Tracking mileage of the 036

[gerryvz]

For many years now, since I got my first iPhone at the beginning of 2006, I have used a free app called AccuFuel to keep track of my cars' mileage. I have set it up for all cars that I have and it has done a very good job of tracking and graphing mileage, and so forth. For most of my cars (except the first few years of owning my 560SEC) I have kept track of the mileage and even kept all gas receipts from the gas station !!

Several years ago I went through all of my saved gas receipts and entered all of the historical information into AccuFuel so that I had a complete picture of my cars' mileage over the length of time I've owned them. This goes back 9.5 years for my E500.

Recently, I came across a new, on-line web site called "Fuelly" which does the same thing that the AccuFuel app does, and MUCH more in terms of analytics and graphs. It also easily accommodates US, UK and European mileage scales and allows you to switch between them. The best thing is that I was able to export my AccuFuel data into a CSV (simple comma-delimited spreadsheet) file, do a bit of editing in Excel to get the columns and headers into the right order, and import it straightaway into Fuelly.

It's quite a brilliant site and I heartily recommend it for those of you interested in tracking this aspect of your cars !!

I've attached some screen shots below, that you may find helpful in seeing what the site does and what it looks like.

LINKS:

• AccuFuel: http://www.appigo.com/accufuel
• Fuelly: http://www.fuelly.com

Cheers,
Gerry

 

[gerryvz]

Here's the Fuelly calculation (only a single click) with metric ratings, for you good folks living in non-US countries who use the much more logical & intelligent Metric system....

 

[DW SD]

this is quite cool. are you not aware of a cloud-based mobile solution that allows you to input via your phone without having to export and import to the fuelly web app?
I would use it if I could just input on my phone at the time of fueling. I don't think I'd use it if I have to export from one app and load to the other.

thanks for sharing, though.

Doug

 

[Glen]

Thanks Gerry, I have always done it manually keeping log books in all my cars. I think I will try using Fuelly.

Doug: you can text Fuelly from your phone at time of fillup. It could be a little more convenient if they had an app, but it's not bad.

 

[gerryvz]

You can also send SMS message to Fuelly with your mileage info right from the pump, and it will record it. It's all in the Fuelly FAQ right on the site.

Alternately, you can log in using their mobile site -- http://m.fuelly.com which is a lightweight but rich smartphone web page.

AccuFuel (which is what I have been using for 7+ years) is an actual iPhone app.

My loading of the data was a one-time-only deal just to get 7+ years (9.5 years in the case of my E500) worth of old fueling data into the Fuelly site. From here on out it's just SMS or use the web page or mobile web page. No further exporting or importing required.

Cheers,
Gerry

 

[alexis]

Hi,
Gerry, My car is a late 1994 model with 95.000 miles. I usually record my MPG only when I use the car on long distances. I hardly drive the car on motorway as I think it is a nonsense considering the cost of petrol and the speed limits over here : a diesel is a more sensible choice for long motorway journeys on the cruise control. And the E500 is so much more rewarding on secondary roads...
Your average mileage or Liter/100kms results are par with mine when I use the air conditionning (5% less without the air conditionning : 13l/100kms).
Considering what the lastest V8 average in real circumstances (about the same MPG) I find those results very satisfactory
Alex.

 

[DW SD]

what'd be neat is OCR built in which allow the user to take a picture of the pump after the fillup and then the odometer.
OK - maybe it is just easier to type it in. thanks for the heads up. I looked at the app store. No shortage of options in this arena.

I guess your (Gerry's) data is available for all to see : http://www.fuelly.com/car/mercedes-benz/e500

Doug

 

[gerryvz]

Hi Alexis,

Yes, in the past 4.5 years I use the Klima/AC about 75% of the time in the Houston climate when I drive the car, and also we have 10% ethanol gas which reduces mileage by a measurable amount. So probably 1-2 MPG less than would be possible not using the Klima and with "real" pure gasoline.

But it's good to know that it's similar generally to yours. I would say my driving is 2/3 local and secondary roads (<100 km/hr), and 1/3 freeway/autoroute (> 100km/hr) driving.

Hi Doug, yes what I like is the analytics available on the web site, and the comparative function for other (like) cars although there are no other 036-based E500s. There are a couple of other SECs and I haven't checked the 500E.

Cheers,
Gerry

 

[alexis]

Hi,
My driving is mostly secondary roads. Over here those roads are limited to 90km/h but you can generally drive between 100-110km/h, sometimes 120km/h, which is particularly rewarding with the E 500 : most of the cars drive around 90km/h and it is very nice to overtake them using full power of the kick down in second gear.
About the air conditionning : I have the manual system which I like very much. First of all because it has temp control for each side, and second because you have a very good control of the vent and the clim compressor with the two top switches between the rotative controls. When it is sunny and cool, which is most of the time over here (I mean cool not sunny), I drive without the air co but with the roof opened. When it is a bit warmer I open the roof and use the air co at low speed. When it is hot, I close the sun roof and use the air co. It sure have consequences on my overall MPG even though I don't really care about that.
We also have the 10% ethanol gas over here but I don't use it. Apparently, from what my MB dealer told me, it is not good for our cars and they have had lots of problem with that gas on 80's and 90's petrol engines.
But they also had lots of problem of 2000's cars and not due to the 10% ethanol gas, so...
Alex

 

[bgalakazam]

Wow, nice app. I, too, have been keeping a manual track in excel. Time to start using this.

 

[gerryvz]

Should be easy to create a CSV by rearranging your existing spreadsheet's columns into the format the specify in their import FAQ (I guess you want to do it on a copy )and then it's just a simple matter that takes seconds. Let me know how it works out.

Below is a screen shot of the web app at http://m.fuelly.com

Cheers,
Gerry

 

[gerryvz]

I filled up my tank on the 560SEC today at a local Chevron station, using the browser-based web app for Fuelly. Here are some shots of the process.

 

[Glen]

I really like the ease of use and functionality of Fuelly but I'm not sure if I will continue using it. I would like to enter data in the Notes field but don't want it publicly accessible, unfortunately, there is no way to turn notes off. I suppose I could leave the notes out but then I'd be keeping a written log book in addition to Fuelly...which sort of defeats the purpose.

 

[gerryvz]

I've never taken notes other than just mileage (even when I have used AccuFuel) so that's not an issue for me. That said I will have to log out and see what is publicly available. Interesting. Because I've always saved my gas slips, I have record of location of the station where I filled up at.

UPDATE:

This is what's in their FAQ:

Can my data be private?
Fuelly was designed from the start to be completely open and public. We picked this approach so that data could be easily compared and shared across all accounts.

If you would prefer a private MPG tracker, there are many options out there like MyMileMarker but keep in mind a service like that doesn't offer comparisons with other drivers.


I plan to continue to use it as I like the comparative feature, and don't mind the public aspect of sharing my mileage data.

 

[Glen]

I use notes to indicate maintenance items like when I rotated the tires, oil, filters, spark plugs, etc. For that stuff, public access is fine. Sometimes though, I note what location I'm in while on trips, which can give potential thieves easy access to my home if they happen to be casing me since Fuelly is almost real time. Like I said, I could leave that sort of stuff out but I've been doing these sort of notes since I started driving and while I don't refer to them often, it's nice to look back and see when and where I was.

 

[bgalakazam]

I, too, don't mind the public feature. In fact, I use notes for the driving style. I already see bogus mileages. Using notes helps me distinguish.

A side note from an IT guy: uncle Google and social media have so much personal information about you, that Fuelly is your least concern. Anything that you EVER made public, even if you took it down almost right away, 99% chance it was already crawled and is stored somewhere. Many of those places are public. The paranoia will not help you.

 

[gerryvz]

uncle Google and social media have so much personal information about you, that Fuelly is your least concern. Anything that you EVER made public, even if you took it down almost right away, 99% chance it was already crawled and is stored somewhere. Many of those places are public. The paranoia will not help you.

I think Glen's concerns are valid, and appreciate them, given that he does make notes of potentially sensitive information. I don't make notes, and never did, so the public aspect works just fine for me.

OFF-TOPIC RANT ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA: That being said, I shut down my Facebook account on January 1st (as did my wife, hers) and haven't missed it one iota. When I get back from Europe after July 4th, I plan to delete all of my photos and information and shut it down for good. I'd shut down my Twitter account too, if I didn't need it for job purposes. I don't mind LinkedIn but that's almost 100% professionally related, with little personal information shared there that would be weird outside of a professional context.

I can't say enough about getting Facebook out of your life though. I wasn't a FB addict like many people I know, but it's generally a waste of time and generally speaking it's less "clutter" and background noise that simplifies my life. It's time I get back to do other things. And to be honest, when you're on FB you think it's sort of neat to see what everyone else is up to, and to tell everyone what you're doing. But to be REALLY honest with yourself, it's a vanity thing and I've found that I just don't miss at all, reading what my "friends" are up to, and bragging about what I'm doing. I think what really turned me off (over time) was the politics and how people shared their own political and lifestyle views. And I was guilty for a long time of sharing my own political view, although for the last full year I was on FB I didn't share anything political whatsoever. To be honest, I like and accept people for who they are, and I don't need them to rub their politics or lifestyle in my face - I'm fine with what they do and accept it, but I don't need to hear about it every day. I was guilty of this and stopped, but honestly I got tired of it in other people (as I am sure they were tired of me doing it).

Bottom line -- ditching Facebook is liberating and I'll bet if you remove it from your life, you won't miss it. Surprisingly, the Earth continues to revolve without Facebook....

END OF RANT.

Cheers,
Gerry

P.S. That doesn't mean I won't document (and perhaps boast a bit) about my GVZ Euro Tours here on this forum)

 

[ClassicCarsAllDay]

Off topic... but got rid of my FB 2 years ago....best decision I ever made.

 

[szvook]

Gerry, so are you leaving the FB connect on this board intact?

 

[gerryvz]

Yes...as a courtesy for those few who use it.

 

[gsxr]

OFF-TOPIC RANT ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA: That being said, I shut down my Facebook account on January 1st (as did my wife, hers) and haven't missed it one iota.

WOW. Nice work, Gerry!! Congrats!! Maybe some day you'll even ditch the cell phone...

 

[Glen]

There's now an iOS app for Fuelly but it crashes if you have multiple cars. Hope they fix it soon.

 

[gerryvz]

There's now an iOS app for Fuelly but it crashes if you have multiple cars. Hope they fix it soon.

Hi Glen,

I downloaded the app and installed it on my iPhone 5. Works fine for all three of my cars - no crash on my phone.

I actually updated it tonight with three tanks of gas I put into my 560SEL yesterday. I drove with the family yesterday on a trip to Tennesee from Houston. Filled up with three tanks of gas - first in Livingston, TX; second in North Little Rock, AR; and third in Hermitage, TN.

The last two tanks (100% highway driving, 70-80 MPH) I got 18.2 MPG !!! Normal for the SEL with mostly city driving is 12-14 MPG. We're in Crossville, TN about 120 miles east of Nashville.

First time in both Tennesee and Arkansas. Only 4 states remaining that I haven't been in ... Alaska, Maine, North and South Dakota.

Cheers,
Gerry

 

[Glen]

Cool, I'm glad it works for you. It crashes on my iPhone 4S and my wife's iPhone 5...when viewing any car but the primary one.

 

[Jelmer]

Though not hardly as fancy as the above mentioned, I use a very simple app aptly called "Mileage" on Android. It does the job. I prefer not to use any of that web-based stuff, just a simple offline app that stores everything locally. And it's free