Auto Gossip

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33964, 3 October 1975, Page 12

Auto Gossip

Petrol prices have caused some alarm among carbuyers, according to cardealers, and second-hand buyers, in particular, tend to be very worried about fuel consumption these days. Rumours of petrol at $1.30 a gallon to come (the pessimists say $1.50) — or, I should say, 28.6 c to 33c a litre as against the present 22c a litre — have made them even more anxious.

But I think that any prospective car-buyer needs to have a long, coolheaded think about the subject before becoming too alarmed about fuel consumption. There are other things to consider when buying a car, not least of all the question of how suitable it will be for your needs. It is also as well to remember that the fuel consumption figures quoted by either salesmen or other owners are often suspect. To say a car will return 50 miles a gallon at a constant 50 m.p.g., for instance (5.64 litres/100km at 80 km/h) may mean very little in practical terms — the same vehicle will probably do no better than 35 m.p.g. (8 litres/lOOkm) in everyday use if that. Similarly, most owners have a comfortingly optimistic idea of their own car’s fuel consumption: they tend to overlook the vast difference that an apparently minor filling-up error can make to fuel consumption figures, or take the open-road “touring” figure as being a typical overall figure. In fact, there can be a 20 or 25 per cent difference between the “touring” figure and around-town consumption. If you fill the tank of some cars when they are on a slight slope, they may appear brim-full when actually up to 4 litres short. A 10 per cent error there will make a 10 per cent error appear in your fuelconsumption figures, which is quite significant. But getting down to the finance, when choosing between two different cars, you should work out how much extra a year, or a week, the heavier fuel user will cost you, taking your usual annual mileage into account.

As an example, on 8000 miles a year a car that does 20 miles a gallon (14 litres/lOOkm) compared with one which does 30 m.p.g. (9.4 litres/lOOkm) means a cash difference, on today’s prices of $133.33 a year, or $2.56 a week.

You should ask yourself how much comfort, ease of driving, interior room, pulling power and performance you are prepared to sacrifice for $2.56 a week. If you overwork a small car, will the $133 a year go in extra repair costs? It is worth considering. In reality, of course, the fuel consumption difference is likely to be much less than this. A few calculations may show that in cash terms, considering the overall expense of motoring, you are agonising over a trifle.