Evening everyone,

I have a small question which I hope you can help with, nothing especially urgent.

Our 1.2 Pop has 800 miles on the clock now and we have averaged 51mpg to date, which ain't a bad effort considering we took 4 + a lot of luggage from Wales to Devon, and then loads of luggage from Devon to Hampshire and back again to Cardiff! .

Anyway, the car is only going to be used a little bit during the week and will get a bit more of a stretch at weekends.

When filling up, I'd be grateful for people's thoughts - is it worth filling up to the brim each time it's empty, or would it be better to pop £15-£20 in a time once empty? I am looking at this from a fuel economy perspective.

Ta very much.

From a fuel economy standpoint bunging in £15-£20 when empty is the better option (you are hauling less weight) however I am yet to be convinced that there is much difference

I personally just brim my Panda



Trev

Yes, less is better for more MPG (unless you hace to drive a long way to fill up, in which case saving on trips might be better!)

I just tend to fill up if it gets near 1/2 empty though...

Of course the less weight you have in the car the better but I really don't think not brimming it will really make a huge difference, I reckon it's a few pounds a year. I brim the car till it's almost overflowing every time so I can keep track of consumption more accurately. I do however run it almost dry as I don't see the point in going to a petrol station just because the light has come on or it's half empty Don't believe the rubbish about pulling crap into the fuel filter if you run it till it's low - the tank is made of plastic, the fuel doesn't have any crap in it so where does the crud come from? I wouldn't run your car dry repeatedly because that can knacker the fuel pump but running your car low isn't a problem

A full tank lowers the car slightly, so if nothing else it looks better.

Murano16v said:

A full tank lowers the car slightly, so if nothing else it looks better.

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True. Which would increase your fuel efficiency too

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the advice! Yeah I'm not letting the tank run dry, but we will continue to put £15-£20 in each time for now. It's only when we're making longer trips that we'll tank it.

Cheers!

Super Uwe said:

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the advice! Yeah I'm not letting the tank run dry, but we will continue to put £15-£20 in each time for now. It's only when we're making longer trips that we'll tank it.

Cheers!

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Just one thing to consider, if you were putting only 15-20 pounds of fuel in every time and leaving a lot of fuel in then you are then carrying fuel around which you'll never burn and many people don't know, but the octane in fuel does decay over time which isn't a good thing. It's not going to be a problem on high mileage cars tbh though

I seriously doubt the benefits will be big enough, the 500s tank is 35L, 35L of fuel is going to be around 35KG, so, half filling means you're saving weight of around 16KG, also known as one suitcase, or 1/5 adult passenger... I doubt it's worth the hassle of double the fill ups...

Charlie -