FUEL CONSUMPTION TIPS AND TRICKS 101: A GUIDE TO SAVE FUEL

(I used fuel because your car can be powered by petrol or diesel)

Just before I go into this, I would just like us all, especially Nigerians to reminisce that blissful period before the fuel price hike. Unleaded petrol (which is what many of us call petrol and I will discuss later in the blog) was once as low as 40 naira per litre.

Oh how we lived like kings and queens as our tanks never went below half, we would drive cross country just because we forgot our biro in school. Thats how cheap it was.

Now fast forward to 2012, the announcement of the fuel subsidy removal.

For once, Nigeria embraced togetherness and unity fighting for a cause: Cheaper Petrol Price. We fought, went on strike, and most importantly enjoyed being away from the office or school, and it eventually fell to 97 naira from 140 naira.

However this is still a nightmare; simply having an island - mainland affair is now termed a long distance relationship, some fuel tanks have not seen 'F' for years, relationships broken, number of bicycles have risen, you even now have to ponder about the benefit of either buying 100 naira credit for your phone or 1 litre of petrol (at least you can now call whoever you are supposed to visit that you can't make it and you'll still have 80 naira worth of credit left).

This is why I’m writing this piece today, we don't for-see the fuel price dropping in the near future (maybe unless you vote me for President) but i can surely show you how to get the best out of your hard earned 97 naira per litre.

"HOW?" 

Would be one of the first words that come to mind.

When you look up the specifications of any car, you would usually come across "gibberish" like 30mpg city/ 40mpg highway/35mpg combined.

Thankfully, I speak the language of automobiles and I shall translate…

All that seemingly foreign language simply tells you how many miles you can cover with a gallon of petrol (or kilometres you can cover with a litre of petrol)

You hear people say, "BMWs and Mercedes too dey drink fuel, na why I no wan buy".

(Err,the cost of fuel would be the least problem for anyone that can afford them)

moving on...

Actually, a lot of other factors come into play in determining fuel consumption. Factors such as the number of cylinders, the capacity of each cylinder, the type of vehicle and, not forgetting, how the vehicle is actually driven on a daily basis.

Luckily, The Asphalt Project is here for YOU

NOW TO THE TIPS

* Drive at the right tyre pressure: Most of us don't drive with our tyres at the right pressure and this increases rolling resistance, leading to more power being needed to counter the resistance, at the cost of more fuel being used.

<The owner’s manual tells us the actual pressure to which they should be pumped to.>

* Avoid rapid acceleration and braking unnecessarily: Stamping hard on the accelerator results in excess fuel being pumped into the cylinders. Passengers do not need to get sucked into their seats every time you accelerate… PLEASE, its not a race (Speaking of racing, what do you think of racing in Nigeria? drop your comments below)... Simply accelerate smoothly, “let her roll and gradually pick up pace”. The energy gathered from accelerating wastes when we brake unnecessarily.

                     

* Avoid unnecessary weight: Get all that JUNK, outta ya or your TRUNK: (Osheeey, Rhymes…) Shoes, Bags and irrelevant things left in the car and trunk weigh us down. The lighter the car, the less load on the engine, resulting in less fuel being used. A lot of our boots are an extension of our house. I have seen spoons, plates, HECK, even a microwave in someone's boot and the person said it had been there for almost a month,WHAT'S IT DOING THERE? 

* Maintain a good engine: Are the “oils”, “spark plugs”, “air filter”, “fuel filter” etc in good state? Remember Aristotle, always said “a healthy car engine spares you headache.” ..  (yes, he actually said it) (quote A.Y.O.R… At Your Own Risk)

* Petrol is made of volatile organic compounds: Meaning it can evaporate while in the tank…  Ensure that your tank covers are tightly screwed or bolted and avoid parking under direct sunlight.

* Utilize your cruise control as often as you can (when the time is right): Here, a system takes over the throttling of air, pumping in the exact amount required to maintain a set speed (without support from your foot)

Weird Fact: Driving with a quarter full fuel tank saves more fuel than driving with a full tank.

And THOSE folks, are ways The Asphalt Project just helped you save some naira. Thanks for reading this far, join us again in a bit.

BE THERE OR P-SQUARE!!!

Share the word

Contact:

theasphaltproject@gmail.com

9 Car Brands That Went Extinct

9 Car Brands That Went Extinct.

As humans, we are used to the ephemeral nature of things. Like many things around us, cars live and die, and in the spirit of evolution, only the fittest survive the test of time.
Many car brands have existed in the recent past and here we count down nine of those popular brands that have gone extinct.

9- The Car Without a Name

This ridiculously named car resulted from a marketing ploy by its manufacturer. "Name it yourself ", was a customization slogan to soothe buyers' ego.

 Sadly, that wasn't enough, The assets of its manufacturing company were auctioned off due to unsustainable production after only 3 years.

           

8- Maybach

The ultra luxurious German brand was, the stuff of dreams. Even the flamboyant rapper, Rick Ross famously named his Music Label after the brand.

 Unfortunately for the brand, only 3000 Maybachs were sold in 10years!

Maybach ultimately failed to rival Rolls Royce in the Luxury car range leading to its cancellation in 2011.

Fun-fact: The Maybach Exelero is priced at a whopping $8million!

Oh well....

7- Crossley( British)

Just like the Toyota of today, Crossleys were originally textile machinery manufacturers. Following these were buses, then military vehicles etc.

 Very much unlike Toyota though, aggressive business growth was not their strength.

For 20years in the Automobile business, expansion was limited. After a corporate takeover, the brand puttered away for good.

                              

6- Aptera Motors

Aptera ( Wingless) was touted as the most fuel efficient car in the world.
Founded in 2005, stumbling from one production delay to another, after a desperate lack of financing, the company was split into two. The company's problems multiplied, leading to its liquidation in 2011.

5- Crosley (American)

Entirely different from the No 7 entry, this brand disappeared on the altar of the ever-changing wants/needs of the consumer.

 In the years leading up to World War II, the Crosley was a darling due to its decent gas efficiency, coupled with the gas rationing prevalent at the time.

The onset of war ended all automobile production in the United States in 1942.

4- The Packard

  Every bit as famous as the cars of today, the Packard turned out to be the dinosaur of the Jet age.

 Looking like something of a bathtub turned upside down, its manufacturing company managed to survive 2 world wars over 57 years!

But what it could not survive was the combined might of capitalist competition in peacetime.

 A series of management mistakes and a distinct lack of innovation finally ended the Packard era. The remnants are on display in the Packard Museums.

           

3- American Mercedes

Trust the Americans did manufacture their own Mercedes.

These Mercedes were actually licensed copies of the German Machine.

Strangely though, The American Version was in direct competition with the imported German Mercedes (but just wasn't up to par)

2- The Hillman Avenger

William Rootes, owner of Rootes Group and the Hillman Avenger brand, infamously turned down an offer to own The Volkswagen Group( free of charge!) after World War II.

He went as far as to call it "foolish".

Ironically, his top prototype, The Hillman Avenger made it just over a decade before it disappeared.

The Group itself barely made into the 21st century.

1- Daewoo

This Korean phenomenon, was once considered among the top 10 motor companies in terms of production. rivaling the likes of Ford and Hyundai.
This was until the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 occurred.

 Daewoo racked up short-term debts of 19 trillion within just 9 months! It's collapse led directly to the collapse of multiple other banks.

The Founder of the Company simply fled, only returning in 2005 to be jailed for 10years after having his fortune seized.

Daewoo was finally sold off to General Motors of USA in 2005 after sinking into $82billion debt.

What's more? The brand- Daewoo -suffered irreparable damage becoming a toxic name all over the world.

Know Your Type Of Car

No type of car is completely useless. For you, a car may serve little to no purpose, but for another person the same car may just be the perfect means of transportation.

I use the word "type" here liberally, knowing that there are so many ways in which cars can be classified. Many people tend to think of brands of cars when differentiating them into groups.

In Nigeria, we tend to have even looser ways of grouping cars. For example, some say "one door car". 

Some people buy a car simply because they can afford it, even when they don't plan to move them. But sometimes (most times in fact) we Nigerians buy cars because we need them. YES! a car's basic function is to get from point A to point B, but there is more to its need than just its basic function. Every type has something the other doesn't have, something you might just "need". In a similar vein, I would like to relate to you what I consider to be the basic types of cars:

COUPES: These are the type some call 'one-door', (why call it that when there’s another door on the other side?). They normally have no or really small rear seats, surely not a car for any type of crowd. Their trunks too are mostly small. They are more compact, sporty and stylish than normal sedans. Don't expect them to be cheaper than their sedan counterparts because they are smaller and don't expect them to be faster either because they are sportier, it all depends on their engine and a host of other stuff.

CONVERTIBLES: These are cars that no matter the type, have retractable roofs. instead of simply enjoying the cool or warm breeze from the windows of your car as you cruise, you also have the option of taking your top off (the car's of course). Despite its sleek appearance, retracting the roof of a convertible increases drag, resulting in increased fuel consumption. In addition, convertibles tend to have little to no space in the trunk since the roof collapses into it. Despite its short comings, a convertible is bound to turn heads wherever you go.

SEDANS/ SALOONS: To me, these are the most common car type we have here in Nigeria. They mostly have four doors and their rear seats can have more or less the same leg space as your sitting room. A regular sedan can accommodate at least four adults comfortably but don't mistake it to be a crowd car still. They have a bigger boot than coupes and can accommodate more people comfortably (obviously).

*note* both coupes and sedans can have two or four doors (this will be interpreted shortly).

HATCHBACKS: These are basically any coupe (3 doors) or sedan (5 doors) with a rear door that swings upward or sideways to provide access to the cargo area at the rear instead of a trunk lid. They can have one or two seat row(s). They have a vertical cargo space advantage over the usual sedans or coupes but they are shorter lengthwise than their actual coupe or sedan counterparts and so have shorter lengths than estates/ station wagons.

STATION WAGONS/ ESTATES: These are cars like the hatchback BUT with two or three rows of seats and do not lack the trunk space which the former does, they even have more cargo space than sedans and comprise of one or more fold able or removable seats which can make you switch between accommodating more people or cargo.

SPORT UTILITY VEHICLE (SUV): These are the type of vehicles Nigerians wrongly call "Jeeps". They are built for both off- and on- road trips meaning they are especially effective on our poorly made and maintained roads (which make up most of our roads in Nigeria) and where you run out of road, you can, with the advantages of better ground clearance and four or all-wheel drive (*not all SUVs have four wheel drive), forge your own new path if you've got the "Cojonese". That's not all! They also have more interior space than regular cars; some have 5-passenger seats and some 7-passenger seats (some are large enough to sit bears comfortably). They consume relatively more petrol and are generally more expensive than smaller types of cars.

TRUCKS/PICK UPS: These are vehicles with a "bed" at the rear in which items can be hauled. Some trucks have covers for their beds, so goods can be trundled in crowded areas slowly without the fear of theft. They are built mainly to handle load, there are light duty and heavy duty trucks. Along with their strength, some also have the comfort and luxury of an SUV.

CROSSOVERS: These are vehicles built on car platforms which combine the features of an SUV with those of a passenger vehicle (especially station wagons and hatchbacks) to produce a splendid cocktail. Thanks to their SUV and normal car handling they can handle light off-roads better than sedans as well as provide better fuel economy than SUVs. It’s not as big as an SUV but almost as rugged as one, at a cheaper cost. In 2008 a wall street journal blog article called them "wagons that look like SUVs but ride like cars".

These aren't all the car types and they all have sub groups, they would be attended to anon.

IGNITION

So, the last time WE were at a dealership in Lagos, I believe the guy who attended to me must have been used to seeing too many ‘average joes’. Cos the moment my choice was caught up in the cross-hairs, he started talking to me like he was reading from a book. In a legal setup he’d probably do time for all the lies he told me that day. In fact, on one occasion he admitted thinking that four wheel drive meant high ground clearance and that was it... ground clearance!! Even in my early days as an enthusiast I was more equipped than that.
He knew nothing about high range and low range, nothing about air pressure and differential locks, just the same way I’m beginning to lose many of you now, so I’ll stop.

So that makes me wonder what parameters people use to choose the right vehicles in this part of the world.
You’d be shocked to know that most of these popular car company employees only know how to market cars.  When you come through, they try their very best to sell you an SUV even after you tell them you live very close to the Central Business District and you rarely rub minds with dirt.
 Or they try to sell you a V8 without the knowledge of your mechanic whom you’re not even sure knows how a V8 actually works.

I can go on and on, back and forth but hey, that’s the focal point of this project.  Occasionally we may lose track of the asphalt and veer off the beaten path partly because our ‘asphalts’-more often than rarely (here in Nigeria)-usually end up as off-road trails.

What hard facts do you know about automobiles?
If its not approved on “The Asphalt Project” its not road worthy, scrap what you heard from the uniformed guys.  Just in case blogs aren’t your thing we’ll whisper once a while on twitter, listen @Asphalt_Project.

So as for that bold ‘WE’ at the top, its Ayorinde and David, it doesn’t cover the whole of sub Saharan Africa or even West Africa for that matter. Naija all the way.