Speed Vs Economy, What would you do?

I agree with your sentiment in general re public transport and generally hate it. Late, slow, wrong time, journey changes (drive, park, 2 trains and then a cab)

London to me is the exception where I happen to live 5 minutes from a station that has Virgin to Euston then the tube to anywhere.

I'd barely be past Northamptom by the time I'm checked into a London hotel and pint on the bar if I drove.

Elsewhere given some open roads I'll cruise everytime and hope the majority use public transport to keep the roads clear :)
 
well the sensible part of me gets a warm glow when i see the MPG creep up when sat bimbling along through speed averaging sections.

but then once out the Z4 demon appears on my right shoulder and it is bollocks to MPG sense go and enjoy yourself.

Funnily enough, i really dont mind traffic jams now if i am sat in the Z.

But driving round london is a bit more like playing a big game of bumper cars. although no where near as bad as many european cities i have driven round
 
I've done 100 with the roof down....

I've also done about 130mph on the autobahn with the roof down (test driving a car). Not sure I'll do it again to be honest. That fast with the top down I mean.
 
230 is so awful.

A mixture of A-road/motorway cruising and some serious booting it round the country roads near my house and I never return less than 320 to a tank. A bit more cruising and I hit 350/360. My daily commute is 35 miles (round trip) and 90+% of that is at 60-70mph, though.
 
Got to admit about London driving. I picked mine from London on monday and almost wet my new leather seat driving back on congested unknown road in a new car! And Zed's not really the best stop-start car.

Would it be wise to find a place with safe car park near a train station with train that goes to London direct? You'll also save on congestion charge/fuel.
 
RX-78 said:
Got to admit about London driving. I picked mine from London on monday and almost wet my new leather seat driving back on congested unknown road in a new car! And Zed's not really the best stop-start car.

Would it be wise to find a place with safe car park near a train station with train that goes to London direct? You'll also save on congestion charge/fuel.
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What about the Zed makes it not good for stop start driving?
Im not disagreeing..ive not been stuck in traffic yet..so just curious
Mine was fitted with the optional "fly over traffic" add-on anyway...its only available on the 2.0..bet ur all sorry you got bigger engines now suckaaaasss!! :P
 
Haha that add on sounds good. I'd bet you'll like the 2 extra V option I've got on my engine though :P

It's probably my poor clutch controll and short leg but I found it much more tiresome to keep start/stopping the zed compared to....well my old 1.6L mini. Or was it my heavy right foot :wink:
 
RX-78 said:
Haha that add on sounds good. I'd bet you'll like the 2 extra V option I've got on my engine though :P

It's probably my poor clutch controll and short leg but I found it much more tiresome to keep start/stopping the zed compared to....well my old 1.6L mini. Or was it my heavy right foot :wink:
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HA..yeahh 2 more cylinders would be nice...or a license that makes me older than 19yrs...then i could actually insure an ///M
 
Aye, or an option that gives me a none scouse post code so I can afford M too :roll:

Got told off by the missus already today for speeding at....34mph :oops:
 
The 3.0 manual transmission is not fun in traffic. I've done that plenty of much in Vegas. Not looking to repeat in London. No I'm just fine picking a place about 15-30 minutes outside of London and taking a train/subway in.
 
Well done the trip, took it easy stuck to about 70 on the way down, then commutted from Farnham to Slough in rush hour to get the train into London, did'nt get the Visa, I was told it was all sorted and all I had to was pick it up, get there and have to to start the application process B****x, anyway came home via the M40, M5 and M6, for those who don't know the M6 is currently a mass of roadworks so everytime you get going you have to slow down to 50 for the average speed cameras then got stuck in an 11 mile queue at Haydock when the road in the roadworks collapsed, so give up and just pootled home, so in all just over 800miles in 2 days averageing according to the car 38.1mpg at about 50mph.
 
38.1mg average is good going. Is that the trip computer or working it out yourself? (my computer over-reads by ~2mpg).

I'm down your way at the weekend but plan on taking it easy - see what mpg I get in my 130bhp, 1800kg van loaded up with 4 MTBs :(
 
a11y said:
38.1mg average is good going. Is that the trip computer or working it out yourself? (my computer over-reads by ~2mpg).

I'm down your way at the weekend but plan on taking it easy - see what mpg I get in my 130bhp, 1800kg van loaded up with 4 MTBs :(
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That was off the trip computer not worked it myself yet, which one of the stanes this weekend then, call round if you want a coffee, I'm off to Libya on Sunday all being well,
 
Friday - Drumlanrig
Saturday - Kirroughtree
Sunday - Mabie/Dalbeattie
Monday - put it out to a vote!

Can't wait :). Staying near Thornhill though so a bit of a trek to the likes of Kirroughtree but soooo worth it. Shame I won't have the Z4 otherwise I'd seek you out, I'll have a van full of smelly bikers everywhere I go...
 
RichardG said:
Just found out I've got to go be in London to pick up a Travel Visa for work, my plan is to drive down on Sunday and stay with friends in Surrey then struggle into London on the Monday morning, it's about 380miles door to door so do-able on 1 tank of fuel if I take it easy (stick to speed limits etc) or do I say sod it and drive faster and accept I need to stop for fuel and get there maybe 20 mins quicker.
I know which way I'm leaning but just wondered what others would do when faced with the same senario.
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If where you want to be is in your car, then go as slowly as possible.

If you believe that the time spent travelling between places is time less-well spent between places you'ld rather be, then go as fast as possible.

If you want to know what I believe, see my signature!

Regards
Alistair
 
I don't worry about economy at all when I'm on a long run as I know someone will do something stupid where I'll floor it to 3 figures to get past and well out of their danger zone.

I'll drive almost anywhere, but any further inside the M25 than Uxbridge or Brentford and I'll get the train from Runcorn. It's only a 2 hour trip on the train, and if you get it early enough you don't have to put up with the 'great unwashed', just business people.

I used to do the Liverpool to Brentford run every week for 2 years when I was working for GSK down there - and that was only because after about 2 months of trial & error I found a certain time of the morning that 1) was not too early; 2) not too late; 3) not too busy; 4) got me into work in 3h 15m (for 212 miles). As long as there was not a major accident it meant I hit the worst parts of the motorway network just before or after their busiest periods and so mainly sailed right through at 70+mph.

I haven't found a solution to the Liverpool to Basingstoke run yet as I can get to the Bicester turning on the M40 quite quickly, but then have a 2 hour slog either along the A34/M4/A33 or along the M40/A404M/M4/A33, or completely change route and trundle down the M5 (which means not being able to use the M6 Toll and being stuck in M6 & M5 traffic) to the A417 and across the top of Swindon.

There is no viable public transport route to Basingstoke either, that wouldn't require multiple changes, taxis and/or buses - and I'm not doing that carrying my suitcase & computer.

Even taking my track days and national park blasts into account, over the last 14,000 miles & 10 months an average tank of fuel will show 260 miles before the low fuel light comes on with 60-70 miles to go - and I usually fill it up at the next non-motorway garage if I can and get 45-50 litres in.
 
just drive normal!! see what happens .

you do not want to be thinking about economy of the possibility to go faster keep your attention on the road.
when you want to go fast for a while go to germany or the isle of mann.

just have fun on the way over there!
 
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