car using soooo much petrol,help

Stigy

Buffy_the_Vampire_Bat wrote: »

My T reg (1999) Focus 1.8 has a 55 litre tank, surprised to hear that some had smaller tanks?

OP - My 1.8 (petrol/manual) normally does about 34mpg on a fairly even mixture of local and long distance driving. I can coax more out of her sometimes by being extra careful. I love the car to bits, but have to say that if I was mostly doing local runs as you are, I would get a smaller engined car for better economy.

And I recommend giving a go some of Martin's suggestions that Premier has linked to, especially the ones about smoother driving, it can definitely make a difference.

Interesting, I know the 1.6-litre petrol Focus has a 37-litre tank, or at least the few I've driven have had. The ones I've driven have had the same tank as the Escort and were 2001 models....It was a while ago, but I'm sure they were smaller...put larger tanks in the 1800? I don't know.

Buffy_the_Vampire_Bat

Stigy wrote: »

Interesting, I know the 1.6-litre petrol Focus has a 37-litre tank, or at least the few I've driven have had. The ones I've driven have had the same tank as the Escort and were 2001 models....It was a while ago, but I'm sure they were smaller...put larger tanks in the 1800? I don't know.

I've only ever driven the one Mk1 Focus and that's mine. I just assumed they all had the same size tank, guess not!

Stigy

Buffy_the_Vampire_Bat wrote: »

I've only ever driven the one Mk1 Focus and that's mine. I just assumed they all had the same size tank, guess not!

These were Mk1s too!...I might be wrong, but something stuck in my head that told me they were 37-litre tanks....I only recall putting about 30-litres in them from near empty, plus they only ever done about 320-miles to a tank! If 55-litres they would have only been doing about 25mpg....

All the above mad me assume they used the same tank as Fiestas and Escorts.

Maybe they were just broken, lol.

s_b

goldilocks wrote: »

i know petrol is expensive,but our ford focus is just using soooo much.any ideas on how to check what to do about reducing the consumption.many thanks

soooo there you go goldilocks,cut down on the porridge
a lighter left foot
proper servicing
quality petrol
tyres to manufacturers pressures and tracked up properly

and if that all fails as it will then you need to downsize your car
have i heard this before?
daily
everyone wants me to take foci mondoo vectrusk renault liabilities,and take away a little sweety and spend no dosh
add in to the equation some of these basic cars now command £260 a yerar road tax and its no wonder they arent wanted for poddling round townus


its not happening

kalaika

goldilocks wrote: »

1600 cc.manual.typical mpg not sure,and driving is just local,but

If it's all local, one sure fire way to reduce consumption is of course use your car less. Ask yourself if it is necessary to do every journey in the car. Is it possible to walk/jog/cycle instead? How about lift share if you do the same journey as someone else?
If you do have to use the car, plan your journey to take the most efficient route. i.e. If A and B are close to each other and you currently go to A on a Monday and B on a Tuesday, see if you can combine going to both in one journey, etc.

im-lost

kalaika wrote: »

If it's all local, one sure fire way to reduce consumption is of course use your car less. Ask yourself if it is necessary to do every journey in the car. Is it possible to walk/jog/cycle instead? How about lift share if you do the same journey as someone else?
If you do have to use the car, plan your journey to take the most efficient route. i.e. If A and B are close to each other and you currently go to A on a Monday and B on a Tuesday, see if you can combine going to both in one journey, etc.

Yes, because that's how real life works :rotfl: relying on others for a lift when you have a car, really? you know people that do this? im sure they are in the minority, jogging 5 miles to tesco at 10pm for a pint of milk

Im sure all the things that the OP uses the car for can be condensed down in to a day or two, bettys birthday bash on Friday can be brought forward to Tuesday, just so the op can go to the carboot just before, to save a few quid in petrol.

Really some people live on a different planet.

Tucker

im-lost wrote: »

Yes, because that's how real life works :rotfl: relying on others for a lift when you have a car, really? you know people that do this? im sure they are in the minority, jogging 5 miles to tesco at 10pm for a pint of milk

Im sure all the things that the OP uses the car for can be condensed down in to a day or two, bettys birthday bash on Friday can be brought forward to Tuesday, just so the op can go to the carboot just before, to save a few quid in petrol.

Really some people live on a different planet.

Well I though it was sound advice...

How many of the journeys might be half a mile to school to drop off of collect kids. There are probably over a hundred people on my estate who drive less than that to our local primary school everyday. Cold engine, car using throttle, probably 15mpg to 20 mpg if that's all you ever do!!

tim9966

All Focus's and the last of the Escort's all had 55 litre tanks however Fiesta's were smaller. I think were 40.

The official figures for a 1998 1.6 Focus 5 door Zetec are 30.7 mpg (urban) 51.4 (extra urban) and 40.9 (combined).

How many miles do you get from a full tank? Town driving does really kill the mpg. You need to say this before we know if there is a problem or that's what you have to put up with. Could be anything from 250 upwards.

sabretoothtigger

Its not the town part but the stop start that does it. If you drove round with the brakes left on it would burn a similar amount.

The solution is to slow down not completely stop if possible, driving slow in of its self around town or anywhere is not going to cost alot. Moving off from a complete stop uses the most fuel, it drops mpg to less then 10 but coasting along is more like 50mpg in most cars

goldilocks

got it serviced,and already seems a lot lighter to drive,so thanks to everyone for their ideas,and the link