Whilst I may now be filling up with bio-ethanol, I am still interested in the price of normal (95 octane) petrol for my wife’s car. And having just written 3 blog entries about the prices of things going up, I went back through the log book to see if this was true of petrol as well.

We tend to see the price of petrol as something that goes up and down, although more up than down, especially in the summer months.

Actually, it started the year at 1,239EUR/litre and finished off at 1,369EUR/litre – no question about that being a price increase then.

But in-between it reached 1,419EUR/litre (or even more, but we didn’t fill up when it did!) in May, returning to 1,289EUR/litre in August. So even if there was an overall increase, it did go back and forth during the year.

How we long for the Summer of 2003 when we first bought the car, and paid as little as 1,034EUR/litre!

The first success story of the year!

Last year I noticed that the air-conditioning was turning itself on every time I started the engine. I thought this must increase the amount of fuel that I use unnecessarily.

Well, after I went to the bio-ethanol petrol station today I asked the person who sold me the car – and they had the answer!

The air-conditioning only turns itself on if the air-ducts are set to blow only on the windscreen. This is apparently to help clear the windscreen quicken in winter.

So now I’ve change the setting and I hope to notice a difference in the bio-ethanol usage.

“Driving with Bio-Ethanol” would like to wish a very
Merry Christmas
to all of our readers

I’ve lost 26km!  At least, that is what the on-board computer is now telling me.

OK, here’s what happened: I filled up on Friday with bio-ethanol before I went away for the weekend.  With a full tank, the computer calculated that I had 448km remaining, and no longer 474km.

Now, I know this is only a rough estimate and averaged over my usage, but that’s still quite a leap.

Whilst out over the weekend, I think I may have found the answer: whenever I start car, the air-conditioning automatically switches on.  I compared the fuel consumption figures and turning off the air-conditioning saves about 2 litres per 100km, so if I don’t turn it off every time I start the car, I am using more fuel than necessary.

I wonder if there is a way to turn it off permanently, at least until I want it on.  Or is there a reason to have it on all the time?