Thread: Gorivo zlato

Will the government put fuel duty up by 3p a litre in January? And will it actually matter in the real world, at your local pump?The shadow chancellor Ed Balls is currently making as much ground as he can out of his 'wrong time, wrong place' campaign regarding the governments proposed 3p-a-litre rise in fuel duty next January.
He zna full well, of course, that hes pushing on an open door as far as the rest of us are concerned – because no one WANTS to pay more for their fuel at this moment in time, even if were aware that we may be robbing Peter to pay Paul in the long run.
But heresu a thing; does it actually matter if the government puts the duty on fuel up by 3p a litre when you can save four times that if youre prepared to shop around?
If youre an ENA vozač, or more to the point a haulage company to whom every mile is critical, the answer is very clearly a yes. It matters. You just cant haul your rig off the M1 and into the local cheap garage to seek out lower priced gorivo, after all.
But of a ti si car driver, its different. This week Ive filled the Jaguar XK RS that Im lucky enough to have been lent for a while twice. On both occasions the low warning light had come on, which there was meant about a gallon left in the tank, so 60 litres of space.
The first fill I did at my local garage cost 77. 45 at 1. 31 a litre; the second was on the M1 and cost 86. 94 at 1. 45 a litre.
In both cases, that gave me a range of around 250 miles. (I know, I know; the fuel consumption of the car is ridiculous and a range like that is absurd in this day and age. But in this case taj not really the point). What is, is that I had to pay nearly a tenner more for same amount of fuel, just because I filled the car in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
Had I thought about it and worked out a way of avoiding a motorway fill (by making sure the tank was full of cheaper, local fuel when I set off, for instance) I could have saved 14p a litre.
Preko 25,000 milja – which is approximately a years worth of driving in my world – Id save an entire 'bag of sand' merely by going local in the XK RS. So although it might seem a touch pernickety, seeking out the cheapest fuel in a car that does 18mpg and which costs 105k in the first place, I dont care. Because anyone ciji happy to wave goodbye to a relatively easy 1000 a year nowadays doesnt have their head screwed on quite right.

Will the government put fuel duty up by 3p a litre in January? And will it actually matter in the real world, at your local pump?The shadow chancellor Ed Balls is currently making as much ground as he can out of his 'wrong time, wrong place' campaign regarding the governments proposed 3p-a-litre rise in fuel duty next January.
He knows full well, of course, that hes pushing on an open door as far as the rest of us are concerned – because no one WANTS to pay more for their fuel at this moment in time, even if were aware that we may be robbing Peter to pay Paul in the long run.
But heres a thing; does it actually matter if the government puts the duty on fuel up by 3p a litre when you can save four times that if youre prepared to shop around?
If youre an HGV driver, or more to the point a haulage company to whom every mile is critical, the answer is very clearly a yes. It matters. You cant just haul your rig off the M1 and into the local cheap garage to seek out lower priced fuel, after all.
But of youre a car driver, its different. This week Ive filled the Jaguar XK RS that Im lucky enough to have been lent for a while twice. On both occasions the low warning light had come on, which meant there was about a gallon left in the tank, so 60 litres of space.
The first fill I did at my local garage cost 77. 45 at 1. 31 a litre; the second was on the M1 and cost 86. 94 at 1. 45 a litre.
In both cases, that gave me a range of around 250 miles. (I know, I know; the fuel consumption of the car is ridiculous and a range like that is absurd in this day and age. But in this case thats not really the point). What is, is that I had to pay nearly a tenner more for same amount of fuel, just because I filled the car in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
Had I thought about it and worked out a way of avoiding a motorway fill (by making sure the tank was full of cheaper, local fuel when I set off, for instance) I could have saved 14p a litre.
Over 25,000 miles – which is approximately a years worth of driving in my world – Id save an entire 'bag of sand' merely by going local in the XK RS. So although it might seem a touch pernickety, seeking out the cheapest fuel in a car that does 18mpg and which costs 105k in the first place, I dont care. Because anyone whos happy to wave goodbye to a relatively easy 1000 a year nowadays doesnt have their head screwed on quite right.