Mechanical Sympathy

Doki waffled on in a quite bewildering manner to produce...

can do you a gallon for £15

Yes, thankyou.

And on the few occasions I get round to the Far Side of the Rev Counter (wasn't that a Pink Floyd album?) I worry about the engine/gearbox/other for a while!

Yes. When I crunch the gears I feel realy sorry for the gearbox. When I labour the engine I feel sorry for it. When I take corners too quickly and screech the tyres I feel sorry for them.

Peter

Hmm, I just giggle and start making funny noises when I do that. Heh.

Yes.

When stuff is cold.

When the donk is cold, I go easy on it.

When it's warmed up, it's time to put some heat into the brakes and tyres.

When they're warmed up, I drive like a loon trying to figure out what else to warm up. :)

The seat?

Since I got the new car- which has the computer right in front of you between the rev counter and speedometer - i've had it set to average fuel consumption. I've found that I can get 49mpg on a decent run when warmed up if I drive carefully. Not bad for 1375kg and permanent 4wd. If I stand on the right pedal, it does rather less than that ;-) Watching the Computer read out diving when you give it some beans makes you have mechanical sympathy like nothing else you could imagine ;-)

I do, especially when it's cold. I worry every time my 899cc engine labours too. I find there is little need to thrash the engine as the difference in performance is minimal. I get max torque at 2700rpm (I think, it may be 3000rpm) so I don't need to thrash it to get good torque. I don't worry about the tires much although I never steer when the car is stationary. I generally don't 'crunch' the gears although I have been a bit quick with the clutch in the past, a couple of times. Also, before selecting reverse I always hold the clutch down for 2 seconds with the car stationary (as it says in the car manual). I also don't rush the gears either.

I think I'm quite a sympathetic guy. I basically try to have fun while preserving the car as much as possible.

Bob Sherunckle waffled on in a quite bewildering manner to produce...

best I've ever seen on a fuel computer was 0.1 mpg out of my SD1 Vitesse!

break it down into laymans terms please, it a bit non-linear.

start it up in the morning make sure the windscreen/side windows/mirrors are clean boot it away :) simple really, it's not mine and the sooner i break the POS it is the better having said that, it just doesn't want to die on me i do have a some sympathy for it though and even though i stretch it in every gear i don't hold on to the revs like some old git on yesterdays C5 program, but nor do i drive it any different to anything else i've driven the only time i drive cars "properly", IE as the highway code and driving agency set out, is when it's not mine then they get the full fluid checks and tyres and all that sort of stuff

check levels top up if neccesary start it up warm it up for a few minutes till the temp is in the NORM indicator and the oil temp has risen slightly drive away in a sensible manner wait till the gearbox has warmed up and dab the brakes to get them up to tem and to egt rid of the spots of rust that may have accumilated on them drive teh car as normal wait for boy racer to try it on waste the convincingly at the lights in first gear then slot it into 5th (or even second if it's anyting other than a 30 limit, it does nearly 40 in first and the best part of 68 in second) carry on as normal egt to the destination wait for everything to cool down in the few hundred yards before it stops pull the key out th eignition turn the alram on walk away while waiting for the turbo timer to switch the engine off :)

much obliged.

:)

Plenty.

Tyre and Brake wear doesn't concern me.

Exhaust wear does (cos a replacement (cat) is big money for the TI), so I don't make short trips. Turbo/Engine wear does, so I never go on-boost before the temp needle is upto it's usual one third. I always take it easy for the last 5 minutes of a journey, for the same reason, and also to avoid stopping with hot discs. Gearbox wear does, so I never do quick standing-starts, or try to pull away at 1500rpm, and same as Peter, I'll take special steps when going into reverse to avoid crunching (generally pausing a coupld of seconds).

On the open road, when everything's warm, I drive very hard :)