Going for
a weekend trip is something we all
like to do from time to time.
It’s nice to get in your car
and to drive somewhere new.
The relaxing weekend away can soon
turn sour though if you realise that
you spent a lot more money than you
thought you would. Spending money on
food, accommodation and petrol soon
adds up. You might find it helpful
to use our Interactive Budgeter to
see how much money you will need in
total.
The exercise below shows you how you
can estimate your
petrol consumption. Have a look at
the example first before you try yourself!
Please note that you will not find
out the exact distance measuring with
a ruler because the actual distance
is likely to be longer, due to curves
of the road. In our example we also
assume that you are driving on the
motorway and not in city traffic. Your
car will use more petrol in city traffic
than on long distance journeys.
Example: estimating
your petrol costs.
Common
scales are:
1:440,000 (1
inch on your map = 6.94 miles on the
road)
1:850,000 (1 inch your map = 13.42
miles on the road)
1:633,600 (1 inch on your map = 10
miles on the road)
And now – why not try yourself.
Click the button on the right in the
activities below to see if you have
calculated correctly!
Activity: Estimating
your petrol costs
In this activity,
you choose to go to a destination
that is 12 inches
away on the map. The map you are
using has a scale of 1:850,000.
Driving your
car outside city traffic, you travel
approximately 7 miles per litre
of petrol. The price of petrol
is 80p/
litre.
Remember, a scale
of 1:850,000 means that every inch
on your map equals
13.4 miles on the road.
