Petrol consumption again ..

Before leaving for Ipoh with Zulamran Hilmi at about 16:30 hrs on 09/09/2010, I filled up the car tank to automatic cut-off level. The odometer display read 19,557 km. On the 3rd day of Hari Raya, on my way back to Subang Jaya, I had filled the tank with RON 95 that cost me RM 75/=. When I got back to Subang Jaya petrol station, I refilled the tank in the same manner and it cost me RM 9.99. The distance travelled from Subang Jaya to Ipoh and Chepor and back again to the same petrol station in Subang Jaya was (20,040 less 19,557) 483 km. Petrol cost was RM 84.99 and no of litres consumed was 45.9405. Therefore, the petrol consumption this time was 10.5136 km/litre or in terms of miles per gallon, it's 29.8783 . Not bad this time compared with the last test.

Changing my battery ....

Oh, it's a long time since I blogged and my car has not travelled much either. No wonder my battery conked out since the car has been in the porch for some time and I had not the foresight to remove the battery or at least disconnect the negative terminal. Well, today I changed the made-in-Korea GP battery to another made-in-Korea Novo battery. At least the newer one has 13 plates instead of the 11 plates in the GP battery. The battery is one those new-fangled "maintenance-free" battery without the need to top with distilled water when the electrolyte falls to a certain level.

The voltmeter needle indicates that the battery power is just a shade over the 12 volt indicator line. When removing battery, one thing I must not forget is to disconnect the negative terminal first followed by the positive terminal. When installing a battery, always connect the positive terminal first followed by connecting the negative terminal.

Next time I shall make sure that I disconnect the negative terminal if I am parking the car for an appreciably long time say for 3 weeks or more.

Hari Raya falls on Friday 10th September 2010. As before, I shall be driving north to Ipoh with Zulamran Hilmi and will be monitoring my petrol consumption from where I live and back again. The others in the family are already in Chepor in the E320 Mercedez Benz. The full year comprehensive insurance recently cost me about RM 2,700/= while a 6-month road tax came to about RM 2,200. Is this what you have to pay for a "luxury" car ?