Why the heck do we care ONLY about Fuel Efficiency

[falcon]

Originally Posted by Boom Shiva

3. Less FE = More pollution.

4. People are getting killed for oil. Wars are being fought, so rich folk can drive their SUVs. A little less revving could save some lives.

3. I disagree... Less FE could be more performance and at the same time low pollution!!!

4. Why target SUVs ??? There are many high end performance machines that drink much more than SUVs!!!

[devarshi84]

first of all there

were
Are
will always be

2 segments of people. One who want peroformance and other who wants moneys worth.

For people who want moneys worth crdi and Reva's are best deals.

For performance peoples new petrol cars are quite FE and powerful at the same time.

[imjimmy]

I think FE is an important criteria among others while selecting a car. But it certainly is NOT the only factor and not even the most important at that.

For ex: In my case Performance,Maintenance(***),Safety,FE, Looks were the chief considerations during car shopping - roughly in that order.

SO in a comparison Baleno was chosen over the Ikon bcoz of it's higher FE and lower maintenance. Even though Ikon is just as(if not more) quick as compared to the Baleno. Again the NHC was not chosen since FE was NOT the only concern.

FE i think is just a bonus.The new cars these days are quick as well as FE. Again daily(yearly) running is also important. If you do 1k (or less Km) per month - then it hardly makes sense to care about FE since you will not end up saving much over a 5 year period even if you buy a FE vehicle.

Again Safety and maintenance cost are also very important. In case of an accident you don't want to cough up enormous amount of moolah for repairs and/or get physically injured badly.

For the Indian buyer psyche looking at the sales Indica, Indigo and NHC are the segmant leaders.Most of these cars are FE and they are safe also. Even the maintenance is low.So it seems like a good choice. However we can infer that the avg car buyer here does not care too much about performance (Since all these cars are not for enthusiasts).

[duncan]

Originally Posted by redarrow

FE FE FE................ I AM FED UP OF HEARING THIS why the hell don't these companies get it!! they shoul'd increase on the creature comfort safety power and the way it is delivered, interiors ,exterior .... all what matters is FE , even for 2 wheelers , it's the same case , when i got my cbz some butt heads criticised it!! saying that it's average is the lowest ,BUT it has power and delivers it very well , same is the case with cars i rearly drive my lancer but whenever i drive it i drag it it's fun.....MY friends keep on telling me that this will reduce the FE of my car and i know that very well , i think there is no point in buying a good car if ur not gonne pull it upto it's limits!! GUYS FORGET ABT FE ONCE IN A WHILE AND GO ON THAT WILD RIDE OF UR LIFE !!! U WILL RESPECT UR CAR MORE !!

man i agree with you ... thats always the argument for buying any car..."fe" as in if u r buyin a rs or v6 accord you dont really consider fe as an important criteria but apparently in india thats never the case
i was even told by someone to rest my gear on 5 and drive @ 80 on highways for excell fuel efficiency... F#%K d@t

[ac 427]

FE is important, becase FUEL (petrol) is 50 bucks to the litre. dude. thts seriously expenseive considering the imcome levels in the country.
as one of fellow bhpian mentioned u will not talk about FE if you are buying a ACCORD or a E class or the higher end models as it will NOT make a diff of petrol is 50 bucks or 60 buks, but if u r buyin a mid range or a lower range vehicle then 50 bucks to the litre HURTS. thts y F.E is very importnt

[raajks]

Another point to add here. People equate distance to fuel efficiency. The dynamics of walking is equated to driving.

For Example: In Bangalore, we have a ring road that connects Place A (BTM) to Place B (Domlur). There are 2 ways of reaching the same place. One is a traffic striken area and another one is a freeway where you can have a decent ride on your car.

Distance wise, the freeway is 2.5 to 3 KMS longer than the traffic striken road.
If I take the freeway, I end up saving on fuel as the mileage delivered by the car is higher than taking the car in a traffic striken route where all the fuel is lost in engine idling.

Mean minded approach is not getting us anywhere.

[sbasak]

Occasionally I don't care about FE (when in a mood of pushing the car to the limit) but as a whole I do worry about FE. Price of petrol, Rs 50/L is too high. If you drive less, FE should not matter much. But if you drive a lot, even a 1 km/L extra FE will save you thousands each month! Also, as people already said here, bad FE is connected with various other problems (often quite expensive to fix later)

Good FE = Well maintained car = long life of car = Good resale value

[zenx]

Originally Posted by chandan

A year ago I was in The US.Everyone out there calculates the total runing cost of a vehicle than FE,which includes cost of fuel,depreciation,oil change,tyre wear,insurance,cleaning costs etc etc.That made so much sense.Infact,most people rent vehicles to do long drives as it costs less per mile !!!.

Checked it out after gas prices started going through the roof ? FE cars have a bigger demand, and are also considered more environmentally correct. Its not just about the money you save but the price we'll all pay sooner or later.

( of course, far better are options like biking, bikes, public transport or the original 2 - legs - where its feasible)

If enough people demand it, it does not have to be fuel efficiency OR performance but both! The Octavia is a case in point, as is the VTEC. The Auto makers have skillfully lowered expectations along with their automag cronies - so enthusiasts are kinda ashamed to even discuss FE (as is evident on this thread itself )

Yes safety is a v important issue - but why make it a safety VS FE debate ? Both have their own place - and both are equally important.

[shuvc]

For people on a budget, FE can certainly be a factor to consider. However, as many have pointed out, one should look at hard facts, rather than have perceptions. Perceptions can be very misleading.

The Q to ask here is ..
How much money can FE save me ?

Lets find out...
Consider an average petrol price of Rs. 50 per litre.

The cost of fuel per km for cars that give the following FE are :

kpml ~ Cost/Km (Cumulative) ~ Savings/10,000km ~ Savings/15,000km
10 ~ 5.00 ~ - ~ - ~ -
11 ~ 4.55 ~ 0.45 ~ 4,545 ~ 6,818
12 ~ 4.17 ~ 0.83 ~ 8,333 ~ 12,500
13 ~ 3.85 ~ 1.15 ~ 11,538 ~ 17,308
14 ~ 3.57 ~ 1.43 ~ 14,286 ~ 21,429

It should be noted that the savings for a 1kmpl FE increase from 10kmpl to 11kmpl is Rs. 4,545 (38paise/km). However, the savings for an increase from 13kmpl to 14kmpl is Rs. 2,747 (27paise/km) !!! So, 1kmpl FE increase for the lower figures give more savings.

Hence, in the 10kmpl to 14kmpl FE band, for every 1kmpl increase in FE, you would be saving an average of Rs. 3,500 every 10,000 kms.

Now take the cars you are comparing for purchase. Say Car A is claims to give 11kmpl , and car B 13 kmpl.
The difference of fuel cost per km is 1.15 - 0.45 = Re. 0.70
If your annual running is around 10,000 km. You will save Rs.7000 per year.
If you keep the car for 5 years, you save Rs. 35,000

If your purchase decision is largely influenced by FE and savings therein, then compare the savings vs the difference in the OTR price of the cars. This will give a clearer picture regarding your net benefit/loss.

This sort of an analysis can even be used after buying a car .. to calculate the cost of redlining vs normal driving

[sujaylahiri]

If you real want a fuel efficient car, why not buy a freakin hybrid?
It's time they were introduced in India.

[amit]

If you real want a fuel efficient car, why not buy a freakin hybrid?

A lot of discussion has been done on whether hybrids are really as efficient as they claim to be and the results have not been impressive. It takes a really long time to recover the higher cost of buying a hybrid and more importantly, most hybrids are designed such that the electric motor works only at speeds below 50kmph which means most of the times owners will be using petrol anyway. Taking my example, I drive about 17kms to work. In about 2-2.5kms, I am on the expressway with speeds of about 120-130kmph, after exiting, i drive on city roads for about 4kms where the speed limit is 60kmph and I have always managed to drive at about 55-60kmph on that road. A hybrid in that case will hardly benefit me. Would rather buy a diesel.

But in India, hybrids will work big time because in our choc a bloc cities we are driving at about 30-40kmph anyway!

[sujaylahiri]

But then, you get about about 25 kmpl in cities and 30 kmpl on highways in a Toyota Prius which is almost impossible in a diesel car.

[GTO]

But then, you get about about 25 kmpl in cities and 30 kmpl on highways in a Toyota Prius which is almost impossible in a diesel car.

Rubbish. Hybrids increase the FE by anywhere between 10 - 20% for a comparable only-petrol engine car. Therefore, a C segmenter petrol car which gives about 10 kpl in the city will have its hybrid equivalent shell out about 14 kpl. At best.

GTO

[Wheeliej]

Hey, has anyone considered what is within our control? Is it within our control that the roads are bad? Is it within our control what the car manufacturers offer in India? Has anyone tried to get the manufacturer/dealer to include any item as a standard and succeeded? No, the dealers and manufacturers say - take it or leave it. So other features (like slim tyres) too isn't within our control. Is the price of petrol within our control?

Ofcourse when i was looking to buy a car, i checked for safety features such as seat belts. Other safety features such as airbags, abs and others anyway come in highend models and make the car extremely expensive to buy. A diesel car costs more money and having driven my cousin's diesel car in Mumbai, i was not keen to have a diesel car. Same with a LPG vehicle - another cousin has it.

What we can do is drive carefully so that we dont cause any accidents. FE is the only thing that we can and should control - especially considering the price of petrol today.

@ Rs. 50.66/litre and driving of 1,500 km/mth, i can save Rs. 700 per month for every 1 kmpl difference in FE. That kind of saving is not something that an average Indian can ignore.

That could explain the obsession of an average car driver for FE.

[Wheeliej]

[quote=sujaylahiri]If you real want a fuel efficient car, why not buy a freakin hybrid?
It's time they were introduced in India.[/quote

Sujay, you are very right; the problem today is availability (at a reasonable price). With the various taxes and duties being what they are, 50% of the cost of cars and fuel today are due to taxes and duties. If a hybrid car were launched, i would think that the pricing would be higher than normal cars, and then again the comparison would start - is it better to pay Rs. 50k more for a hybrid car than driving a petrol car for 3 years? I have booked a NHC Auto and I was looking mainly for comfort (to avoid frequent gear changes in traffic jams); but ofcourse price and FE were criteria, else i would have booked a Corolla or an Optra (both high end models). The problem today is choice. For anyone trying to buy a car in India, you are stuck between deciding between 2-3 models.