Why the heck do we care ONLY about Fuel Efficiency

[garvit2002]

FE is still the onl thing which we consider . if we bring a new bike or car on road the first thing that ppl ask abt it is not at its handling ,pickup or top speed the first question it "gaadi to acchi par average ktina deti hai yeh"

[ac 427]

well it depends on WHOM you are talking to, if a person has taken car for practical and daily use. . .FE is the thing he is worried about coz PETROL IN MUMBAI IS 50 BUCKS a litre.
and if you are talking to a guy who as bought a car for PLEASURE he will talk about only 1 thing. .. PERFORMANCE.

[ranjan united]

As the legendary great Russell Peters one said, we Indians can get pretty cheap sometimes. Unfortunately fuel economy is right at the heart of it. as a result, low (or pretty much non-existent) performance. thanks to tht my car is gonna be an import.

[sumitkalindi]

Originally Posted by auto

mst ppl in this country have it wrong. the best FE comes at shifting at right RPMs. and consistency - which is difficult on india roads. therefore most cars will give the 12/14 kmpl hwys and vary b/w 7-10 in the city. the modern car ECU responds to consistency in averaging the flow of gas - of course there is more electronic sensors that contribute. and especially a problem with drivers who switch to high perf european cars (from korean/japs) as they tend to maintain in low gear when its way past the shift time upsetting the FE. so in a mdern car, drive with consistency and learn to drive viewing the RPM not the speedo. In Palio 1.6 the optimal up/down shift with normal filter is 2000-2550 RPM and with K&N filter around 1500-2000 RPM without stressing the car. cheerz

I do Agree with you. But how many drivers in our country know to use the tacho?? Ask any driver. I am sure what answere you will get. Let me get back to my old days, my dad though being a good driver never tried to drive in the city, as we had been posted always in the small town where traffic was light. He owns a old fiat. The driver who coached me into driving in the city, said " you have to feel when a car wants to go up the next gear" which can only come with maturity, experience. I own a Indica V2 diesel and I am posted in the far northeast region of this country. It has tacho and everything, and I drive it myself. But I know if I give this car to a driver He is surely going to manage to get a lower FE, even if he drives sedately, as opposed to my spirited driving habit.

So you can imagin the FE my car is going to give in city if i left it with a driver, which most of the indians do. They do not know what is going in the car, they just blindly trust the drivers, who just drive by feeling.

So my friend you can imagine why all the people barring a few who love their car and drive it themselves, look out for the FE.


P.S. I got the Indica after I saw what happened to the Indica of our neighbor in calcutta after it hit a Auto and the auto turned turtle. ( just a few scraches on the front and a broken headlamp.) Hope it is also going to keep me safe.

[prabuddhadg]

When one drives a car regularly, say, everyday, the one expenditure one notices is on the fuel that has to be bought every week.
Some cars need more maintenance and some need less, but that expenditure is so irregular (until the car gets really old) that one does not notice that until in the long run, but by then the car is sold and another car bought.
So, the owner notices the FE numbers and considers his car cheap or expensive to run on that basis.
Agreed, that is not the right approach, but its a good marketing strategy for the FE car manufacturer.

[Team123]

If a person uses his car everyday, in a busy city then one is bent to think about fuel usage.
Especially when your company does not pay for the fuel expenses :(

[prabuddhadg]

Originally Posted by WRXXX

I do worry about FE only because it is an health indicator for the cars

I absolutely agree. I gave my car for servicing just yesterday, as its FE numbers are down from 16 in March to 14.5 in April. Turns out a light knock in end march that broke my right head light also affected the wheel alignment. I look at FE numbers to judge the health of my engine and transmission and all the related jingbang.

[gshankar]

Ok.. this debate will go on..

A few weeks back, a car touted to be among the safest small cars in India - rammed into a truck and caught fire - in Delhi. Three occupants were killed.

You could take three guesses as to which car it was.

Ok, just to let you guys know that I am not biased, I bought the same model just a month back!!

Takdeer bhi kuch cheez hoti hai bhai sahab!!

Fuel efficiency is definitely very important. The chances that I will have a bad accident - is it really high?

I would definitely love my car to give me good average.. zyaada nahi.. but respectable at least... It will definitely add to the pleasure of owning and driving this car..!!

[finetuning]

Fuel Efficiency plays important role determining the ownership of the car or other vehicles. For the average Indian household income as 15000 p.m. or
1,80,000 p.a.definitely cost of basic level car like alto is high......we want to keep any expenses towards car at bare minimum.....& thats why maruti rules the minds of Indian people which fullfilled all requirement of the average Indian.........and thats why 1 lakh car concept rising & will materialise soon........

Lets consider this way..suppose X is the initial cost of car...Y is running cost of car...& Z is total cost then X + Y = Z..........

We want Z to be minimised....so X and Y....to minimise X we have option of choosing small car or in the extreme case choosing entry level used car....If we go still further down in X parameter we find at least 5 to 8 year old car selling at much discount.....so X is minimised to best possible level....

Now to minmise Y we need low running cost car...maruti cars fits into bracket thats why it created history.....In this parameter FE plays such an important role.......bcz car owner at least expect minimum 5 years ownership even of used car.....so during this 5 years Y (running cost) plays such a important role....if spares are high priced we reject it even if performance is high....if FE is very less then also such models do not find favour........with the rising fuel cost now we look forward with new fuels like LPG & CNG....Y parameter is reduced by almost 40% with use of either LPG or CNG........thats why in future there will be more & more lpg/cng driven car we will see.............

If we get bare minimum average of 10 kmpl with cost of petrol at 50....its still costly affair at Rs 5 per km........during all such calculation normal Indian citizen forgets many things like safety.....performance......

I personally attribute these behaviour bcz of our economical pattern.......economy plays such an important role..........so we Indians are really gr8 mathemeticians.........we do count every outgoing ruppe so minutely....our this thinking was identified by Maruti & they kept on developing such products.....

Now with the economy rising...average household income also rising...we are in transition phase......but still old thinking prevails before making any buying decisions.......in future also X + Y = Z will remain valid & most company will do research on how to minimise both...........

This are my views why We Indians pay more attentions to FE...its purely for Economical reason......& this will be also main reason for success of any product sold here...I m observing this as a global phenomenon now.....

Enjoy.....

[prabuddhadg]

I have been reading a lot of posts on a lot of threads on this forum as well as on other sites, and one thing keeps coming up. Build quality of the car. If one loves driving, an emotional bond will develop between car and driver. (It has also happened between me and my 800 over the last 4 years. ) Now, if the car is of sturdy build, the relationship can prosper. But with a car built with lightness and fuel economy foremost in mind, unless the usage is low, the car rarely lasts beyond 5 years. When I say lasts, I mean in prime condition without body rattle and rust. To keep such a car, one needs to incur major body work and paint expenditure. The other option in this case would be to go in for a new car, i.e. another investment.
A car is sturdy primarily if its body and chassis are solid. But this makes the car heavy and hence prone to be fuel unefficient. Which can be taken care of to some extent by the manufacturer, by planting an efficient engine.
So, I think the right balance in cost of long term ownership can only be achieved by finding the right mix of solidity and fuel economy, apart from other slightly less important features like safety, comfort and luxury facilities.

[Rtech]

Another reason why we rate FE so highly is mentioned in This thread! (Do we really NEED more horsepower?)

[vijaypalrana]

Hi Guys,

FE is important in our country for a couple of reasons:
1. Indians pay heavy tax on fuel. (India is one country where fuels are very expensive. Bangalore a litre of petrol costs Rs. 55 +. In South Africa I used to buy same petrol at around ZAR 5 - 6 which comes to around 35 - 40 Rs. Similarly people in other countries find fuel more affordable than we Indians.) Resolution We have to either convince the govt not to tax fuel or come up with an alternative indigenous fuel and make it available at affordable rates.
2. Used car market is full of conman and fraud is inevitable (as per buying a better car either most cant afford it as they get killed by the EMIs and going to used car they have to shell even more interest to the bank. Maintenance costs are more, and unless you are yourself good at judging cars you may end up in a disasterous deal in the used car market.)

So its more of affordability that makes people give priority to FE. I do agree that in a country like India importance should be given to good suspension, safety features and good tyres. I suppose the manufacturers should come up with these features as default. Atleast the safety ones. I definitely wont expect the crach ability of a Lambo or a Ferrari or a Volvo in a 800, but atleast airbags and ABS should be made mandatory for all cars else govt. should not allow the cars without Airbags and ABS to be driven at dangerous speeds. Here let me be more precise that on high performance, powerful cars safety features and appropriate tyres and suspension should be sold as stock. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Today in TOI I just glanced over the INNOVA ad where they have mentioned some good finance options. I dont understand how Toyota is able to afford it but if they can I think there must be something others can also do.

P.S. Will highly appreciate if someone can bring a light on how they afford such finance schemes.

Cheers!