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ronnie

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Everything posted by ronnie

  1. ronnie

    fuel economy

    its a good discussion we have going here. Interesting to note no-ones really mentioned engine re-mapping yet though. no computer wizzkids in here? It really does work... Someone else also mentioned gear ratios, which is extremely effective. You can actually plan the ratios around what type of driving you do as well, if your a real fanatic. tends to be an expensive way to go though... but even an auto can be driven economically similar to a manual. The new auto boxes arent slush boxes anymore and using the "manual" section lets you get to a higher gear faster. Lower rpm's = less fuel consumption. Personally I think the biggest contributor to poor fuel economy, in NZ especially, is the idiots who design the traffic light systems here. They dont design traffic to flow, you bounce from one red light to the next, to the next, to the next... you get the idea. and whoever thought it was a good idea to put 7 traffic lights along 2km stretch of road with that type of system? It was kind of amusing to notice that there was much less traffic backed up when the light at a motorway onramp wasnt working... They just dont seem to understand that traffic simply behaves like water. If you have two streams joining into one, you have to do one of two things to keep water flowing and not backing up. Either increase the speed of the larger flow, or make it wider to increase capacity so the speed can stay the same. Having said all this, while its fun to go through all this as a brain teaser as well as do our bit to save the planet, I thoroughly enjoyed turning traction control off in the wet last night, putting the hammer down and listening to Pirelli P6000's try and hang on! (and still got 8.2L/100km on the trip from Howick to city!) Oh the Joy! Almost rivals Beethoven's 9th Symphony.... Dont worry guys, fuel prices will drop again!! either that or we all buy scooters...
  2. ronnie

    fuel economy

    yep your on the right track. those things will make a minor difference. Driving style makes a bigger difference too. I saw an economy comparison in a BMW magazine between the auto writer, a BMW driving instructor and Seb Vettel. Believe it or not Seb won. He turned of all fans, radios, air con (in the middle of summer too!) and drove like such a snail that he was passed frequently by a lot of irate people... you can try drafting trucks, dont accelerate uphill, coast downhill, etc. But what I'm after is something that will make a bigger difference without having to drive like a nana. currently I can get between 9.5L/100km and 13L/100km, depending on how I drive. I'm trying to see if there's something that can regularly keep a big engine car under the 10L/100km, as a daily commute car. not that I consider a 2.8L all that big... I was born in Canada and anything under 5L is tiny...hehehe
  3. ronnie

    fuel economy

    Hi people, With gas prices going through the roof and everyone ( well, most of us) getting concerned about our planet, I thought it'd be interesting to start a thread on fuel economy. Anyone have any ideas on how to re-tune a 328i for better economy? occasionally I read about chips that improve economy and power. has any tried one that really works? I dont tend to trust advertising blurb all that much. Is it possible to reprogramme a stock chip to do this? Any other ideas out there? fuel mixing? best tire pressures? different air filters? Cheers! Ronnie
  4. http://highperformancetire.com check out this site. They go in depth into a lot of different tire types and give ratings on them all as well. I know ratings are subjective to driving style, but its still nice to have some ideas before spending your money. Cheers! Ronnie
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