Citreon Berlingo purchase -big mistake

Carolinemjs

On 1st October I bought a Berlingo from a Citroen dealer for £9300, 2012 1.6 diesel.
Fuel economy is important to me as I live in a rural area and have to drive everywhere. The salesman, who also happened to be the director, told me the Berlingo is a very economical vehicle, implying that a figure of 60 mpg was possible. I took the car out for a test drive and on return commented that the mpg display was firmly displaying 50.4.
His response was that he would be very surprised if I didn't achieve 60 on the display. I said, OK on your word then I will be very disappointed if I dont! There was further discussion about mpg and when he suggested I go into town and speak to the taxi drivers who use Berlingos I said I dont need to do that - I trust you:((

Well the first fill up returned 40.7 mpg and the second, yesterday 42.5.
I contacted him after the first fill up expressing my extreme disappointment and of course there were all kinds of excuses as to why I only got 40.7.
Yes I do mostly short runs, but I've been doing the same kind of trip for 10 years now and my old diesel focus estate, written off in December, still managed to return 46-48! I would have been happy with that as a minimum.

The director has been on holiday since we last spoke but returns tomorrow and if there is anything I can I would like to get started.
This is a family business, they are the largest Citroen repairers in the UK, though not largest dealers. The company mission statement is "To be recommended".

Clearly I'm not happy, that's why I'm writing here. Do I have any kind of redress or am I the victim of my own stupidity in trusting the dealer?

Caroline

AdrianC

It would be illegal for them to have quoted any fuel consumption figure apart from the official figures.

Carolinemjs

Really?? at no point did he even mention official figures!
What should I do?

force_ten

the official fuel consumption figures quoted by the dealer would be impossible to achieve in real world driving conditions and it is common knowledge that this is the case

in real life driving on the road you will never achieve the published and quoted MPG figures

force_ten

www.telegraph.co.uk/Fuel-economy-why-your-car-wont-match-the-official-mpg.

have a read of that it is a well known problem

AdrianC

Firstly, I'd be finding out what the official figures are - they'll vary depending on the exact spec.

http://carfueldata.direct.gov.uk/search-new-or-used-cars.aspx

Assuming it's a 90bhp manual, probably the most common, then the official figures are likely to be:
Extra-urban, 56.5mpg; Urban, 40.4mpg, Combined, 49.6mpg. If only one figure's quoted, it should be the combined.

If you want to get anywhere, though, you're going to need to prove he said what you claim he said, otherwise it's just he-said-she-said, and isn't going to go anywhere.

Given that you accept the trip computer gave an average figure of 50mpg when you bought it, the fact that you're only getting 40mpg suggests your driving style and journeys may well play a part. What you achieved out of a different vehicle is not particularly relevant.

Carolinemjs

Thank you both, since he did not quote any official figures then we really are in a he said she said situation. My point is that he mislead me, significantly.
I know nothing about official figures.
As we were discussing economy I referred to my previous info from a different vehicle indicating clearly that this would be my minimum expectation.

force_ten

as it says in the article i linked to The blame for inaccurate fuel figures largely rests with the European Union test that produces them not with the manufacturer of the car

they present a car for testing and the car is put through a series of tests in laboratory conditions on a rolling road and they then give the emission and MPG figures to the manufacturer and that is what is used as the official figures

the official figure is what the dealer has quoted to you and not the real world figure that many say they should use and are often 75% of the official figure

go back and speak to the selling dealer if you want but the chances of getting anything done is very unlikely as chances are he has done nothing wrong

usefulmale

Carolinemjs wrote: »

Thank you both, since he did not quote any official figures then we really are in a he said she said situation. My point is that he mislead me, significantly.
I know nothing about official figures.
As we were discussing economy I referred to my previous info from a different vehicle indicating clearly that this would be my minimum expectation.

Why have you spent close to 10 grand on an item you have not researched?

Marktheshark

Make sure the car has an interim oil change between each service.
That engine has a well documented and known issue know by the nickname of the "black death"
The service interval is well over egged and carbon builds up around 8000 miles which destroys the engine in as low as 50k.
Those that do a halfway oil change avoid the black death and also noye mpg drops off when the oil is due

[Deleted User]

It seems a heck of a lot of money for a 3 year old Citroen.