Fuel economy stats

**R650R** · 23rd July 2016, 10:51

Soon we will be at the tipping point of being forced to go electric. No doubt one of the final hammers will be massive taxes for 'less fuel efficient' vehicles be it cars or bikes.
Now while wasting time trawling trademe I noticed my cage only has a 2 and a half star fuel rating from the govts energywise site thingy.
A couple of things about this annoy me, one it affects my potential resale value to potential buyers and also the first scenario mentioned in future.

Anyway the govt says my 3.5L 200kw V6 only gets an AVERAGE of 7.69km/L But my own receipts from about a years worth of driving show my average to be 9.36km/L with worst and best range from 8.16 to 10.24
Anyone else checked theirs out?
One thing I've noticed alternating between two very different bikes on a same set long distance journey is the pace seems more relevant to fuel economy with a 650 single be able to drink as much as a 750 four at times, well close to anyway

**Motu** · 23rd July 2016, 12:41

My car is too old, this makes it too hard for me. Try again.

**Cloggy** · 23rd July 2016, 13:41

Originally Posted by R650R

One thing I've noticed alternating between two very different bikes on a same set long distance journey is the pace seems more relevant to fuel economy with a 650 single be able to drink as much as a 750 four at times, well close to anyway

All other things being equal, it takes a certain amount of power to push a vehicle like a motorcycle along the road at a certain speed. To make that power a certain amount of fuel needs to be burned. It doesn't matter if you burn that amount of fuel in a single cylinder 650 or a four cylinder 750.
Of course, in the real world it isn't quite that simple and there are a lot of variables hence I say all other things being equal.

**Akzle** · 23rd July 2016, 14:52

buy a magna bro

**Mike.Gayner** · 23rd July 2016, 15:27

The star system is designed to make cars comparable across a standard set of driving conditions. What your absolute fuel usage is is meaningless - what people care about it how it compares, objectively, given the same driving conditions, to other cars.

Is the system perfect? No. Is it a million times better than the information previously (easily) available? Hell yes.

When I bought my most recent car I paid a lot of attention to this star system, because I'm now driving 200km a day. Anyone who doesn't think it affects resale is kidding themselves - this is becoming more and more important to people.

Personally I'm very thankful to have a standardised system in place that allows you to easily compare cars reasonably accurately.

Anyone who wants to do a comparison can do it here:
https://www.energywise.govt.nz/tools/fuel-economy/

**Motu** · 23rd July 2016, 18:42

I just tried again, and it doesn't work for my car. So, how can this be meaningful. Try harder, again.

**Voltaire** · 23rd July 2016, 19:30

Originally Posted by Motu

I just tried again, and it doesn't work for my car. So, how can this be meaningful. Try harder, again.

anything better than 30 MPG in a car is pretty good, 50 MPG for a motorcycle.
I bet you do the conversion from litres to gallons then Km's to MPG.

**bmwilly** · 23rd July 2016, 19:34

Originally Posted by Voltaire

anything better than 30 MPG in a car is pretty good, 50 MPG for a motorcycle.
I bet you do the conversion from litres to gallons then Km's to MPG.

That's what I do

**Motu** · 23rd July 2016, 21:40

Originally Posted by Voltaire

I bet you do the conversion from litres to gallons then Km's to MPG.

Were you watching ? !!! You must've been lip reading while I was sitting at the lights. My car is new enough to have a trip computer and tells me figures that mean nothing to an old fart.

**Voltaire** · 24th July 2016, 08:31

Originally Posted by Motu

Were you watching ? !!! You must've been lip reading while I was sitting at the lights. My car is new enough to have a trip computer and tells me figures that mean nothing to an old fart.

My wifes car has a readout that tell you some litres per KM thing that keeps changing when you speed up and slow down. About as useful to me as a GPS for finding Pokemon.
Seen Polywhirl around???

I thought you would still be working in feed bags/hay per day?

**Motu** · 24th July 2016, 12:21

I'm going to put 0W-20 in my Airhead to improve the fuel economy - that's what the Yanks do. 0.02% improvement, it's worth doing to save the planet.

**Woodman** · 24th July 2016, 12:44

Originally Posted by Motu

I'm going to put 0W-20 in my Airhead to improve the fuel economy - that's what the Yanks do. 0.02% improvement, it's worth doing to save the planet.

Maybe the 40W-70 in my airhead is why it uses so much fuel. Mind you I also have 80w140 in the gearbox and diff, so if I change to thinner oils all round it might get 13km/litre.

**Motu** · 24th July 2016, 15:23

Because my butt dyno has shorted out, when I was commuting I didn't notice any power differences, but really noticed the change in fuel economy with my constant playing around with the bike. Extremes of running the tank dry at 365km, to filling up at 380km with 3 litres left in the tank.

**Voltaire** · 24th July 2016, 19:34

Originally Posted by Woodman

Maybe the 40W-70 in my airhead is why it uses so much fuel. Mind you I also have 80w140 in the gearbox and diff, so if I change to thinner oils all round it might get 13km/litre.

Its not a diff

Cars have diffs.