While driving my recently born baby boy round to settle him down, I started wondering how to use the least fuel while keeping the car moving. I'm not interested in the mpg, just in limiting the fuel used.
We have some quiet estate roads where I live where it's safe to put the car into 1st and drive itself on tickover. Is that more miserly than 30mph in 4th? Any thoughts? The grimsby's a 1.8 petrol BTW.
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Surely mpg and limiting the fuel used is the same thing, just looking at it it different ways!
I wouldn't have thought first gear would be very economical at all, 2nd would be a better gear for low speeds... higher speeds you go the more wind resistance which adds to fuel use... I suspect that the most economcal gear for a given speed is the highest gear it will go to without labouring the engine...
We used to do that, btw, and it usually prevents your kids being car sick when the grow up, I believe!
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>>Surely mpg and limiting the fuel used is the same thing, just looking at it it different ways!
Not quite, the OP is talking about getting the best GPH (Gallons per hour) rather than MPG (Miles per gallon).
I would guess that tickover in first or second would give the best results.
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I suggest a petrol lawnmower, or a pram.
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Sorry, Moonshine but surely they are the same thing - just different ways of measuring fuel use - I know when we had a canal boat we measured it in GPH (or HPG really!), but the end result is the same whether you use distance or time as the key measurement - but enough of this, we are off subject! ;-)
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Sorry, Moonshine but surely they are the same thing
I think moonshine's reply is correct, because the O.P. is not interested in distance travelled [he just wants to keep the car moving, even if it only travels one inch in one hour, as long as it does not stall].
While driving my recently born baby boy round to settle him down,
Looking at your problem from a different angle, which is really how to settle your baby boy, the best way to achieve the same/similar[maybe even better] result as the motion in a car is to invest in this tried and tested but very affordable technology:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/2290/71262 ;
see picture here tinyurl.com/66aak6 or tinyurl.com/5orhf2 or tinyurl.com/5ubtfx or tinyurl.com/635rd4
I saw one being used at a home in the UK and am told they are on sale here.
Edited by jbif on 04/08/2008 at 15:05
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too lat to edit: Final tinyurl gives an error. The corrected one is tinyurl.com/68lc74
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Thanks, jbif the hammock looks a good idea as it certainly seems lying the little chap flat on his back is the problem, almost any other position is good.
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Do you have a washing machine?
Lots of kids sleep really well near one - you could put a carry cot on the worktop above for the first couple of months until they really start wriggling.
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The way you do it with young animals (dogs,cats etc) is to wrap a loud ticking clock in something & place in/near the sleeping place. Supposed the mimic the mother's heart from the womb.
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wrap a loud ticking clock in something & place in/near the sleeping place. Supposed the mimic the mother's heart from the womb.
Interesting idea -- but how would that work? Just checked my cat, and unless he's broken his heart thumps rather more quickly than a human's.....
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>>Interesting idea -- but how would that work?
Well, clocks (with 'proper' ticks..) will tick-tock each second, so 120 'beats' per minute.
- must be able to fool a cat with that!
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Sorry Moonshine but surely they are the same thing - just different ways of measuring fuel use
You are part correct, they are the same in that they both measure fuel use, but they are different becuase one is a measure of time and the other is a measure of distance. What the Op is interested in is the maximum time, not distance.
Back to the real matter at hand here, I would suggest that having to resort to driving around in the car to get baby to sleep is making a rod for your own back. Having two young children I fully understand how hard it can be getting them off to sleep.
Assuming that everything is ok (nappy clean, fed, no temp etc) you sometimes just have to let them cry for a bit. As a new parent this can be hard to do (I know, we've been there). We have always put ours to sleep on their backs.
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Thought I'd fallen into a parallel universe where honestjohn.co.uk offered a discussion forum on child rearing.......:-)
Edited by Pugugly on 04/08/2008 at 20:03
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I found that giving up trying to settle our youngest and getting on with the vacuuming upstairs settled her quicker than anything else.
I suppose it's a noise thing, but it was discovered when other things needed to be done before SWMBO returned...
We used to walk miles with her elder sister in the (McClaren - motoring link) buggy trying to get her to sleep - only for her to wake up when you stopped moving.
Edited by Another John H on 04/08/2008 at 20:05
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"Assuming that everything is ok (nappy clean, fed, no temp etc) you sometimes just have to let them cry for a bit. As a new parent this can be hard to do (I know, we've been there). We have always put ours to sleep on their backs."
Totally agree. We had friends who had to hold the child's hand while he went to sleep. Took 30-45 mins - during which time they couldn't move/talk/eat/drink etc. Madness. And him an accountant who worked for Shell, the well-known fuel co. (to give it a motoring connection).
Ours now go to bed later than we do, of course, but then they are all of driving age.
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Oh a motoring connection - how disappointing. :-(
Edited by Pugugly on 04/08/2008 at 20:17
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Oh a motoring connection - how disappointing. :-(
Our eldest keeps forgetting to turn the lights off on her vehicle. This is very annoying as it results in a flat battery and me having to get the charger out and recharge it. Even worse she drives like a manic and is always crashing! Never indicates either or uses the mirror, standards are definately on the decline! If someone gets in her way she just hangs on the horn and grins like a maniac, I'm at a loss as to what I should do! No drivers licence and no insurance either.
Our eldest is 3 years old and drives a 'cuddles' electric trike.....
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Blimey, this has taken me back a few years.
My son was cutting his teeth one Christmas night, and the poor little chap was screaming himself silly, so plonked him in the child seat in the back of the mk2 cortina, and drove him around gently for a few hours, everyone got some peace.
The second i pulled away..zonk, out like a light, and he's been the same since.
Good job he doesn't do it any more mind, cos he drives a car transporter too.
Don't think you can duplicate that warmth and gentle rocking in the back of an older car.
Can the little blighters get some rest and sleep now in the back of a modern hatch where the body seems bolted solid to the axles and suspension is a non ticked option..;)
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