Surprising mpg!

[StevieDB9]

Ok, so in your car manual you get the manufacturer's mpg figures but i always thought "yeah right" but anyway decided to test it.

the figure for my focus for extra-urban i.e. motorway cruising is listed as 52 mpg. didnt think a 1.4 litre engine driving quite a heavy car would get anywhere near this, but driving from scotland down to reading decided to see what i could get out it.

btw, it was just me in the car with a heavy suitcase and hold-all in the boot. drove really carefully and braked / accelerated smoothly. filled up at the local station before i left to the brim and filled up again as soon as i got off the motorway at reading and it took 6.6 gallons,

my economy worked out to 59mpg! i couldnt believe it! thought anything over 45 mpg was diesel only territory, or dare i mention it, prius. or maybe im just too used to that terrible polo, only managed about 33mpg on the motorway with it (at best!)
just shows that you dont need to get rid of big engined cars with increasing fuel prices, just change your driving habits! must say, also a lot less stressed now!

 

[HDi fun]

It's amazing what driving technique can do for economy. I expect I could get something similar out of my remapped 2.2 HDi on a long run but I'd have to be a little bit discriminate with the accelerator.

 

[turbonutter69]

At the minute i'm getting roughly 35-40 Mpg in normal driving conditions. Not sure what i'd get on a motorway though. I wouldn't expect much more.

 

[HDi fun]

35-40 is not to be sniffed at

 

[turbonutter69]

I know i'm quite amazed actually.

 

[obi_waynne]

I'm pretty happy with my 37mpg. On a motoway run this can go up to 45mpg! Well pleased but as has been said a lot of this is down to driving style.

I cant be arsed to work it out but a 5 mpg increase adds up to a lot of a saving in a year for the average motorist.

 

[CitizenErazed]

I thought over 50MPG was standerd in cars these days? mine only does 35ishMPG but it's 10 years old. My dads new Jazzs digital display tell him what MPG he's doing at any one moment and it's usually above 60MPG and occasionally taps on 100, and that's a petrol.

 

[ez64]

35 mpg on a 2.5l straight six and cruising at "motorway speeds"

 

[StevieDB9]

my focus is 6 years old but i still thought 59mpg for a petrol is pretty good.


100mpg?! think the computer is probably being generous there to entice people to buy more hondas!

 

[nota]

I'm currently averaging 21 mpg in the old Benz V8, with best / worst = 26 / 18 mpg.

Wife's trusty Ford Falcon 6cyl gets similar to above but runs on LPG which hereabouts is priced at less than half of petrol, so it effectively returns the 'cost equivalent' of 45 mpg in typical urban useage.

Most economical car owned?
The fantastic little '67 Hillman Imp GT with an easy 55 mpg on the highway.

Worst fuel slurper owned?
That would be my '65 Buick Riviera GS with its best-ever of 15 mpg, usually averaging 12 mpg, down to a dismal 6 mpg during 'enthusiastic' driving. Yes, you really could see the fuel gauge drop while hoofing it!

 

[pgarner]

I thought over 50MPG was standerd in cars these days? mine only does 35ishMPG but it's 10 years old. My dads new Jazzs digital display tell him what MPG he's doing at any one moment and it's usually above 60MPG and occasionally taps on 100, and that's a petrol.

thats the instantanious MPG worked off the air mass meter. i can get mines to hold 199 if m very light on the throttle

factory claims

urban - 20
ex urban - 40
combined - 32

i get average - 32
urban - dont really do much heavy town driving
ex urban - 37

 

[MasterAuron]

thats the instantanious MPG worked off the air mass meter. i can get mines to hold 199 if m very light on the throttle

Cruising downhill out of gear tricks it too. Not that I make a habit of it, just start to roll downhill and reset = awesome mpg.

 

[HDi fun]

It's even better in gear as the engine needs no fuel at all downhill.

StevieDB9 - what do you'd reckon you'd have achieved on the same journey if you drove it savagely? as if every second saved was absolutely critical?

 

[Wcnwzrd]

im wanna come live with you all. when i bought the wifes pontiac new we only got a max of 28 per gallon and that was babying it all the time over 4 tanks. normal driving gives us about 20. my burban im lucky if i clear 12 on the open freeway downhill lol

 

[StevieDB9]

It's even better in gear as the engine needs no fuel at all downhill.

StevieDB9 - what do you'd reckon you'd have achieved on the same journey if you drove it savagely? as if every second saved was absolutely critical?

hmm, no idea hdi, whatever it is it'll still be better than the polo! mmm, maybe about 30mpg if driving hard, dont really know to be honest!

 

[pgarner]

Cruising downhill out of gear tricks it too. Not that I make a habit of it, just start to roll downhill and reset = awesome mpg.

doesnt quite work for me 199s the max before it goes to lines.

im wanna come live with you all. when i bought the wifes pontiac new we only got a max of 28 per gallon and that was babying it all the time over 4 tanks. normal driving gives us about 20. my burban im lucky if i clear 12 on the open freeway downhill lol

youve got to remember 2 things
1 - our gallons are bigger - 3.8 ltrs American 4.5 ltrs UK
2 - the pontiac will ave an engine under it compared to our tiny little things

 

[Chris Green]

It's even better in gear as the engine needs no fuel at all downhill.

Yes, it took me a while to realise why my previous Citroen 2.0l diesel VTS was seemingly more economical in gear with my foot eased off, than it was coasting. Of, course, most diesels use air only with a zero throttle setting except when idling, as in coasting, when they do need at least need some fuel. That accounts for why it was 'infinite mpg' with foot lifted, compared to about 450 mpg coasting.

I never take much notice of the computer's spot reading though - there's always another uphill stretch coming to drop it to 28 mpg!

 

[Wcnwzrd]

youve got to remember 2 things
1 - our gallons are bigger - 3.8 ltrs American 4.5 ltrs UK
2 - the pontiac will ave an engine under it compared to our tiny little things

So true. It has a Supercharged 3.8L V6 in it. still even with bigger gallons would make me feel better. It would give me about an extra 5 miles per lol. The burb has a Carbed 350 CID in it. Don't think either would really go to many places with your little pushers in em.

 

[obi_waynne]

What are the speed limits like in the US - at least your gas prices are lower (we pay over £1 per litre). Over here we can legally do 70mph, in France this goes up to 80mph.

 

[HDi fun]

I think the speed limit varies from State to State. There's a myth that the whole country is governed down to 55mph. Not true.

 

[Wcnwzrd]

For the most part in town don't expect to top 30. on the freeways it depends. most places keep you to a 65 or lower some will go up to 75. normally we can get away with +5 but that all depends on the cop and what type of traffic/day it is. i think there are one or two areas have an 80 but those are very few.

 

[HDi fun]

Texas and Utah have 80mph limits on some roads. Appaarently both these states are pretty lenient unless you're really well over the posted limit or are driving exceptionally badly (whether above or below the limit).