Turning into the street outside my apartment I spotted a super shiny Clubman S parked on the forecourt of a repair shop (for convenience to the local hostelry I think) – my first sighting in the wild. I didn’t really get a great look as I crept by but I must say it looks a whole lot better in the flesh than in pictures on the web. Looked real nice.
Some Fuel Calculations
Spent last night pondering whether to trade in my “gas guzzling” Cooper for something a little less thirsty. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, so let me explain…. my monthly commute is about 1600 miles, most of that highway miles. Unless I take a big cut in pay by working locally, or my boss decides teleworking is not evil, this isn’t going to change. So, my fuel costs:
| Gas Cost | Regular Driving | Boring Driving | Civic Hybrid |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.00 | $300.00 | $270.00 | $200.00 |
| 6.00 | $350.00 | $320.00 | $235.00 |
| 7.00 | $415.00 | $375.00 | $275.00 |
| 8.00 | $475.00 | $425.00 | $310.00 |
In regular driving I can get 27 mpg, if I try real hard I can probably get 30, though I haven’t managed that yet. The Civic Hybrid claims 45 mpg but I figure 40 mpg is more likely.
Why did I use the Civic Hybrid as my comparison? I was looking at cars that I could trade in the ’05 and not spend much more to buy. This puts the Clubman or new MCS out of reach. An MC could be possible but I’m tired of driving to Escondido for servicing, and the outrageous costs involved.
Am I really thinking about getting out of the MINI? Not sure at this point, it’s possible. I’m depressed about the state of the convertible top, why keep a car that you can’t put the top down? I’ve heard a new top could be as much as $4000, I’d rather put that to something new.
The cost of (private) flying has risen worse than the cost of motoring. Plane rentals in my flying club are up to the $100 an hour mark, saving $1-200 on driving could mean the difference between giving up flying, and still being able to do it. As much as I’d hate to give up the fun of the MINI, high gas prices may mean that the auto becomes utility again.
Crazy OBC Readings and Top Wear and Tear
You have to love the optimism displayed by the OBC. Filled up over the weekend ($4.475 for those of you interested) and when I got to work this morning I had traveled approximately 150 miles and the OBC was saying I had 360 left in the tank. I’ve never gotten 360 miles from a full tank, let alone one where I’d already done 150. I’d love to see 400 miles on a tank, let alone 510!
What you don’t have to love is the, now, quite noticeable wear in the fabric of the convertible top. Both sides of the top have two clearly visible dots where the fabric has been worn thin by the underlying mechanism. At 61,000 I’m out of warranty (not that Brecht were willing to do anything about it when it was) so am faced with either a $2200 bill for a new top, or simply not using it any more. Neither seems that good to me. I suppose I shall trawl the forums for some DIY solutions, maybe I can do something to stop it getting worse?
Gas Consumption in the US
I thought this was pretty good:
Speed Cameras
Every time I go home to England I am surprised by the number of speed cameras on the roads. Pretty much every village has one, and every roadworks seems to have one too. Of course, it’s likely that most of them are fakes but 99.9% of drivers obey them. You can see some crazy fast driving on the motorway and then suddenly there is a camera sign and everyone is driving sanely until they are past it.
Something new this time was “average speed cameras”. The idea here is that there are two cameras and your average speed is computed between the two and you will be fined if that average is above the limit. I saw a couple of these, but really find it hard to believe that they are real. Is there a person reviewing all the images with a sliderule? I really can’t see a computer matching licence plates and speeds.
60,000 Miles
Carrie turned over 60,000 miles yesterday, and picked up a new new rock chip as a present. And when I say rock chip, I really mean rock gouge. From the inside it looks like a 1 inch by 1/3 inch oblong pit but outside it’s definitely a ball sized dip. It’s up in the top corner passenger-side so doesn’t obscure my view but I am a little worried about it spreading. Two MINIs owned, four windscreens and more rock chips than I can count. What do they make these windscreens out of – glass??
Hypermiling, sorta
Suddenly hypermiling is the word du jour so I thought I’d let myself get caught up in the fervour. Well, not really, but I have been mixing up my driving habits with some good results.
This morning the OBC was indicating 30.1mpg after 350-odd miles, something I have never seen all the time I’ve owned the ’05. Better yet, the low-fuel light was yet to come on so it looked like I would finally get my first ever 400 mile tank. But then I was stymied – by an Arco gas station selling premium at 3.925. I’d almost certainly be paying 20c a gallon more if I waited close to 400 miles and eventually the luxury of paying less than $4 a gallon won out. My actual mpg came out to be 29.1, my highest ever.
My new driving habits? Nothing earth-shattering, just trying to pull away more evenly, drive the speed limit on the flat and uphill, floor it like I own it on the downslopes.
Especially for RB: Plaster City
It was such a nice day going home Friday that I took a detour and took some footage for RB, maybe bring back memories of racing in the Valley!
Music by Yello, The Race
Almost a member of the $4 club
Filled up tonight at $3.91 but I saw plenty of gas stations at $4.01 so I would not be surprised if my next tank, or the one after, hits that ‘magic’ mark. Ouch. Maybe I will go back to slowing down a bit on the way to/from work, squeeze out some extra mpg.
Some footage from the MINI
Not a great success, aurally, but you can at least see the pretty view I have on my weekly 2hr commute to San Diego. It’s a 3-parter: part 1 shows some of the Valley floor, part 2 is a video of the long climb up the gas-sapping hill to the top of the pass, part 3 shows some of the high desert. Here’s part 1. At the end of the video there are links to my other videos from which you can see the other 2.