UKC

My little Clio diesel is rated at 68mpg, but in normal use I only get 50 to 55 mpg out of it, so coming back from the airport yesterday I thought I'd try driving more efficiently (bit slower, don't accelerate quickly, etc).

In 30 miles of steady motorway driving between 60 and 75mph, it managed 73.5mpg. Not bad!

What's the best you've got out of your car?

Any tips for better fuel efficiency? My car is 6 years old - is it worth getting the garage to clean/replace any particular bits to improve the efficiency?

Thanks

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC:

when i broke down, had the car on the tow truck

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC: Best I've had is 60mpg but that was at a very boring 60 mph. At 85 mph I get 46 mpg. Golf Mk 1V TDi 130bhp.

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC:

Not sure about that, but my V6 Vectra would get down to 7 mpg going up hill fast in second gear! Didn't do that for long.


Chris

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC: some tyres are better than others - for example the new Dunlop SP 200 "E" for economy get about 2mpg more than the old ones. Bit noisier though.

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC:

My SEAT Ibiza Tdi Sport does 68mpg apparently (at 56mph speeds)but I'm sure I get more like 55mpg, the torque makes it too tempting to overtake the 50mph sunday drivers.

Davie

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC: Nick, did you see my Clan of the Cave Bear note to you earlier?

In reply to Al Evans: Yes, and I emailed you about it.

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC:

once got 36 mpg from my 325 touring but had to keep to below 65mph which was absolutely no fun at all.

on motorways i can get almost 30mpg at a nice steady 85mph which is far less tiring

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC: how do you measure it? I never know because I can't think in gallons! Especially since you buy it in litres!

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC:

When I just passed my driving test, my Dad's Ford Fiesta used to do over 900 miles on a fiver.

The Ent

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC:

Best: c.45mpg from my VW Scirocco with gentle driving on A roads up to 70 mph.

Worst: less than 10 mpg from my highly souped-up Lotus super 7 (23 years ago, another life).

Suspect my current kangoo is pretty good, but I can't be bothered to work it out.

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC:

Present car does 37mpg on a run, round town about 30.

Did do a run to see what I could get if I drove at ideal speed, 56mph up motorway in the middle of the night. Normally the Maxi did around 34, got 47mpg keeping the speed down.

One of the people I worked with used to work for Which, and tested cars. He said the only way to get consistently higher MPG is to slow down, driving at 80 will use 20% more fuel than at 60.

Running on fresh air in the mini one day we got 55mpg, but that involved all sorts of jiggery pokerey, normal was around 40mpg.

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC: On the flat, in a 50 zone (obeying the limit) I can do 80-85 mpg in 5th, going down a big hill (in 4th or 5th) I'v maxed out the dail which goes up to 9999mpg (my car displays instantaneous mpg on the dash) and going at 70-75 it does around 47.

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC:

Best I get is about 30mpg. Seems pretty good to me but apparently it isn't

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC:
Does slipping the car into neutral at all oppurtunities help increase mpg e.g. when going down hills, coming up to distant traffic lights which are on red etc

Does anyone have any other tips to get more out of a petrol tank?

Matt

In reply to tornado rider:


Yes, use two gallon cans with your syphon tube.

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC:

don't know what's good for a diesle. I get good 45 from my petrol clio (1997 R) but then I do tend to drive a little faster and more pokily than the optimum for mpg! Will try leaving for Bristol on time on Wed so I can see what I can get driving slowly!

In reply to A O:

That's very impressive. What car model/year is it?
I always change down to 4th below 60 mph (about 2000 rpm in 5th), so I might try doing 50 mph in 5th to see what effect it has.

In reply to sutty:

There was a piece in the Guardian about the petition against road-pricing which reckoned that knocking 10mph off the national and motorway speed limits *and strictly enforcing those limits* would save around double the CO2 emissions of the road-pricing scheme. Obviously something that Clarkson et al. won't be too keen on shouting about.

On Christmas Day I drove over to my mother-in-law's and stuck conscientiously to the speed limits. On the return journey I drove normally, which while exceeding the limits is not excessive. The result? About 10% better MPG. Due to the time of the journeys, traffic congestion wasn't really relevant - I would invariably be first or second at traffic lights for example. The journey was roughly 1/3 motorway, 1/3 national roads, 1/3 urban.

boB

In reply to Bob:

Aye, that'll be about right. Jeremy Clarkson: middle England's answer to Noam Chomsky

In reply to Chris Craggs: tell me about it , just sold my 530 v8 BMW, only paid £600 for it, but got between 7 - 18 mpg out of it!! kept it for 6 months, until near bankruptcy.

In reply to Bob:

in other words, it cost you (and possibly the environment) more to get there faster. Same as lots of services (postal service and rail service being examples).

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC:
A previous car rolled off the driveway with the engine off. Say 1 mph, no fuel used. Therefore, INFINITY mpg.

I win!!!!!!

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC:
Long run up to Scotland when I had my Granada - good roads, almost no traffic, cruise control set fast enough to get me a speeding ticket - onboard trip mileage computer thingie was reading 60-70mpg most of the time.
Used to cost me a fortune driving it round town though.

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC:

Once managed 30.9mpg but it usually lurks around the 15mpg mark - I don't tend to monitor it though as it's better for my sanity.

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC: 15 mpg

In reply to darren-surrey:

that's disgraceful!

In reply to darren-surrey:

shocking! being as how you live in surrey I'll make a sweeping prejudice that it's not because you're driving some old banger which takes more oil than petrol...

which leads me to the conclusion you must be running some kind of old classic?

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC:

6 litres/100km

In reply to Bob:
"There was a piece in the Guardian about the petition against road-pricing which reckoned that knocking 10mph off the national and motorway speed limits *and strictly enforcing those limits* would save around double the CO2 emissions of the road-pricing scheme. "

I can believe that - look at the 50 mph limits imposed in 1973 after the Middle East War of that year to conserve fuel.

When I went from driving "normally" to driving for economy I went from about 420 miles per tank to 550, a couple of times 600 miles (8 year old 2 litre cavalier)

Only added about 10-15 minutes driving Newcastle to Penrith

In reply to kevin k:


Ha ha... I'm not the only one then. 540i... 14.7mpg average, <10mpg driven hard. Good job I can see my house from work, using it for a real commute would have my wallet running for cover!

Ten years older 635Csi straight 6 is much better giving over 20mpg driven the same <confused face>.

jk

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC:

The trip says it not uncommon for me to hit 0-3mpg from a standing start gunning it. I like to think it's faulty...

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC: since mine hasn't got a trip computer this is calculated from a tank

best was about 450 miles (for 40 quids ish) which equated to 50mpg, driving slowly-ish and long distances on motorways

the worst so far about 30mpg - but that did make for a happy dave! half a-roads and then urban with a lead foot.

that's a pug 2.0ltr d turbo with a possible ecu tweak (recent purchase and stil unsure)

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC:

I have an Ibiza Cupra and on average get 32mpg on the road 40mpg at 65 on the motorway normally about 30mpg on the motorway though :-/

Best I've had is 43mpg worst is 11mpg

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC: It won't hurt to wack some injector cleaner in with a tank of diesel some time.
That, or a gallon of unleaded in a near full tank of diesel. Helps clean things out.

We have a pair of diesel VWs.
S reg Passat TDi 110 5 speed, not hard to break 50MPG, not unknown to break 60MPG. Average on a country lane commute.
Motorways can see it in mid 50s, cruising at 80ish.
W reg Golf estate TDi 115, 6 speed. Regularly between 40 and 50, more difficult to get over 50, never seen 60+, on the same commute.
Motorways seem to sit just over 50, steady 80ish.

Long term trip average for both is around 45-48, one's Mway, the other X country.

When I owned Priscilla, I reckon I was almost into single digits on some Scottish roads... 8^(

TTG

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC:

The best I've had was with a Rover Metro 1.4 diesel, filled the tank to the brim and measured the miles to the next fill up to the brim so fuel was spot on. Got 74 mpg driving from Nottingham to Portland!

On a trip back from Font to Nottingham, it cost me <£25 using French diesel (about 5 years ago).

In reply to Andy S:

http://www.torquecars.com/tools/uk-mpg-calculator.php

In reply to nikinko:

nope. it has a V8, though. and isn't very tall.

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC:

as per reply on the other thread, Peugeot 307sw diesel, 30 mph in fifth, trip computer averages about 80 mpg!

Motorway at 60ish averages about 60mpg, at 80 struggles to do 50mpg. go figure, as they say.

Top tips? Always drive downhill

(and apparently 'fuel saving' tyres are worth it...)

In reply to darren-surrey:

Ooo a guessing game... low V8, fairly low consumption, sportscar... TVR?

15mpg average it wont be anything huge so no Cobra or GT40 at a guess.

jk

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC:

44-48mpg 02 reg Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDDi

I get the 48 if I do 65mph everywhere, 44 if I do 75 or do a lot of stop-start driving.

In reply to jkarran:

Not a TVR. Used to have one. Gorgeous thing. A GT40 would be great, and you're right, it isn't.

If you want to continue this game, you can email me your guesses as it's kinda going off on a tangent!

In reply to darren-surrey:


As good a game as it is I think I'll pass thanks
jk

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC:
Renault Scenic diesel.
On a recent trip back from snowdonia, we filled up in Betwys y coed before trundling down the A5/A49 - computer showed up to 73mpg, but overall was 60'ish down to Severn Bridge, dropping to 55 once we hit the M5/A38 back to Cornwall.
Landrover Defender 110 300TDi gives 30mpg, rain or shine, unless towing.
Both get a shot of Redex injector cleaner every 6000 miles.
N

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC:

Mazda 323F 2.0 turbo diesel. About 42 mpg if I hammer it, fractionally more if I drive like an old man with a flat cap. Not worth gnawing the steering wheel in frustration for the sake of a couple of extra mpg.

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC:

motorway cruising: 45

averaged over past 6 months: 30

flat out, sans roof: 20

sat in traffic: 10

Fortunately it spends 90% of it's time doing the first one.

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC:

Have heard having you engine chipped can do this but have no first hand evidence

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC: Drove from darlo to glencoe on a 1/3 tank stuck to 60 all the way, that worked out at over 70 mpg in rover 45 diesel.

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC:

Accelerate slowly; use observation to work out when people are going to make you slow down so you don't have to brake sharply. Cruise at about 50-60mph (depends on car and gearing) for optimum MPG usage. Keep your tyres pumped to manufacturer's recommended pressures. Avoid traffic jams. It's basically about planning.

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC: Best I managed was 60 mpg cruising at 60 mph on a quiet Motorway for 35ish miles. Not bad for a 2.2l diesel Primera I thought, given the size of the car and engine. Couldn't travel at that speed all the time as going so slowly was dull. Normally average 42-44mpg in typical driving, but get upto 50mpg on a long journey.

Andy F

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC:

I've got a 1.4 16v Skoda Octavie and managed 72 mpg tonight on the way back from Pitlochry. Quite chuffed with that. I sat at about 60-65mph and tried to hold it at about 3000 rpm. This is on old cheap tires (still legal!)

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC: I don't really know except that it has a computer thingy that tells me how many miles I've got left in the tank (approx) and it beeps at me when there's only 50 miles left. I have noticed that if I fill up and then drive at 70mph on the motorway the computer thingy tells me it can do 400+ miles on what's in the tank, but if I'm town driving its much, much less.

I gauge fuel consumption by filling up when its a quarter full - if I do that every Thursday then its an average week's fuel consumption.

In reply to Nick Smith - UKC:


Mostly your right foot is in contoll of economy but good maintanance also is a big help - Tyre pressures, keeping up with regular sevice intervals (particularly oil change), modern cars run lower viscosity oil to ease mechanical losses from cold.

You drive a diesel - its reccomended to take it to 4000-4500 rpm a couple of times per week (in regular use) to allow the injectors to "self clean" making them disperse the fuel more for improved buning and efficiency. Engine cleaners help with buring too.

I tried running tyre pressures a bit high to improve economy but the increased trye wear wasn't worth it.
another poster mentioned not going too fast on M-way 10% more fuel between 60 and 70 apparently,