Fuel consumption

baza52

Hi, I have an old 02 plate auto ford focus 1.6.
I filled up the tank to the point the pump cut off and then drove for 200 miles before filling the tank again.
These were all miles driven in town and it cost £50 in fuel to re fill again.


That's 25p per mile.


Is this expected or is the car in need of attention?


Thanks.

Joe_Horner

Hard to say. The number of litres used is more useful than the cost of the fuel because we don't know how much per litre it is where you are. But, assuming £1.15 per litre, that's 43.5 litres, or 9.6 gallons. Which would be 20.8 mpg.

But over that sort of mileage you don't get a very accurate result. I notice that your figures (200 miles and £50) are exact round numbers, which they probably weren't in reality. Say it was actually 203 miles and £49.50, that would change the result by over 0.5mpg.

Then allow for the fact that different pumps may cut off at slightly different levels. If the second fill cut off a couple of litres later than the first, your apparent fuel use would be more than it really was and you'd be up around 22 - 23mpg.

That's still not great but you could easily drop a 1.6 petrol auto to that with all-town driving, especially if it was a lot of short trips rather than driving round the city centre for 12 hours non-stop!

Nebulous2

Older car, auto box, that's quite possible in my view. Town driving really hammers the mileage on most cars.

daveyjp

My mk 1 Focus manual did mid 20s round town. Add an old style auto box and low 20s is not unexpected.

Iceweasel

Assuming that those 200 miles were all fairly short journeys, I'd say that would be just about what I'd expect.

As Joe H has said you really need to be very accurate with your figures as over 200 miles even small errors will throw the results well out.

Fill right to the brim and then do the same next time so that you have an exact number of litres and an exact mileage which will likely give a more accurate result.

Don't be put off autos for your next car as modern autos are more economical than manual boxes these days - and perfectly suited to city driving of course.

On_Stanley_on

I have an 04 plate megan senic 1.6 auto (petrol), and only manage about 25mpg. But I spend a lot of time on motorways and for me to get anywhere with this shed I need to be on the power all the time.

If I am just round town I get near to 30mpg. older petrol auto's are shocking for mpg. I want to change my car but I am in the boat of spending to much on fuel and maintenance I can't put any money together for a deposit.!!

OSO

Strider590

On a car of that age, you need to check/replace the thermostat, a thermostat jammed open, will keep the engine too cool and decrease your MPG by anything up to 15%.

ElefantEd

Check tyre pressures are correct as well - can make quite a difference.

20mpg sounds quite low to me, I think I'd cycle instead!!

Iceweasel

ElefantEd wrote: »

Check tyre pressures are correct as well - can make quite a difference.

20mpg sounds quite low to me, I think I'd cycle instead!!

If I was cycling I'd likely have an energy-drink consumption of around 20mpg.

The cost per mile would be pretty similar I think, as long as it's the supermarket's own brand and not Red Bull.

Foxy-Stoat_3

Holy moley, our RX300 makes 21mpg....25mpg after a recent cambelt replacement.

Thermostate, spark plugs, leads, lamber sensors, oil & filter changes, see if the brakes are binding, and check the timing, and try driving more "economically". Also if you can work the auto box and let it change up quicker it will help loads.

I didnt know how to drive ecomonically until I got myself a E36 318 BMW with the economical needle in the middle of the clocks.....had no idea that lifting off the throttle a tiny bit made such an impact on economy.

Strider590

Foxy-Stoat wrote: »

had no idea that lifting off the throttle a tiny bit made such an impact on economy.

A decelerating engine uses no fuel......... Lifting off the throttle like this isn't really telling you anything at all. Though it may explain why some people can't drive at a constant speed!!!!