MOTORS and MOTORING.

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 97, 19 January 1924, Page 22

MOTORS and MOTORING.

(BY

"SPOTLIGHT.”)

COST OF RUNNING \ CAR

CORRESPONDENT SEEKS INFORMATION.

M.O. writes giving bis experience in running an English light car, ana how Jus running i xpenses compare with the average for a higher powered American car. Perhaps some leader can assist with information. M.y correspondent writes: —“Three and a half years ago I purchased a 12-h.p. two-seater English car, with v hich I do an average of about miles a year. Totting up, my expenditure for the past twelve months, I find that it runs to about £B5. This includes garage rent at £l3 per annum, and a comprehensive insurance policy at £6 10s. All mv regular garage Lilis are I included, but there is a certain amount I of petrol bought for cash en route on I the road, of which I have rot kept an I exact tally, and have lumped in at an estimate. ' > “I am anxious to know low much, •if anything, I have saved as compared With running,. say, _ a higher powered and heavier American two-three sealer of good make. My petrol consumption is between 30 and 35 m.p.g., and my tire purchases include two 710 x £0 millimetre cord tires during tl o year. I have had a fair amount of repair and overhaul, one bill amounting to £l5. “In the above figures nothing is allowed for depreciation. The car was purchased second-hand during the post-war boom at 4 290, a.nd has since been re-painted and re-upholstered, and had the hood renewed, while the engine has had one complete overhaul. The car is running as sweetly as ever, and is in sound condition throughout, but I do not know what the present selling value would be. Putting it at .£l5O, this gives depreciation at the rate of about £45 per annum, making the total running cost, fay, £l3O per annum. “On 5000 miles per annum for the average mileage, the lesult is a total cost of ■ about sixpence per mile. As the car is a. two-seater, this means threepence per mile per passenger. The journey to Palmerston North from Wellington thus costs 255. each for two people in my car, as against 13s. 7<l. each first-class railway fare. “Some of my figures are only approximate, but I ’hink the whole calculation is fairly close to the mark in a general way. It seems to me ihat I am paying quite enough. I have been extravagant in that through lack of time the car is mostly looked to in garages, and maintenance work done there that with more T could have fixed up myself, while ’a wash down at 4s. or ss. a time also finds its way into the bill fairly frequently. On the other hand, while I may have spent a fair amount in this way, the car has been kept in good trim throughout, and roadside troubles have been ’ ery rare, the car never once since purchase failing to come home under its own power. “One hoars such wildly differing estimates as to what it costs to run a car that I would really like to know whether my experience i epresents extravagance or economy.” “Spotlight” will be pleased to publish details of the experience of other motorists, and while the names and addresses of correspondents should be enclosed as evidence cf bona tides they will lie treated of course, as strictly confidential. If M.O. had been a little more explicit as to the items compris-

ing his £B5 per annum, he would have afforded a more interesting basis for comparison. Ho menu< ns: Kent, £l3; insurance, £6 10s.; and two cord ' tires—say £ll. This totals .£3O 10s. Petrol at, say, 30 m.p.g., would total 166 gallons for 5000 miles, and this at 2s. 6d. per gallon represents £2O 15s. If oil is put at 300 m.p.g. it is responsible at 7s. 6d. per gallon for about £6. This leaves £27 sjs. for repairs, overhauls, and siindry expenses. What were those repairs? My correspondent’s figures afford a further interesting analysis. “M. 0. must not think, for instahce, that if he left his car at home and travelled by rail with a companion he would save money. Of his total cost of £l3O a year no less than half is overhead expense that goes on whether the car is used or not—i.e., depreciation, £45 (not as groat if the car is not used); garage" rent, £l3; and insurance, £6 10s. This means that his real rdnning expense is threepence a mile instead of sixpence, or l|d. per mile for each of the two persons in the car. Two upon a trip to Palmerston thus works out at 12s. 6d. each, a saving of Is.. Id. per head as compared with leaving the car at homo and going by rail. At 30-35 m.p.g. the actual petrol for the run should not cost more than 7s. Cxi.; his tire wear and tear would probably run to about tho same, and lubricating oil, say, 2s. fid. This gives an immediate out-of-pocket running cost of 17s. 6d. per 100 miles, or Bs. 9d. per 100 miles per person carried, a saving of one-third on first-class railway travel. If “M. 0. desires to show a low total cost per mile run, his objective must be to get his overhead down to less than 50 per cent, of his annual motoring bill, and thus we arrive at the paradoxical result that the more he uses his car the cheaper he will travel. What he needs to do is to drive 10,000 miles a year, and then find it is cheaper than 1 wearing out shoe leather!

, Reports on roads passed over on n. tour via Taupo, Tokaanu. Obakune, Raetihi, Wanganui, and Hawera, are given in the “New Zealand Herald” by Mr. S. H. Harrison, of Auckland. Between Ema and Horopito, the suljjhur stream crossing, owing to the depth of the water and large boulders, proved a bugbear, but a gang of prisoners is building a bridge which should be completed ty row. The Parapara road from Raetihi v’as found to bo a delightful motor drive cf 59 miles to Wanganui, 15 miles of which is clay and good in drv weather, but very greasy in the wet.

NORTH ISLAND ROUND TOUR I WELLINGTON TO HAMILTON, VIA GISBORNE. About the biggest and finest round trip in the North Island is to go up to Rotorua via. Napier and Gisborne and to return via Hamilton, Te Kuiti and New Plymouth. Mr. W. G. Talbot, of Wellington, who recently made this tour has kindly forwarded the following notes which give a good idea of the class of road likely to be encountered, and the various scenic attractions en route. Mr. Talbot writes. From Wellington to Napier is too well known to need description suffice it to say that it is a reasonable day’s trip, and that once clear or vvellin'gton’s corrugated roads, the going is excellent. . Once clear of Napier on the road to Wairoa rough unmetalled roads are encountered in places, with evidence of the expenditure of large sums or money in making the road passable at all times of the year. There are still several gangs of men working on the road, and while for the most part their operations are followed by a steam roller, their method of dumping large quantities of stones direct from the quarry on to the road and breaking them into somewhat smaller pieces at their- leisure causes considerable trouble, particularly to a car with the/low clearance now becoming common.' On a dry day the journey can be done in a day comfortably. Prtibably on a wet day it would cause much anxiety in places. The hills are pretty stiff, and there is little scenery to enthuse over. The next stage from Gisborne onwards compares probably more than favourably with any scenery on any motor route in the Dominion. The roads generally are metalled as far as Opotiki. but rough. Through the splendid Motu Bush much care is needed on the very narrow roads, and passing another car is not a pleasure. Until recently the bends on some corners could only be negotiated, by a car with a good lock, but this has been remedied. The view from the ranges is magnificent. The long mn down to the plains approaching Opotiki discloses some of the finest scenery possible, but much care in driving and good brakes are essential. From Opotiki to Whakatane discloses roads with excellent surface and grand scenery through the Waimana Gorge. The most troublesome journey is from Whakatane to Rotorua. There is no metal and while the writer was fortunate enough to strike it on a fine dry day! it could not pass observation that in wet weather, there would ho places requiring chains and some luek to get through safely. There is magnificent seonerv when approaching the four lakes, but the roads aj> pear to get worse as you approach Rotorua, and the last stage of the journey tries one’s temper considerably. . Gisborne to Rotorua is a long day s journey. Excellent .roads are struck when leaving Rotorua until the Mamaku Bush road is encountered, through which an average speed of about four miles appears to be the limit in fine weather. In bad weather it is better to leave it alone and travel via Atiamuri, which is something over twenty miles further to reach Hamilton. Once through the Bush road excellent time can be made round about Tirau and onwards to Hamilton, outside of which some miles of pot holes are struck reminiscent of Thorndon Quay. (To be Continued.)

TAUPO-WAIKATO MAIN ROUTE

AN ALL-THE-YEAR-ROUND ROAD.

Says the “New Zealand Herald”: — By the completion of the Mangaiti deviation, between Putaruru and Atiamuri.', which should be accomplished by the end of this mouth, the Waikato and surrounding districts will have a road both to Rotorua and Napier, over which it will be possible to motor at all times of the year. The total distance of the old road on the Mangaiti hill, between the junctions, of the deviation is only six and a-half miles, but the great saving will be in the climb, the new road being of an easy grade throughout. The Public Works Department is to be congratulated on the appearance of the new road, which is broad and well crowned.

GOOD ROADS AND THEIR MAKING A “DOMINION’ BOOKLET. In view of the wide demand for the series of articles on ‘'Good Roads and Their Making,” which appeared in The Dominion some months back, the whole series with additional matter has been reprinted in a pamphlet of 80 pages. The matter in the booklet comprises particulars of the cost and method of construction adopted in surfacing the Taranaki County roads, details of the cost of construction of some of the concrete roads favoured in Auckland and vicinity, and a variety of miscellaneous matter bearing on road-making problems. In furtherance of the good roads movement, The Dominion is distributing copies of this booklet gratis to the members of all county, borough, and city councils, town boards, and road boards in the Dominion, and also to all members of Parliament, chambers of commerce, committees of automobile associations and editors of newspapers. A limited number of copies remain on hand, and anyone interested can secure a copy by forwarding a penny stamp to cover postage.

JOTTINGS It is stated that Waimate West County (Taranaki) will have the whole of its roads surfaced by the end or the present year. A linesman on a road out of New Plymouth' the other day counted no fewer than 161 cars on the rx>ad bearing registration marks of counties and boroughs outside bf Taranaki —and this (points out the “Taranaki News ) on an ordinary working day. The Waihi toll-gate on tho WaitaraTo Kuiti Road collected. £6-1 last week —a record, sum, showing the greai. popularity of this through route.

The AVairarapn Automobile Association has well pver £IOO worth of signposts in course of manufacture. Inis enterprising Association is erecting dii oction signs over the whole district from Palliser Bay to Woodville and from the Rimutaka to the East Coast.

The ‘‘Lyttelton Times,” in reprinting “Spotlight’s” ' recent paragraph about the marking of water-races in the V airarapa, recommends the W.A.A. to go in for Canterbury’s black and white poles as warning marks for a waterrace ahead. Tho W.A.A. is pressing for the bridging of several of these races.

Two instances where motor lorries had monopolised the road and refused to move off to allow the car behind to pass were, given by Councillor Bell at the last meeting of the Dannevirke County Council. In one instance the car had had to go right off the road and risk a capsize, and in the other the lorry had deliberately zig-zagged across the road and would not allow the car to pass. The chairman said the engineer had instructions to sue where such breaches of the by-laws occurred, and asks for particulars for a prosecution.

The question of metalling the further section of the Waikaremoana road from the power-house intake road towards Lake House has been engaging the attention of the Wairoa County Council, -.which has. £llOO in hand towards the cost of the work. An early start is’ hoped for.

The Wairarapa A.A. has, appointed Mr. N. S. Shepherd as canvasser for members, and ho is reported to be steadily ’ swelling the membership of this go-ahead association.

An unusual request was before the Hawera County Council recently when some residents on the Hastings Rood asked that a certain portion of the road, be not tar-sealed. The Hawera.’ "Star” says there was, however, some method in tho request, because it was a hilly part, and it was feared that there would be danger in a tarred surface. The council decided, however, to proceed with the work.

Hawera County Council has (decided to give its tarrod roads a coat of bitumen on top of the tar. The Wellington_Automobile Club has secured a room adjoining the. secretary’s office for a club room and writing room for the use of members. It is proposed to gquip it with a good stock of reference books, motoring periodicals, and a set of the best road maps procurable. Arrangements for two addresses on road-making by Mr. T. W. Patterson, the American expert in charge of the Hutt Road plant, have been made bj’ the Wairarapa A.A. One address is to be delivered at Paliiatua, and tho other at Carterton. The various local bodies have agreed to send representatives. An Auckland motorist, describing a King Country tour in the ‘New ZeaInad Herald,” Isays: —“In conclusion 1 would like to comment upon the good roads throughout the King Country in comparison with our verv roii<fh roads in some of the Auckland suburbs.”

Arrangements are well forward in connection with the Auckland Motor Olympia which (according to the ‘■Star”) ■ promises to eclipse all previous motor exhibitions in the Dominion. A total of thirty car exhibitors are to' display 108 motor-cars, and there will be 25 trucks on exhibition. It was originally intended to allot. space for; the display of accessories, oils, etc., but owing to the whole of the available space being booked so quickly, cars and trucks only are to be shown.

SPEED

AND THE NEW HUTT ROAD. ’ Already there is talk of the need for permanent traffic officials and speed traps on the. Hutt Road as soon as the surfacing is completed. The present legal speed limit on that highway is 25 m.p.h., reduced to 12 m.p.h. through Kaiwarra and Ngahauranga, as indicated on the notice boards. A curious suggestion has been made that the road is surfaced the speed limit should be reduced to 15 m.p.h., the ground for this extraordinary proposal oeing that the motorists will exceed the speed limit anyhow! Other wiseacres haye suggested that the Hiftt Road Board could pay for the whole cost of the road out of speed trap fines if it maintained permanent traps. These suggestions show that a widespread belief that fast travel under ahy circumstances is a thing to be rigorously banned, and that a motorist who “steps on the gas” at any time is guilty of reckless and dangerous driving. There is no doubt that a percentage of motorists driving in the city streets travel at a dangerously high speed in view of the traffic on the roads or that may emerge from side streets. Such driving, of course, is to be condemned from every point of view. On the other hand, on a clear and open road with a long view, ahead and with no cross-roads —conditions that exist over the. greater part of the Hutt Road —there is little danger in allowing a relatively high speed. “Spotlight” would not suggest raising the 25 m.p.h. Hutt Road speed limit, he would, indeed, like to see it strictly enforced when motorists are meeting and passing other traffic. When a motorist lias a length of open Hutt Road to himself, and pushes down the accelerator, however, ft is not easy to see how he becomes a danger to other traffic.—that is, unless he drives so furiously as to be unabfe to slow down to the requisite 25 m.p.h. on rounding one of the easy curves on the road. When there is no danger to others, the measure of the offence in a burst of speed resolves itself into the damage to the read, and this on a bitumen surface is governed chiefly by the weight of the vtehicle.

“Spotlight’s” suggestion is that the best control for the Hutt Road will be to insist rigidly on the 25 m.p.h. limit in meeting and passing, and on proper slowing down at Ngahauranga and Kaiwarra. Except in cases of heavy vehicles which. may do damage to the surface, conditions on the Hutt Road do not appear to call for speed traps, with officials with stop watches to mulct everyone who exceeds 25 miles per hour under any circumstances, and the better test in cases where a vehicle has a stretch of road to itself is that laid down in the Motor Regulation Act, and which is defined as driving “ . . . recklessly or negligently, or at a speed or in a manner which • is dangerous to the public, having regard to all the circumstances ofThe case, including the nature, condition, and use of the highway. and the amount of traffic, which actually is attho time, or might reasonably be expected tod be, on the highway.”