a minimum wage job locally because it means 12hrs less travel per week, less chance of dying on the A9, and a financial loss of £12....so from £20k to £12.3k but it means a bike of no more than 7 miles ew if I get something in Aviemore or Kingussie. Probably need xc skis for the winter if the last 2 are anything to go by!
Amazing how we have stolen Iraqs oil, destroyed Afghanistan so a pipeline could be built through the north to get to the caspian oil fields, no doubt guarded by private corporate armies so the public don't get to know the real reason we're there, and yet fuel is double what it was in 2003.....WTF!!!!

cooldad

t0pc4t wrote:

I might give it a whirl then, cheers bails

AA did a test recently (month or two back) there were small but insignificant reduction in consumption, but not enough outweigh the additional cost. Also there would be some improvement in wear, but would need to keep the car for on average 60 000 miles to recoup additional cost of fuel.
So their recommendation was use it if the octane rating is required my the manufacturer (eg Ferrari) otherwise it's just marketing gumpf.

bails87

cooldad wrote:

t0pc4t wrote:

I might give it a whirl then, cheers bails

AA did a test recently (month or two back) there were small but insignificant reduction in consumption, but not enough outweigh the additional cost. Also there would be some improvement in wear, but would need to keep the car for on average 60 000 miles to recoup additional cost of fuel.
So their recommendation was use it if the octane rating is required my the manufacturer (eg Ferrari) otherwise it's just marketing gumpf.

As I said:
Maybe I'm driving more carefully or maybe it's because more of my driving is motorway cruising rather than commuting (still on open roads though).

My car seems to run noticably more smoothly with it though.

Anonymous

cooldad wrote:

60 000 miles to recoup additional cost of fuel.

Whilst it's not uncommon to keep a car for 60,000 miles, which is approximately 6 years worth of driving, I take it you'd have to ALWAYS use that fuel to gain any advantage? Which seems like a hell of a stretch of the imagination.

sheepsteeth

i find the biggest effect on fuel consumption with my car (2litre non turbo 4x4 impreza from '98) is my tyre pressure. i lose about 60 miles on a full tank if i havent checked my pressures for a while and they have dropped from the 32psi i usually run.

The Northern Monkey

The Northern Monkey wrote:

Just serviced my car and get approx 5-10 more mpg

Happier now!

Spark plugs and oil change now... few more MPG and a much smoother feeling engine.

Agree with sheeps and tyre pressures. The amount of drag you get from low pressures really saps the MPG.

Also, if its hot and you're slowly pootling through town with your rad fan kicking in, turn your heaters on full and open the windows.
It sucks heat from the engine and helps cool it.
Old trick from my days hooning round the yorkshire dales at night... used to stop for a break and leave the heaters on full to suck the hot air away. (wether it actually does anything to MPG I dunno, but it does cool the engine down!)

Anonymous

You're right, it makes a hell of a difference. Running your tyres over pressured actually reduces fuel consumption quite markedly, but can lead to tyre failure and less grip.

Anonymous

The Northern Monkey wrote:

Also, if its hot and you're slowly pootling through town with your rad fan kicking in, turn your heaters on full and open the windows.
It sucks heat from the engine and helps cool it.
Old trick from my days hooning round the yorkshire dales at night... used to stop for a break and leave the heaters on full to suck the hot air away. (wether it actually does anything to MPG I dunno, but it does cool the engine down!)

I had to do that with my Mazda 323 years ago. The cylinder head was frakked, but I managed to get it to run for an extra few months by filling up the radiator before starting it each time, and leaving the heater on full!

Buckled_Rims

Remember, the fuel isn't expensive it's the tax that placed on it that is! And, we the voters voted for the politicians who did it

Anonymous

Buckled_Rims wrote:

Remember, the fuel isn't expensive it's the tax that placed on it that is! And, we the voters voted for the politicians who did it

moron. Why is there no emoticon for facepalm?

unixnerd

at moment do a 4 day week and even at that my fuel bill is now close to £80 a week as I work down in Perth(600miles a week).

That's a dreadful commute, especially if it snows! My neighbours in Aviemore run LPG on both their cars and it saves a fortune. The garage in Dulnain Bridge sells it and does conversions.

Buckled_Rims

yeehaamcgee wrote:

Buckled_Rims wrote:

Remember, the fuel isn't expensive it's the tax that placed on it that is! And, we the voters voted for the politicians who did it

moron. Why is there no emoticon for facepalm?

So, with your incredible brain power, how do you explain why petrol costs approx 50p a litre to produce (and Oil companies get a decent profit for that) yet, it's £1.35p at the pumps?

Anonymous

Look. I know there's a ton of tax. However, when we buy FUEL, we pay the price for FUEL. Which includes a ton of tax.

Your statement makes as much sense as saying
"remember, big screen TVs aren't expensive, it's both the VAT, and the profits that make it expensive"

And also your comments about the voter's fault. Well, frankly if you think ANY of the political parties would have resulted in lower fuel prices, you're just...
You know, I don't even have the words for it.

welshkev

yeehaamcgee wrote:

Look. I know there's a ton of tax. However, when we buy FUEL, we pay the price for FUEL. Which includes a ton of tax.

Your statement makes as much sense as saying
"remember, big screen TVs aren't expensive, it's both the VAT, and the profits that make it expensive"

And also your comments about the voter's fault. Well, frankly if you think ANY of the political parties would have resulted in lower fuel prices, you're just...
You know, I don't even have the words for it.[/quote]

that's a first, i'm gonna mark this date in my diary...

lvquestpaddler

Can't get a diesel to run on LPG!!! :P LPG is cheaper by far but does a litre of it go the same distance as petrol? Fed up with the commute anyway it's no solution. If I get a local Job will bike it in all but the worst weather so save a stack of dosh. Could get some schwalbe ice spiker tyres for winter, you know that bit from August through to June....
I hate relying on a vehicle, or the one arterial road south being open through either poor weather, or some utter pillock having closed it trying(dying) to shave 3 minutes off a 2 hr journey. I hate Tesco lorries sitting at 40mph with 30 cars behind as they drive by the frequent big laybys. There's lots of things about that commute I really hate!!!!
(Deer/Asda/Tesco?co-op/Morrisons/Old Dears bin Honda Jazz's/boy racers/reps/Mondeo drivers/A3+4 drivers/roadworks/snow/ice....)

unixnerd

Couldn't agree more. It's a lovely area and cycling around Drumochter and Dalwhinnie is superb but driving up and down the A9 isn't that much fun. You must be shattered after all that driving! Whenever we go down to Edinburgh I take the train and enjoy the view, but it's not cheap either.

Hope you find something local :-) Even Inverness would be easier.

Thewaylander

Buckled_Rims wrote:

yeehaamcgee wrote:

Buckled_Rims wrote:

Remember, the fuel isn't expensive it's the tax that placed on it that is! And, we the voters voted for the politicians who did it

moron. Why is there no emoticon for facepalm?

So, with your incredible brain power, how do you explain why petrol costs approx 50p a litre to produce (and Oil companies get a decent profit for that) yet, it's £1.35p at the pumps?

Ok in the power and fuel industry so here you go.

OIl is traded in barrels in USD in the last few years we have gone from a remarkably strong position against the dollar to a prety crap one. therefore prices have been driven up due to the exchange rates.

So go buy a clue

lvquestpaddler

Yeah- we do annualised hours so from Oct-March its a 30hr week Mon-Thu, the killer is the summer hours,33hrs over 5 days 7:30-5pm. Means leaving at 6am, home at 6:30pm.....Then after 150mile round trip I may need to do the same mileage again at work if materials need picked up etc. Not just tiring but dangerous on many levels...
Nothing pays around here, I'm a stonemason but with winters like we've had building grinds to a halt for months- need something regular to pay the mortgage, do a few "homers" in the summer to make it up!!!
Applied for a maintenance job at one of the big hotels, will see how it goes but well overqualified for it and it's minimum wage....(FEEL THE AUSTERITY!!!!)
I've done the sums and it would be stupid to keep working where I am just out of stupid pride at not taking a cut. Something else will come up anyway in time and if I'm working local then I'll make more contacts. Right now I feel like a "permatourist". It actually makes more sense at the moment to stay down in Perth a couple of nights a week and go biking- my van is kitted out to sleep in and it saves money/time and I get a recharge with an early night/later start.
Our wages are frozen indefinitely, and inflation is way higher than they're lying to us so may as well move now.

Duki

Move to Venezuela it's only 1.4p a litre over there apparently.

Buckled_Rims

lvquestpaddler wrote:

Yeah- we ....

Snipped
....
Our wages are frozen indefinitely, and inflation is way higher than they're lying to us so may as well move now.

Just out of curiosity, is it locals who work on the A9 roadworks south of Newtonmore? That's a fairly big job building up the carriageway. I drove past it a few times ( yes, at 30 mph unlike most others) and saw a lot of what looked like temporary sleeping accommodation for workers.