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After 30 odd years of driving SWMBO has solved the problem. Let her drive!
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My wife is very economical too, but significantly slower than me although she doesn't dawdle, bless her. My guess is that she uses a bit less fuel than me in give-and-take open-road stuff, a bit more in town owing to a more conservative gearchanging policy.
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Sorry have to disagree - mine stays in too high a gear then puts her foot down and says this car has no go while watching fuel gauge drop - I keep revs up a bit in appropriate gear and get better fuel consumption. - Taking radio out helps as when it's on she listens to discussion and starts to slow down without changing down.
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When I took over my Golf VR6 from my former partner as main driver, fuel consumption improved by 20% and more. Two major factors: she did too many short trips and used the gearbox too much.
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Doesn't work in the BigJohn household - Er Indoors still will not use any gears beyond 4th because thats all her beloved Polo had, we have had two! cars since we sold the Polo both with 5gears. Better avoid a six speed car in the future.
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Good council, Very good council, Can't explain but my good lady has the edge.
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Doesn't work here either. Wife has a very short commute (couple of miles) but can't walk it because of various stuff to carry, though she often walks home for lunch. At weekends she decides that the Xantia needs a good blast to make up for short journeys so gives it max revs. I've also lost count of the times she says "You'd never believe we were doing 90 would you -it's so quiet and smooth!" or in France "Blimey, didn't realise I was doing a hundred!".
Despite this the old Xantia HDi still does about 40 mpg but on a long trip over 50 - good old car!.
--
Phil
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A colleague claims he gets much better mpg than his wife. His explanation is that she accelarates until she needs to brake, rather than modulating her speed. 40+ years of marriage dictate that this subject is never brought up in company, however.
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Thanks for your input everyone. I think my wifes fuel consumption is probably related to her not using more than about third of the horses, ft/lbs, kilowatts, NM,s and other good things that lurk in the oily bits of the car.
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Fuel economy is much worse when my wife drives, mainly because she does short trips where the engine (a diesel) doesn't really get a chance to warm up.
She also overrevs the engine, and doesn't tend to switch gears at the correct time. despite having powerful diesel cars for a couple of years now she still treats them like petrol cars.
I tend to get around quicker than her if I drive on the same journeys, but my fuel economy is better too.
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