Family sized fuel efficient petrol car?

factor29

I currently own a mondeo and have recently dropped the annual mileage I will be driving from 15-20,000 down to max 8000

i used to drive 90% motorway miles and got 45mpg on average. I'm now doing 90% a/b roads driving and am hitting 37 mpg.

As its a big diesel car it's hardly surprising.

I would like a large-ish car due to pushchair and kids etc but don't necessarily need one as big. Does anyone have recommendations of a car which would be ideal for that sort of driving which would return better MPG? Probably a petrol would be better.

Would need to be same price as what I would trade the mondeo in for - webuyanycar give an offer of just under £3000 so probably around that figure?

keith1950

For a "family" sized car driving mainly town/urban roads you will be lucky to get more than 35mpg.

Foxy-Stoat_3

1.8 petrol Mondeo would be my first choice or just keep your current car as you will get similar MPG figures on the petrol.

OddballJamie

Unless you find a private seller wishing to do a straight swap, then don't bother. Any fuel saving you make, if any will be swallowed up by the dealer margin when you trade for another car.

Of course if you start to have DPF problems, get shot of it.

forgotmyname

I have the same issue. If you look at my average MPG you will think i drive a larger engined petrol car.

But its just the short journeys that i do. If your spending more time in traffic then a smaller engine will consume less. But its not usually that big a margin.

StripeyMiata

OddballJamie wrote: »

Unless you find a private seller wishing to do a straight swap, then don't bother. Any fuel saving you make, if any will be swallowed up by the dealer margin when you trade for another car.

Of course if you start to have DPF problems, get shot of it.

I'd be more worried about Dual mass flywheel, sister went through two in her Mondeo in 3 years, cost a fortune.


OK, you might laugh but bear with me.


Ford Fusion.


Stopped laughing?


Personally not my cup of tea but my dad swears by his, he's owned three and he ferries my mum and three grandkids in it with no problem. Boot is very good as well, he gave us a lift to the airport and I was very impressed with how much luggage it could take. All three cars totally reliable.


Ugly thing though....


Or 3 grand will get you a 1.6 Zafira with about 70000 miles, had a look on fuelly and they seem to be averaging abut 35MPG

C_Mababejive

1.8 petrol civic. Very roomy,timeless styling,reliable,can be sporty and good economy..

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Honda_Civic_front_20070928.jpg

warehouse

Citroen C4 diesel. HUGE MPG around town.

Richard53

Keep it, because:

• If you intend to keep the same size of car, you are very unlikely to find a petrol that will give better mpg than a diesel
• Even if you did, the difference would be marginal, and the payback period extremely long, especially when you factor in the costs of changing - if you bought from a dealer, you would be giving away at least £500 to his profits
• You know your car, and a new one would be a gamble - could be brilliant, could be a money pit.

It's often said that the cheapest car is the one you already own. For your needs, I would be suggesting - a diesel Mondeo Mine is the 2-litre Tdci 130, and gives me 43 mpg on B roads, and up to high 50s on a steady A-road run, keeping to the limits.


The only rational reason to sell would be that it was a post-2007 model with a DPF, and the kind of mileage you are thinking of might be a bit low and slow for the DPF to function well. Changing to a petrol might make sense then, but it would almost certainly cost you more money in fuel.

LandyAndy

C_Mababejive wrote: »

1.8 petrol civic. Very roomy,timeless styling,reliable,can be sporty and good economy..

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Honda_Civic_front_20070928.jpg

:eek:I think they look terribly dated.