Advice on keeping my car "healthy"

DomTom

I've bought a brand new corsa 2 weeks ago. the 1.3 diesel ecoflex model.

I plan on keeping this car for a long time, and while flicking through the warranty booklet i was quickly confused.

I don't want to fork out for a haynes manual, i was hoping someone here could advise me on things to do every so often, such as oil changes.

I was disapointed to find that the car also didn't do 62mpg, (i drive well, rarely accelerate sharply and don't do over 70).

on a 300 mile motorway run and 100 mile A-roads run (ie a tank) i found i did 52mpg.

i don't have a trip computer, i work out how many miles i do per full tank.

neilmcl

Just drive it as normal, stop worrying, check yhour oil and tyre pressures regularly and take it in for regular servicing as required. BTW, most quoted MPG figures are done within lab conditions, and are rarely achieved in reality.

DomTom

managed to achieve them on my previous car, quoted 45mpg and i did 44.2 over an average of 2 years.

anewman

Don't want to fork out for a haynes manual? Come off it, they're under £20, less than half an hour's labour rates in a garage! Try searching for the manual for your model on www.bookkoob.com to find it at the cheapest price. Only thing is if the car is new there is unlikely to be a manual that will cover it.

I'd be happy with 52mpg. Do they not do the "highway" testing at a speed of about 56mph in the standard tests these days? Therefore you may see higher mpg if you stick closer to 60mph on the motorway.

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

Drive the car normally, don't be gentle with it because its new. Don't be silly either, wait for the engine to get warm before you let it rev high.

Do that, and it'll soon loosen up. Your mpg will increase slightly as the engine settles down. mpg should also increase slightly during the warmer summer months.

Ranger8

Make sure you know when and how the DPF works, they can cause trouble on `town` cars that aren`t given the opportunity to regenerate.

tonycarew

Dom
I'm sure I read somewhere that a diesel engine isn't properly ran in until 18,000 miles and as such wont achieve maximum mpg untill then.

swannee_D_3

DomTom wrote: »

managed to achieve them on my previous car, quoted 45mpg and i did 44.2 over an average of 2 years.

what car was this please, Dom?

vaio

I'm inclined to agree the mpg will get better over time.

If you are intending to keep it long term the only thing I might be tempted to do is give it an extra oil change between scheduled ones. Use oem oil & filter

dannymccann

As said regular oil changes is the lifeblood of any combustion engine, some new cars come with service schedules 20k apart :eek: Not sure I would trust oil after 10k, even Fully Synth....

Billy-no-Money

I do a regular motorway journey once every month or so, and have been using a Kia Rio diesel for two years from new (my wife's driving instructor car - I can't afford my own!) - on the first trip it returned 52mpg, the last one (at 20000 miles or thereabouts) gave 62mpg, with no significant difference in driving style (75mph indicated max, no dawdling, brisk acceleration).

Just drive the car and enjoy it! Don't worry too much about the mechanical bits - just keep it clean inside and nice and shiny outside, and get it serviced at the right time.