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Improving Fuel Efficiency


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For about 8 or 9 years now I have actively been a fuel mileage improvement fan. Reading articles and investigating different gadgets and such. In the last few years the price of fuel has risen enough to really make improving fuel mileage a priority. I know, while the US is one of the largest users of oil, prices here are still reasonable compared to other regions. So I thought it would be interesting to make a list of all the facts and myths surrounding fuel mileage (efficiency). And perhaps we may learn some things and teach some things from each other.

 

First I will admit I have tried many of the gimmicks and gadgets out there and have found some a waste, some useful, a few are very questionable.

 

Things I have found that really help:

 

1. Proper tire pressure: This is an absolute must. Just imagine when you were a child with a bicycle. Pedaling with low tire pressure was far more difficult than when they were properly inflated. So keep them at the automobile manufactures recommended pressure and remember changing seasons( temps) can make a big difference.

 

2. Make sure your engine is in good working order. Changing the Oil, making sure the spark plugs are good. etc.. all go to making the engine run better. All modern cars made after 1994 in the US have what is called ODBII. It stands for On Board Diagnostics 2, and requires that the vehicle be equipped with electronics that monitor the proper Air/Fuel ratio for a cleaner exhaust emissions. They automatically check the oxygen level in the exhaust and adjust the Air/Fuel mixture.

 

This is where most of the gadgets fail to live up to the claims of improving fuel economy. Assuming the engine is in proper working order. The Ignition timing and Air/Fuel ratio is automatically adjusted for proper factory settings.

 

3. A fuel flow monitoring gauge such as ScanGuageII or a factory installed equivalent can really be a very useful tool and fuel saver. It allows you to see in real time what your fuel usage (economy) is and helps you to adjust your driving habits accordingly. Things like accelerating at a efficient rate that doesn't waste fuel and at the same time gets you up to speed fast enough for the transmission to shift into overdrive where fuel economy is best. And Lift your foot from the accelerator early and saving on the brakes really give a boost to the economy by using the energy of the vehicle to save on fuel. I get so much amusement (and frustration) from seeing people race from red traffic light to red traffic light. While I calmly cruise from green light to green light at max fuel efficiency and stay right with them all the way through town. I don't mind being told I drive like an old man when I know I am spending less on gas with my 2 ton truck as those "kids" are in there little compact cars.

 

The speed at which I drive on the highway was a huge eye opener. after many experiments on long highway trips I found my vehicle gets the best fuel economy at about 62.5-65 MPH(100 KPH). Any faster and the miles per gallon started to drop off drastically.

 

Myths:

 

1. The Tornado air intake gadget( and others like it) is supposed to improve the fuel economy by spinning the flow of air into the engine. These are a huge waste of time and money. For the reasons stated above. ODBII automatically regulates air/fuel ratio and if anything inserting a gadget into the intake will only restrict the airflow to the engine. I tried on 3 different vehicles and it actually made the fuel economy worse.

 

2. Many fuel additives meant to improve the exhaust emmisions (Most states in the US have their own laws requiring certain exhaust emissions requirements) actually do improve the emissions of the exhaust but in the process lower the fuel economy. I have experienced this for myself in the US. States such and Michigan and Pennsylvania have stricter requirements than states such as Indiana. On Several 600 mile 2 way trips between Indiana and Pennsylvania, the fuel I bought from Indiana gave me a 10-15% improvement over the fuel I bought in Pennsylvania.

 

Ethanol has long been in use in the US for emissions improvement. But fuel with up to 10% ethanol will give you less fuel economy than 100% gasoline

 

Questionables:

 

1. Spending more for the Premium 92 Octane fuel will pay for itself in better fuel economy. This one is a maybe in my book. Ultimately the additional cost of premium fuel is probably not worth the gain in fuel economy. The reason is the same as the other gadgets. Most modern engines have electronics that automatically control the ignition timing of the engine to make it run as efficiently as possible. When the engine detects detonation or "knock" it automatically retards the timing to compensate. Once the "knock" has gone away the timing is advanced again to optimum settings. This allows car manufactures to run "regular" fuel without sacrificing fuel efficiency or performance.

 

The improvement from Premium Fuel is most likely from the engines ability to stay in optimum tune without "knock". Therefore no need to retard timing and more efficient. Whether or not this supposed efficiency is enough to offset the cost of the premium fuel is hard to say. But I doubt it.

 

2. Pure acetone added to the fuel in low quantities ( 2 oz per 10 gallons of gasoline) can drastically improve fuel efficiency? I am also on the fence on this one. The idea here is that the acetone lowers the surface tension of the fuel. Surface tension is what makes water form into droplets when is rains. The higher the surface tension, the larger the rain drop. So the idea is that by lowering the surface tension, the fuel can mist into smaller drops as it is pulled into the engine. These smaller drops allow the fuel to burn more completely in the engine. There by, increasing power and lowering the amount of unburned fuel exhausting out the tail pipe.

 

Again without controlled scientific proof, it is hard to say if this works or not. The downside of acetone is: it is a very strong solvent. It will melt the paint from the side of the vehicle if it is spilled and may melt plastic parts inside the vehicles fuel system if the vehicle has any such parts. This is why Acetone is not widely used by the gas companies. Could you imagine the legal liability?

 

Acetone is sold in aftermarket gasoline additives as a fuel system cleaner. (which by the way, acetone will really clean your engine out very well) So well, in fact, that a very dirty engine or a engine that has been neglected could in actually run worse for a while after using acetone)

 

The other benefit of Acetone is that it does increase the Octane rating of the fuel. Octane rating is the rate at which gasoline burns. Many people incorrectly assume that the gas inside the combustion chamber explodes. This is false. Gas does not explode, but actually burns very, very quickly. The lower the Octane rating, the faster the fuel burns. This can result in detonation (knock), so this leads us back to the Premium fuel myth. Does Higher octane fuel produce higher fuel efficiency? I believe it does and 2-4 ounce of acetone in 20 gallons of fuel is far cheaper than the extra $2-$4 more you would pay for Premium Gas.

 

 

Conclusions:

 

Ultimately I started with an average of 12-16 miles per gallon from my 2002 Ford Explorer with 130K miles on it. After all of the above I now average 18-22 miles per gallon from the same vehicle in the same driving conditions. So what did I do?

 

1. Proper tire pressure, and engine maintenance

2. I bought the ScanGuageII to help me watch my fuel usage and adjust my driving style for better fuel efficiency.

3. Acetone did make my engine start easier, and idle smoother. I get far less engine knock, but I don't use it all the time.

 

Ultimately the biggest difference I saw was in understand and adjusting my driving habits.

 

cheers

 

 

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Great write up! Surprised it took this long for you to write all this down. I've started doing these things again now that I live farther away from work. I keep my engine diagnostics on the fuel efficiency reading. Accelerate down hills and coast up, I shift my automatic transmission manually (my Audi A8's transmission is made to do this) not all transmissions can be manually worked like this. And I use 3 ounces of Acetone in a 22 gallon tank. If adding Acetone for the first time, like Loco warned, start with just one ounce in a full tank. Let it slowly clean your engine out. An old unclean engine can easily have the spark plugs fouled by cleaning it too fast. Write your miles per gallon down, next full tank use 2 ounces. Repeat the process until you find the best mixture of Acetone to gasoline. This whole process may take 4-5 full tanks of gas till you find your best mixture. Usually it's one ounce of acetone to 5 gallons of gasoline.

 

I was buying the 93 octane unleaded fuel and using the acetone but I found I actually get better gas mileage from the 87 octane unleaded fuel and 3 ounces of Acetone.

 

And the Best gas saving gimmick, trick, technique, etc....... Remove the lead from your shoe! Watch your miles per gallon gauge. Last payday I was short on cash. Had enough gas in the tank to get to work.... I thought. With a week to go until payday I squeezed enough miles per gallon out to make it to work the last three days that I should have been on empty.

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And the Best gas saving gimmick, trick, technique, etc....... Remove the lead from your shoe! Watch your miles per gallon gauge. Last payday I was short on cash. Had enough gas in the tank to get to work.... I thought. With a week to go until payday I squeezed enough miles per gallon out to make it to work the last three days that I should have been on empty.

 

Hey! Doing some Hypermiling eh? It's amazing the difference when I watch the MPG display vs when I dont.

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Oh and don't be running late when you head out the door for work or an appointment. Getting started earlier than needed really helps on the gas mileage and the stress.

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wow, Loco, FABULOUS write! lol, I don't drive, but, even if I had a car now, it could not have possibly have impressed upon me more how detailed and thorough you are.

 

And this is an amazing fascination... fuel mile improvement!

 

Loco, are you doing that much driving, is it because of family needs that has kept you avidly looking for improvements?

 

It's almost like you're perfecting this perfect "build" for the ultimate HC environment... our lives.

 

Good post

 

:)

gogo

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For those of us that live in rural areas where public transport is just not an option. We rely very heavily on our vehicles for transport. My monthly fuel budget is about $160 so anywhere I can find a break really makes a difference. Before I got my family moved from PA to Indy I was making that 600 mile trip every 2 weeks for about 6 months. so yeah I really needed to stretch every dollar.

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Wow, what a fascinating hobby loco. I love how deep into the research you went to really find what works for you. In particular the Acetone.

 

Something Furian said, "Remove the lead...", got me thinking about the weight of a vehicle. If I understand it right then there are some pickup truck owners who will weigh down their "caddy?" with bricks for better traction in snowy climates. I'd wager this reduces fuel efficiency when the roads are clear. Would it be good advice to suggest reducing the weight of your vehicle to improve fuel efficiency? Maybe some people put loads of crap in their trunks and just leave it there?

 

 

I've never been a "driver" myself so it's interesting to read about it. :)

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Honestly, the funny part in reading this is that some of the things that actually work are rather elementary if you own a vehicle. Checking your tire pressure, keeping your engine in working order, resist the urge to go lead foot on the pedal. And yet, I can definitely say as well I don't follow these to heart, and I'm certain many drivers are like that as well. Given the amount of driving I do, it's not just the fuel I'm worried about, but also the wear and tear the car could go through, be it the tires, the engine, the brakes. That is a very nice write-up, and certainly a much needed reminder for me from one driver to the other.

Edited by Aegis
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Wow, what a fascinating hobby loco. I love how deep into the research you went to really find what works for you. In particular the Acetone.

 

Something Furian said, "Remove the lead...", got me thinking about the weight of a vehicle. If I understand it right then there are some pickup truck owners who will weigh down their "caddy?" with bricks for better traction in snowy climates. I'd wager this reduces fuel efficiency when the roads are clear. Would it be good advice to suggest reducing the weight of your vehicle to improve fuel efficiency? Maybe some people put loads of crap in their trunks and just leave it there?

 

 

I've never been a "driver" myself so it's interesting to read about it. :)

 

You are exactly right on that one, Schot. Removing the golf clubs from the trunk is a great idea and believe it or not makes a huge difference.

 

So much extra safety equipment has gone into cars that the fuel economy has continually dropped year after year from all the extra stuff.

 

In 1978 a 2 door Honda civic weighed only 2166 lbs and got 38-46 MPG and the 2010 2 door Honda civic weighs 2750 lbs and only gets 24-36 MPG. Even the new hybrids can barely touch the 1978 numbers.

 

So imagine all the extra crap we carry around these days.

 

 

And here is another little tidit. Older carbureted vehicles used to have to warm up before driving to let the choke set and to get the oil in the pan to work its way up to the top of the engine. Today this is a waste of gas. Most new vehicles are fuel injected, which means no more carburetors and no more need to warm up. And most have oil systems that lubricate even when they are cold. However, they do have oxygen sensors in the OBDII system that have to come up to temp to close the computer loop that monitors the fuel/air ratio. But most are now self heated. So the loop closes within only a minute or two.

 

 

Also, how closely you follow behind another vehicle has implications other than safety as well. following too close will cause you to do more braking and accelerating than you would if you followed at a much greater distance (where you can anticipate traffic better and just lift the accelerator instead of having to brake)

 

 

 

 

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And the poor Chattius needs a technical dictionary.

 

But first the differences:

No tempo limit on autobahns, fuel way more expensive, fuel consumption is litres fuel per 100kilometres and not miles per gallon (and even this is not same for USA and UK), europe has mainly manual gearboxes, america mainly automatic, ...

 

So as I wrote in another thread already: I use a motorbike when I drive alone. Fuel consumptions is 1.2 litres rapeseed oil on autobahn constant 90kilometres an hour.

For full family it is 40+ years old Mercedes 9 seater.

My wife uses a 11 years old Volkswagen Lupo TDI if she is doing visits as a doc. In winter at heavy snow sometimes a Unimog has to do it.

Our Au-Pair girl uses our Citroen 2CV4 (half litre engine, 23horsepowers, super low in insurance and tax)

...

 

So my most used transport is: 1.2l per 100km, so it is:

 

motorbike optimal consumption

miles_per_gallon = 235/1.2 = 196mpg

 

Mercedes Van

11l diesel per 100km so 235/11= 21.3mpg

 

VW Lupo 3l TDI, modified for country roads, so frame more robust and heavier tires with a better control at wet leaf covered roads

4l per 100km so 235/4 = 58mpg

 

So to optimize consumption:

Already mentioned, air pressure, air filters, look ahead and glide instead of breaking (modern engines stop if doing so), ...

Weight

Weight is worst if you have to accelerate a lot, city traffic and such. But once gliding on an Autobahn with constant speed it affects less. Keep a car light if you use it mainly in a city.

Brakes (brake assistant, automatical breaking if too close)

Brakes may not be important in other countries for fuel consumption, but at 120+ kilometres an hour on an autobahn you can make good use of slipstream effects, even without going too close (which would be forbidden). So high end brakes in combination with brake assistant allows better slipstream effects.

Engine

Low power engines may consume less fuel once the car is running at a constant speed, but you need way more fuel if you accelerate. So a 90hp engine may consume less than a 60hp engine if the car is heavy and used in a city.

Roof Racks

The faster you go the more they slow down the car. If you don't need them remove them( specially on german autobahn).

...

 

But most important: choose the right car. Don't buy a van if you do surfing or bicycling only 2 times a year. It is cheaper to rent a van. If you drive mainly in city: a light car with stop and go automatic might be best. Countryside germany: diesel engine... You get diesel everywhere.

 

With 2011 a new problem came up in europe: E10 fuel. European community demanded that 10% ethanol has to be mixed into fuel. So while fuel stations in cities have a lot of earth tanks for the different fuel variants, fuel stations on countryside have only 2-3 different tanks. So the normal 3 are diesel, E10 (which is demanded by european community) and super plus for old engines which would need lead-fuel normally. So car gas, ethanol, hydrogen, ... don't do such an engine if you drive mainly on countryside.

Edited by chattius
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Yes gogo, I knew Master Chattius would be along with a great EU perspective. And thank you Chattius for reminding me of several very interesting points.

 

Diesel vs Gasoline engines.

Motorbikes

Manual vs automatic transmissions

 

1. First, Diesel engines are far more common outside of the US. Typically due to emissions and air quality regulations, Diesel engines are only used in very large vehicles such as our huge commercial trucking and shipping industry.

 

The reason is the exhaust emissions and I believe, at least in part, because we just don't like the smell. However, diesel is by far more efficient than Gasoline. Diesel produces more energy per unit than gasoline does. And typically diesel engines generate more torque. which makes them great for carrying larger loads.

 

One misunderstood concept is horsepower vs torque. Many of us understand horsepower to mean that an engine with more horsepower is bigger or more powerful. This is not necessarily the truth. Horsepower is defined as: a unit of measurement for power. 1 HP ~ 750 watts. A Watt is a unit of energy. so more HP = more energy. This tells me that horsepower is directly related to fuel consumption. More fuel/air in equals more power out.

 

Torque on the other hand is a more accurate measurement of an engines strength. Torque is defined as the amount of turning force on a wheel or shaft. Torque is what gets the vehicle moving.

 

Diesel engines are known for being very low horsepower, but very high torque engines. This explains why they are so much more efficient and used in very large vehicles like ships and trains.

 

It is no surprise that EU has started to regulate emissions by requiring the use of E10 (Gasoline with 10% Ethanol)

 

In the US it should be noted that the only successful manufacturers of diesel passenger cars are VW, and Mercedes. There have been a few others that have tried and failed in generating any noticeable sales.

 

2. Motorbikes are naturally more fuel efficient and more widely used outside of the US as well. Motorbikes weigh only a fraction (about 10%) of what a motorcar weighs and therefore uses a fraction (about 10%) of the fuel . In the US they are mainly recreational. For safety reasons motorcycles are somewhat taboo here and only riden by those who are more daring and less "safe". Its a shame really to see a single person driving a large utility vehicle to work everyday when they could be driving something much more economical.

 

My problem is that I am a rather large guy ( 6ft 4 in and 300 lbs) and I have difficulty finding a vehicle I can easily get in and out of and ride comfortably for long periods.

 

3.Not too long ago most vehicles had manual transmissions. Manual transmissions, by design, tend to be more fuel efficient in the way the clutch plates limit the loss of engine power. Automatic transmissions came along because they are easier to learn and as Chattius mentioned make stop and go driving much less work for the driver. Autos have a torque converter that allows the engine to slip a little loosing some of the power. Newer automatics now have improved to the point that they have become just as efficient as manuals. Even now they are available with 6 gears just like the manuals.

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I think another reason for the motorbikes: In germany you can get a driving license for cars with 18, 17 if you drive with an adult aas co-pilot. You can get a license for a motorbike/scooter limited to 7 horsepowers with 16. So for many people on countryside a light motorbike is the first vehicle you can use to visit friends if you don't want to ask your parents for a drive. No train at my place and the bus is like every 2 hours and 4 miles away.

 

A motorbike is not the worst if most of the roads you have to drive each day to work looks like

Feldweg.jpg

 

No road for a Hayabuza, a chopper or a Goldwing. More the roads for an Enfield or a BMW GS.

 

I plan to buy a car this spring. With my oldest daughter at 193cm and 5 kids: I have to plan in advance and the others kids will become tall too. So the standard 7 seater is not high enough on rear places. That is the reason we still use the 40 year old Mercedes mini bus. We want to win time to be sure with E10, new pollution laws for entering cities, ... A Mini Bus is more expensive than a van and normally eats more fuel. Sadly you can't buy second hand ones because all bigger familes or small sport clubs have to buy new ones because the old ones are no longer allowed to enter cities.

So this year will be a car to replace the old VW Lupo, which will be used by a niece who is 17teen as a low cost first car. Next year we have to plan to replace the Bus.

 

So the new car needs 198 metres on front seats, 190-195 on rear seats, low fuel, robust for countryroads, ... I am still reading prospects, if I find one I will inform you ;)

Edited by chattius
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The 1.2litres for my motorbike was from a drive to Hamburg.

The 4 litres for the Lupo are real values, Average on last year. Allways full fuel tank at fuel station, writing down kilometres and how much fuel filled in. We never reached the 3litres VW promised. VW named it 3l because it could do 3litres at optimal conditions. But 4 litres with more heavy wires and heavier springs is close enough for us.

 

I never trust a fuel consumptions test. The cars are clever enough to detect if such a standardized test is run and change to a different fuel/air mixture.

 

@loco: I was considering an Opel Insignia for a while. Front seats are up to 2 metres. I put the idea away because rear seats are more like 1.80 metres, and we would need 3 seats with more than 1.85 right now and 4 in 2 years. But else the car is fantastic. I think in UK it is named Vauxhall Insignia and in northern america the 2010 Buick Regal. Was europe's car of the year for 2009 and more important a full 5 star in car savety. But the rear seats , ... sniff. Don't trust a car seller if he says that a rear seat is okay for 1,90metres. If the driver is 2metres and pushes his seat back, the rear seat is more to 1,70. But for normal sized family it is a great car. I like the one of my younger brother, really much room. And the lights turn into a curve so you can look ahead before being in the curve, really nice on our countryroads. And I am a monkey with 1.92 but an armspan of 2,20 metres, so not your weight but a comparible size. But sadly it is not fitting for our family.

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When comparing published MPG numbers, keep in mind that the tests have changed over the years.

 

True in 2006 the US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) revamped the testing standards to better reflect real world driving conditions, but they are still just controlled tests that only give a rough idea of what real world result might be.

 

My 2002 Ford Explorer has an EPA rating of 14/19 city/hwy and I am getting real world 16/22. So yeah its all relative.

 

@chattius What was the easy formula for converting US MPG to EU 100K/L ?

 

That Opel Insignia will be coming to the US as the 2011 Buick Regal Made in Germany. It is a very nice looking small car.

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The Insignia is considered upper middle class in germany. A VW Lupo is small ;)

 

The formula from german wikipedia:

   Umrechnung zwischen l/100 km - mpg (US) - mpg (UK)

   von 	nach 	        Berechnung
   l/100 km 	mpg (US) 	235 / (l/100 km)
   l/100 km 	mpg (UK) 	282 / (l/100 km)
   mpg (US) 	l/100 km 	235 / mpg (US)

 

von = from, nach = to, Berechnung = calculation

 

So 10litre per 100km would be 235/10 = 23.5mpg(US)

 

Or 47mpg would be 235/47 = 5litre per 100 kilometre

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What used to be considered a large car here is gradually getting smaller and smaller every year.

 

I just assumed, since the Buick web site compared it to an Audi A4. Which is the smallest Audi here in the states compared to the mid-size Audi A6 and Full size Audi A8

 

Thanks for the conversion, so your VW Lupi is at 4L then? That is pretty darn good!

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3.Not too long ago most vehicles had manual transmissions. Manual transmissions, by design, tend to be more fuel efficient in the way the clutch plates limit the loss of engine power. Automatic transmissions came along because they are easier to learn and as Chattius mentioned make stop and go driving much less work for the driver. Autos have a torque converter that allows the engine to slip a little loosing some of the power. Newer automatics now have improved to the point that they have become just as efficient as manuals. Even now they are available with 6 gears just like the manuals.

 

Yup, automatics have certainly come a long way since the manuals. On the other hand, I still consider manuals to be more fun to drive than automatics once you figure out how to smoothly shift gears. :D

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The Lupo of my wife has a early variant of a Tiptronic already, one of these gearboxes which are automatic but still have a full manual control of gears.

 

About having fun at driving: 2009 a 50year old NSU Prinz won a Slalom race. A Prinz doing a slalom race made me dreaming to own one since I was 5. A second (more 4-5th hand) Prinz was the car I bought with my first self earned money. The following picture shows a Prinz performing a slalom race. For people who do not know what a slalom race is, race throw narrow curves marked by pylons as fast as posisble. The prinz excelled in this: 1100 pounds weight, 100 horsepowers and engine in the rear. You could stear with brakes and throttle and slide the curves. Now with electronics this is impossible, better for the overall savety, but I liked this sort of driving.

 

aachen runte  slalom 73.JPG

 

I liked this picture as a boy: A Prinz hunting a Ford Capri on the old Nürburgring. The Capri is driven by the former Formula-1 racer Stuck, is 15 years younger, had 2.5 times the horsepower, had better aerodynamics, but on narrow uphill curves the Prinz was way faster, better Horsepower to weight ratio and better handling when drifting.

capri nsu ring 72.jpg

 

But even this way of driving was fun when I was a kid, now (after re-union) there are no empty roads anymore in germany. Germany had no west/east autobahns before re-union and even after re-union nature protection laws makes building them a long process. So my old 'west-east race tracks', some people would called them Bundesstrasse or in english a federal secondary road, are now full of cars. When I was 19 I could drive on them for minutes without seeing another car, now they counted 53000cars a day.

But I have to admit with a lot more cars now the better car handling electronics, passive savety and redesigned roads the number of traffic deads went down from 25000 to below 5000. But even at 25000 deads, only a few were driving way to fast. Most was fog, truck drivers falling asleep, ignoring right of way/drive, or stupid 3 track roads. The secondary in our area was a well known deathtrap. It was build along a river valley with no room for more tracks. So they did it from 2 to 3 tracks after re-union: the mid track changing direction every 4 kilometres to allow overtaking of trucks. And a lot of people still tried it the last 200 metres before the track was used by the opposite direction. So late overtakers crashed frequently into early overtakers from the other direction. And this could happen easily if the warning signs could not be seen because the truck you were overtaking blocked the line of sight.

 

256282_m1t1w200q75s1v19982_xio-fcmsimage-20100916094410-006713-4c91cacac8236.58346_31-20374365.jpg

 

Hope the above picture describes better what I am talking about: you 2 tracks up and one down, and a sign which forbids trucks to overtake. Hundred metres more is a white sign showing that the left track ends in few hundred metres. Then the mid track ends for the cars driving up and is used by the cars driving down most up of the picture.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Very interesting topic.

I'm quite an impatient driver, don't waste my time on the road by driving like miss daisy!

Anyway, I get very good mileage with my 2008 Citroen C3 1.4 diesel, in the city about 600-700km on a 45l tank. on the highway, I've managed 950km with an avarage speed of 115km/h.

 

My Middle sister owned a 2006 range rover sport, out of a full tank of petrol, she only got about 350km in the city and about 650km on the highway if she didn't speed too much. fuel guzzler that thing!

I always used to joke that the amount of fuel I use to drive from home to work is the same amount of fuel she uses when she starts that monster!

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  • 3 months later...

My company feared that I may be eaten by a Kampfdackel. Dackel or Dachshunde are small dogs which were used for badger(=dachs) hunting. A Kampfdackel on guard:

 

 

12520038.jpg

 

Kampf is german for battle/fighting. This little dogs have a big fighting heart and were used to search baggages at airports for drugs, smuggled food, ... They were mainly choosen because of their small size, allowing them to move between the baggage parts. Nowadays with electronic sniffers for explosives and drugs they were replaced by bigger dogs with less danger to tear a suitcase to pieces (guess were the slang name Kampfdackel came from).

 

{FF8848EF-33F5-4FA3-ACB5-B1BE1F00040C}Picture.jpg

 

We work with explosives, so when I have to travel per plane to a sales meeting I can't put by baggages to the ones of the other passengers. Baggages are brought into a vaccuum room and electronical sniffed. We tested it and I was doing the alarm in 3 of 3 cases when my suitcase was sniffed. So I have to call in advance and have my baggages searched and scanned manually everytime, including sniffer dogs. But the dogs smell my dogs and don't behave normal.

 

But the result is that I have to calculate several hours for a checkin/checkout at an airport. I would be faster with a car. Result:

 

I get a company car !

 

Company is at a country road and most often I would have hundreds of pounds of different metal weldings with me which I would show to possible customers. So the car had to be quick on Autobahns, able to drive countryroads, looking good (representing the company in a way), able to carry some weight, ...

 

6.3l Diesel per 100km (37.3 miles per gallon?), 300 horsepower, 600 Newtonmetre (more important for me, pulling a trailer sometimes), speed electronical cut down to 250km/h, 8 gears, all wheel driven, head up display (so I can focus on the street), adaptive curve light (when driving forest roads the lights shine into the curve, very nice), 6 cameras (don't laugh, they allow to calculate an image of the surroundings as if viewed from above, nice to avoid trenches at narrow roads)...

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_5_Series_Gran_Turismo

 

The rear double-door can be either opened half for long cargo reaching out of the car

BMW-535-GT_007.jpg

Or full when loading

BMW-535-GT_008.jpg

 

It is not the car I would have bought for my family - rear seats are too small for my oldest daughter (194cm) and soon for the second too. But there is a german saying: "Einem geschenktem Gaul schaut man nicht ins Maul" "You don't look into the mouth (to check teeth) of a horse you got as a gift".

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Nice car, Chattius! I don't really like the look of BMW's generally, but I cannot argue the functionality on this one.

 

I don't think I would look that gift horse in the mouth, either :D Not sure if it's a German saying, but I say it all the time...

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