using too much petrol

Belloubec

I had a 2011 Golf 1.6 TDI that was written off on NYE by a storm. I got a pay out and bought a 2008 fiesta style 1.25 to tied me over until I can order a salary sacrifice car. My issue is that this fiesta is costing me a fortune in petrol - in 5 weeks it's used 145 worth! That seems astonishing to me as my golf would use 65 in 6 weeks! I do roughly 25 per day and much less at weekends.

Does this seems right or should I get it checked?

saveallmymoney

Car efficiency is measured in miles per gallon rather than pounds per week so its a bit hard to say. It would be best to reset the trip meter when you fill it up then see how much you have to put back in for how far you have travelled.

If we assume £1 per litre, and 25 miles per weekday:

Golf: 65 litres, 750 miles = 45 mpg
Fiesta: 145 litres, 625 miles = 19.6 mpg

So yes, the Fiesta probably needs looking at!

londonTiger

seems unusually low on the fiesta. how old is the car? has it been maintained and serviced? In paticular any lambda issues?

maninthestreet

I can get about 32 or 33 mpg from 1.4 petrol-engined car on relatively short journeys (5 mile or less), so 19.6 mpg for a 1.25 is really bad.

bigjl

I used rough figure of 25 a day M-F and 25 all weekend.

Using the figure given the Golf was around 64mpg based on a pump price of around £1.02 a litre.

Did the same for the Fiesta and got 25mpg. Using the same price for petrol (prices near me are the same for petrol and diesel at the moment.

Could be a blocked Cat, lambda sensor problems, or it could simply be trying to get the same performance from a small low powered Fiesta as you obtained from a torquey turbo diesel.

Driven hard any car can be pushed into sub 30's if it's a lot of urban use.

If you drive down a dual carriageway at a steady 56mph all the time then you could well have a problem.

Bigphil1474

I have an 09 Fiesta and it does about 45 mpg - 90% urban driving. Most days I do individual journeys of about 10 miles - to work 10 miles, out and about from the office 10 ish miles, go home 10 miles. I don't drive like a loony, but then I don't dawdle either. Mine is a 1.4. On motorway journeys it will display 50 - 55 mpg if I reset the counter. Won't be 100% accurate but isn't far off based on petrol usage.

almillar

If you're banging along the motorway in a diesel at 70, then a small petrol engine might be less economical in this case as it'll be working hard, and at high revs, though maybe not by as much as your figures say - you need to get your figures right. Zero the trip, fill the tank, drive, record mileage, repeat. Getting the info from at least a tank's worth will be more accurate than you have now.

dlm

Clean maf sensor, egr and check CAT for blockages. Fords never were economical cars even when new - where some makes were cracking 50-60mpg, fords were still stuck on 35-45mpg.

BeenThroughItAll

dlm wrote: »

Clean maf sensor, egr and check CAT for blockages. Fords never were economical cars even when new - where some makes were cracking 50-60mpg, fords were still stuck on 35-45mpg.

Yeah, I get the distinct impression the OP is going to be able to do all of those things.

BeenThroughItAll

My money is on not-very-accurate

10 PUT £10 FUEL IN TANK
20 DRIVE n MILES
30 GOTO 10

MPG calculation.

Silver-Surfer_2

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

My money is on not-very-accurate

10 PUT £10 FUEL IN TANK
20 DRIVE n MILES
30 GOTO 10

MPG calculation.

That's basic, you're showing your age.

Did you have a ZX81 or Spectrum?