Fuel Economy Reporting Thread

bec22

I have an automatic Toyota Camry, about 18 years old and 134000 on the clock but still going strong! It's got an Overdrive button - does anyone know anything about these, how you use them and what they do? The manual explains very little.

A full tank currently costs me about £44 and I get 285 miles out of that - doesn't compare well to the Golf user a few pages back who gets 500 miles a tank! I'll be eliminating some ballast and trying the fuel economic tips.

iNath

I drive a 2006 Ford Fiesta Zetec Climate with a 1.4l petrol engine, currently getting 40mpg (about 450/460 miles out of a tank).

baldmosher

Back in 1999 when petrol was expensive, I had a Fiesta with a 1.1 HCS carb engine, and I always figured it was more economical to throw it around tight corners at the expense of my tyres in order to save petrol on re-acceleration.

Then later, when petrol became extortionate, I experimented further by driving my 1.1i Saxo both carefully and pedal-to-the-metal. I found it made very little difference to my average 40-45mpg whether I floored it or took my time, although going full-tilt was a LOT more fun. Sometimes it was noticeably LESS economical to drive "gently" which I suppose backs up the "floor it" advice cited above.

However, I did notice a massive difference by thoughtful driving (remembering the timings of traffic lights) to reduce the time of my journey. If I was lucky enough to be at the front of the queue at one set of lights, for example, by flooring it up to 40mph (past the speed camera) I'd just catch the next set on amber, and consequently a constant speed of precisely 43mph for 2.5 miles would mean I'd catch the next three sets on green.... obsessive perhaps, but it also saved me 5mins on my 20min commute as well as improving mpg through constant velocity.

(Incidentally, by the time I'd written off the Saxo I'd noticed my mpg was down from 45ish to 38ish - I assume through high mileage and general abuse of the engine by flooring it around corners and suchlike.... )

I also tried V-Power in the Saxo for a couple of months, but although there was a definite immediate improvement in performance it wasn't worth the expense. Switching back to regular I didn't even notice the difference.

Now petrol is 5% cheaper than diesel, I'm driving a 1.9TD Golf (good move eh), which Parkers claims to average 44mpg at 60mph. I have to say, I'm still learning the tricks of diesels and definitely the turbo, but although I always fill up at the cusp of reserve, which isn't precise by any means, I've had variations of anything from 330 to 550 miles from a tank. So something I'm doing must be making a massive difference, but I know that the 550 miles included 160 miles of motorway, doing a fairly constant speed with only one bit of heavy traffic for a few mins. I have saved all my receipts since I bought the car in November so at some point I will stick them in a spreadsheet when I'm bored and see if I can spot a pattern in my mpgs - my normal drive is 5 miles to work and back every day so I'll be able to pick out the long journeys easily enough as I'll have bought petrol more frequently!

I still remember the timings for all the traffic lights to work and back and try to avoid them wherever possible. Remember the Institute of Advanced Motorists' sage advice: always make progress.

mhmaddog

54 plate Skoda 2.0 DSG TDI Elegance. for the last 30 years I have driven between 20k and 40k miles per year and have always kept a record of my mpg - formerly by brimming the tank and recording the mileage and in the last 6 years through the trip computer of the various Skodas I have owned. (I would say that the trip computer inflates the data it gives by about 5%)

The current one (above) does 62-65 mpg on a 240 mile round trip from North Somerset to Hayes, West London, during the height of the rush hour via the M4/M5 interchange (very busy) and the horrendous part of the M4 between Reading and the M25. I am light on the throttle, use cruise control set to 70mph and try to anticipate the need for breaking.

If I drive faster and aggressively without anticipation and cruise and with late breaking it does about 40 mpg.

Nowadays I always (try to) observe the relevant speed limits, not necessarily because it is legal, but because I have found (over the last 20 years) that travel is much more relaxing, even on a longer trip (say 120 miles) I arrive less than 10 minutes later that if I were "rushing" (I've timed this against a colleague who does the same trip at a much higher speed and much more aggressively) and my license is safe(r) - its only ever much quicker if you drive quickly in the small hours!

Carrying my son as a passenger (14 stone) costs about 5 to 8mpg. Roof bars cost 3-5 mpg. Climate control about 2-3 mpg, but it has an econ setting which seems to work well. I find using more expensive fuels (BP Ultima?) makes little difference in the cost per mile (marginally higher mpg, but higher cost per gallon).

The current 2.0l diesel engine and DSG gearbox seems to offer better economy that a conventional Skoda autobox coupled to a 1.9 TDi, but far and away the biggest influence on MPG is how you drive!! Its worth noting that I regularly achieved 50mpg from a 2.5 V6 TDi Skoda Superb Auto, versus 35 if I hammered it, whereas The difference between gentle and hard driving for a petrol 1.8 turbo auto Octavia was only 5-8mpg!!

So I guess the message is driving with a light right foot and some anticipation can hugely reduce the cost of fuel, the wear and tear on your car and the stress of driving.

I've owned and driven over 50 different cars in the last 35 years - and no, I don't work for Skoda, but they are without a shadow of a doubt the best value, best performing, most reliable and best equipped cars money can buy, with the friendliest dealer network and low servicing costs..... why do you think so many of the provincial taxi drivers have one?!

Cheers

Martin

mhmaddog

bec22 wrote: »

I have an automatic Toyota Camry, about 18 years old and 134000 on the clock but still going strong! It's got an Overdrive button - does anyone know anything about these, how you use them and what they do? The manual explains very little.

A full tank currently costs me about £44 and I get 285 miles out of that - doesn't compare well to the Golf user a few pages back who gets 500 miles a tank! I'll be eliminating some ballast and trying the fuel economic tips.

Its an extra gear, and a higher one. I've had several cars with this and it makes a good contribution to MPG on long trips. If your car is a 4 speed, overdrive is like 5th (or 4th on a 3-speed) and you probably wouldn't use it below about 40 mph.
Cheers
Martin

mhmaddog

bec22 wrote: »

I have an automatic Toyota Camry, about 18 years old and 134000 on the clock but still going strong! It's got an Overdrive button - does anyone know anything about these, how you use them and what they do? The manual explains very little.

A full tank currently costs me about £44 and I get 285 miles out of that - doesn't compare well to the Golf user a few pages back who gets 500 miles a tank! I'll be eliminating some ballast and trying the fuel economic tips.

Oh, I forgot to say, I always left overdrive switched on, the autobox will use it when appropriate, I don't think you lose anything by doing this.
M

mhmaddog

careful_driver wrote: »

I bought a 1.6 Astra Auto a few months ago and became concerned about the amount of fuel it uses. I drive the car economically. Every time i fill the car I note the amount of miles that I have done, and divide that by the amount of litres that I put in the car then times that by 4.5 (the amount of litres in a gallon) and consistently it works out to 23-24 MPG. I only get about 260 miles to a full tank. I took the car back to the garage that I bought it from and they checked it over and said there is nothing wrong with the car. The independent website Parker says the car should do about 34 MPG, when I told the garage that they said they phoned up their Vauxhall Technical Department who said that 23mpg is round about right!!! I cant believe that 23mpg is right for this car. (I used to get about 34mpg when i had a Zafira which is a bigger car). So therefore IF 23mpg is right then Vauxhall lie in saying that it would do around 35mpg when they sell their Astra's!!

Does anyone have any ideas please??

Vauxhall is right. NEVER be misled by the "Official" quoted mpg. The cars are perfectly tuned, empty of ANY excess weight, have ideal type pressures and the simulated driving conditions are prefect to achieve the best fuel consumption and the lowest emissions. Its even worse if you do mostly urban driving.

In the real world you can lop between 10% and 35% off the quoted "official" figures. Having owned over 50 cars since I started driving I've found there's no substitute for proper planning and evaluation before you buy. Check out road tests where they measured "real world" mpg.

Conventional auto gearboxes will cost you as much as 15% less fuel economy and the difference between diesel and petrol speaks for itself. If you must drive an auto (like I do due to RSI in my clutch leg) get a diesel auto with DSG (Direct Select Gearbox) like those made by the VW group (VW, Skoda, SEAT). I've found the DSG box in my Octavia Diesel to be as economical as most manuals and far better than a conventional autobox.

Cheers
Martin

want2bmortgage3

I've got an 1800 petrol Mark 2 Golf on a J reg and it does between 29-36mpg. I'll probably keep driving it until it needs something major repairing. Then I'll probably spend around £500 (ebay) on a newer shape golf with a 1.4i engine, saving me on tax,insurance and hopefully fuel (40+mpg).

klint

want2bmortgage3 wrote: »

I've got an 1800 petrol Mark 2 Golf on a J reg and it does between 29-36mpg. I'll probably keep driving it until it needs something major repairing. Then I'll probably spend around £500 (ebay) on a newer shape golf with a 1.4i engine, saving me on tax,insurance and hopefully fuel (40+mpg).

You may find you won't get quite the improvement in fuel economy you expected. Modern cars tend to be bigger and heavier due to safety features etc, and so use more petrol accelerating all this extra weight around, as well as more petrol due to the new electronic devices, air conditioning, catalytic converters, power steering etc. Not to mention lower 0-60 acceleration figures despite higher top speeds.

Altarf

mhmaddog wrote: »

Vauxhall is right. NEVER be misled by the "Official" quoted mpg. The cars are perfectly tuned, empty of ANY excess weight, have ideal type pressures and the simulated driving conditions are prefect to achieve the best fuel consumption and the lowest emissions. Its even worse if you do mostly urban driving.

The testing for the official mpg has no relationship with reality.

The cars are kept at 20-30c for 6 hours before testing, so only representative if you only drive on a summers afternoon. The test is on a rolling road, so no wind resistance or hills. Everything in the car such as AC is turned off (even though it is 30c). The extra-urban test is mostly at 40mph, with only a short period at 60mph and only reaches 70mph for a few seconds in the whole test.

But the best bit is the time that the cars are allowed to get from 0 - 60 mph is 60 seconds, that's right 0-60 in one minute!

And people wonder why they cannot obtain the official mpg figures.