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Mpg Figures...


Mike77
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Hi all, just thought I'd post up my mpg figures from my first good run in the car,,,, 114 mile trip to my holiday desitnation lol, some motorway then A roads and duel carrage ways, got here and flicked the computer onto the mpg info and it was showing 54.7mpg :-) which I've got to say I was pretty pleased with, especially as we hit about 6 sets of roadworks which brought the speed right down to about 30. I wasn't careful on the way down, very rarely below 70 ish lol. Overall very pleased with the figures,,, fuel gauge hardly moved. Might take my time at about the 56mph mark on the way back, see if I can hit the 60mpg figure.

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thats really good Mike. My last trip to Yorkshire (125miles) i took it easy (60-70mph) and got approx 50mpg and then on the way back i had dropped down a gear and drove home most of the way in 4th and still managed 53mpg so was well chuffed. the revs werent high so didnt relaise until i had about 15 miles left! i must have covered around 90miles in 4th!

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We were on holiday on the West coast of Scotland a three weeks ago and trundling round the local roads the mpg figure went up to 64mpg, the highest we've ever recorded! Back home on a good run it usually sits around 53-55mpg and short local hops rapidly drop it down to 45-47. When we first got the car I compared the reading against a full-tank-to-full-tank check and found it was accurate to within about 2mpg. Even allowing for inevitable inaccuracy it's interesting to see the difference made by driving style and distance covered. It really confirms that diesels are at their best when used long-distance.

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Picked up my 2009 Focus 1.8TDCi last week, so still working out my economy.

Came from a 1.6 petrol Astra which returned a decent 35-38mpg average, however so far the trip computer on the Focus is saying an average of 41mpg, which would be a bit disappointing TBH. Was hoping to get nearer 50mpg. My dad used to have a 2004 Focus Estate with the 1.8TDCi engine, and averaged 55mpg in his.

My daily commute (13 miles each way to work) includes duel carriageway fro about 8 miles. I am not booting it, and trying to drive careful, but so far the economy isn't looking much better than the Astra, and now paying a higher price/litre for diesel, I was hoping for higher.

I will be off on a run up to Wooler in Northumberland this weekend (from Newcastle), so will fuel up and see how it does on A-Roads with an average speed of 50-60mph. Did the same trip about 5 years ago in a Clio 1.5DCi I had at the time, and that averaged 75mpg for the same journey!

As I say, I'll give it another few fuel ups to see if things improve before trying to sort a problem that may not be there.

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41 does seem a bit on the low side although a 13-mile trip is a bit marginal for a diesel I'd say. Diesel lumps do take a while longer to get to working temperature due to more metal and lower combustion temperatures. Your dad's sounds about right but you don't say what kind of motoring he was doing.

You should notice a significant improvement during your up-coming journey. I find that short-shifting helps a bit - change up before the revs go over about 2K as the turbo starts to kick in about there. It's not necessary to rev it as it pulls like a train from low revs and mine will pick up cleanly from 1K as long as it's not going uphill.

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Cheers for the reply.

I'm also still getting used to driving a diesel again after 3 years in a petrol, and as you say, learning that you don't need to over-rev it .

Hopefully it will improve once I get used to it. The main thing is that it doesn't start costing me more to run/month, than the Astra did.

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I have a 1.8 TDCI 57 plate and ive only managed to get it up to 47mpg. my daily commute is 58 miles round trip and 90% motorway which i keep to 70mph all the way.

I am disappointed and i see all the other 1.8's doing so well :(

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ace7d6d4-5c70-4dec-8e3f-70fef4f2e833_zps

115 miles, mix of town, m40, a40

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i used to average 39-40mpg a week travelling 52 miles a day, however since new job im now travelling 4 miles a day so my mpg has dropped to 35 which is still quite good

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I have a 1.8 TDCI 57 plate and ive only managed to get it up to 47mpg. my daily commute is 58 miles round trip and 90% motorway which i keep to 70mph all the way.

I am disappointed and i see all the other 1.8's doing so well :(

Warren, drive at 60 all the way and you will see a massive improvement. reset the trip computer first.

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Warren, drive at 60 all the way and you will see a massive improvement. reset the trip computer first.

+1 - reset the computer before a long "economy" run and you will see your avarage MPG go up

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My fuel light came on this morning (at 50 miles remaining), and so far the fuel computer and roughly working out fuels used/miles is still working out at approx 41-42mpg.

Have been trying to drive more carefully since my first message on here, not over-revving... keeping car below/up to 2000 revs... short shifting etc. The car has the optional 18" alloys fitted, instead of the standard Titanium ones - could that be having an effect?

However, off up to Wooler this evening, which is a 100 mile round trip, on A-roads, so we'll see what the car gives on a decent run at an average constant of 50-60mph.

Have had diesel Renaults in the past with the 1.5DCi engine, and whilst smaller than the Focus engine, a Clio averaged 60mpg and a scenic 55mpg for the same daily commutes that I'm doing now, without needing to be particularly careful.

That was why I was hoping for nearer 50mpg out of the Focus. However, the economy is still higher than the Petrol Astra I had, so I doubt its gonna start costing more/week to run on fuel, but obviously I want it to return as best as possible.

If there was anything I could do to improve it, as well as changing driving style/habits, what could help? Any additives or change of filters? I don't think its had a 'recent' service, apart from the pre-collection one by the garage, where I think they only mentioned oil and oil filter being changed.

Cheers for any more advice given.

MJ

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well the average trip computer wont really be relative as when you sit in traffic youre getting 0MPG so its messing up the real MPG value

you should be getting 65-70mpg driving at 50mph in 5th

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@Marc

check you tyre pressures and lose any unneccassary weight from the car, this will improve MPG.

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well the average trip computer wont really be relative as when you sit in traffic youre getting 0MPG so its messing up the real MPG value

you should be getting 65-70mpg driving at 50mph in 5th

I know its not scientific or the best way to do it, but last week I put £35 worth in, when the trip said it had about 75 miles left to empty. A week later, when it said 75 miles left, I'd done about 242 miles. The £35 petrol (@ £1.359/litre) was 5.66 gallons.... 242 miles divided by 5.66g = 42.7mpg. The trip is saying an average of 41.5mpg, so it cant be that far adrift, can it?

As I say, we'll see how it performs this evening on a decent run... I'll reset the fuel comp again before we set off.

@Marc

check you tyre pressures and lose any unneccassary weight from the car, this will improve MPG.

I'll check tyre pressures, but in terms of unnecessary weight, there's nothing in the car that isn't fixed down/standard fit (apart from me! :) )... no load in the boot - is that what you meant, or do you mean start stripping bits off/out of it??

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I know its not scientific or the best way to do it, but last week I put £35 worth in, when the trip said it had about 75 miles left to empty. A week later, when it said 75 miles left, I'd done about 242 miles. The £35 petrol (@ £1.359/litre) was 5.66 gallons.... 242 miles divided by 5.66g = 42.7mpg. The trip is saying an average of 41.5mpg, so it cant be that far adrift, can it?

Bear in mind that the range figure is calculated from the average mpg figure so it's no surprise that they are in step. The only accurate way is tank brim to tank brim. The trip is useful for seeing how it goes up and down in different scenarios and driving styles.

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best I can get out my car is 41mpg on the way down the motorway to the office... looks like I need a good service at least...

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Ok, so I'm now home from my mini break, with 309 miles on the trip computer, around 230 of that acount for the trip there and back and the rest (80 ish miles) were stop start trips, up and down hills, a lot of gear changing, 1st 2nd 3rd etc whilst there,,,, car is showing just below half a tank now, again on the way home, was around a constant 75ish lol. Not doing a lot of long runs I'm very pleased with the economy of this car, and bless her, she never missed a beat the whole time :-)

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13 mile trip each way every day, first 3 miles leaving Manchester city centre on the way there. Not taking it steady at all, especially on the motorway, and the computer is showing 52MPG.

I've found the best improvements by driving more economically on the non-motorway segments, e.g. not getting in the right hand lane to bypass a queue, then cut back in, and also setting off more smoothly at traffic lights helps.

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Well, we had our run up to Wooler and back last night (taking our son up to stay at Grandparents for weekend), and will be doing same trip tomorrow.

Average MPG according to the trip computer when we got back was 52mpg.

Journey there consists of roughly 15 miles on the A1 dual carriageway at 60-70mph, and then 30 or so miles on the A697 at 50-60mph.... then same return journey. With the bulk of it being single carriageway, I just sat in at a steady 50-60, not overtaking anyone.

Whilst the MPG has clearly improved for the run, its still only near a level I'd hoped for, for general weekly use.

Incidentally, my dad's current car is a 2008 1.6 petrol Focus Zetec Hatchback, and his trip computer is saying 40mpg for general/daily useage.

So, improvements - I am trying to adjust my driving style more suited to a diesel, but I'm gonna check the air filter, and see if that looks like it needs changing. Could that cause a drop in economy, and to approx >10mpg? Beyond that, is there anything else mechanical that could be causing it to be thirstier than it should be, or is it just a case that all engines (even of same type) are just 'different'?

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No two cars will get the same mpg 65-70mpg is unrealistic even the TRUE mpg sites with submitted mpg and independant tests dont get that mpg 40-50mpg is the average from thousands of drivers input

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Arthur's absolutely right. We have a run to our daughter's house of almost identical mileage and mix of roads. The best we achieve is 52-55mpg so your result looks about right. If I pop out to fill up the mpg shows a hit a few miles after we set out for home then normally recovers by the end of the journey. Journeys to the local shops & supermarket soon knock it back to 45 mpg or less. You'll also notice that the calculation lags by a few miles. You may find it goes up a bit on a short journey that follows a long one before it starts to drop back and initially drops at the beginning of the next long one..

Unless your air filter is seriously clogged I can't see it having a noticeable effect on your consumption.

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Cheers for the replies - looking like its running about right then.

I'll still check the air filter, as I think its overdue a full service, and only had the pre-collection one by the garage, and they only mentioned changing the oil & oil filter.

For the sake of £10 or so, if the air filter does look dirty, I'll change it and see if does make any (even marginal) difference.

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A nice k and n filter will work wonders a bit dearer but theres no need to replace it again

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My average mpg in london is 46, this is not impressive at all and it's near impossible to drive in heavy moving traffic with economy in mind i do try however but every so often it gets booted more than i want to. (This is with the car fully loaded in the boot)

1. When it comes to mpg it is important to note that no two engines will produce the exact same figure, the tiniest of variation in the build process will affect the on road performance.

2. Weight makes a huge difference, i have a full size steal spare tyre (Sucks) getting rid of the extra weight is a must, get your "No fat chicks" stickers prepped.

3. Extras, some of us will have extras on our cars that adds massive amount of weights, like heated seats! heated seats or electric adjust seats are very heavy! The extra wire looms and what not that the titanium have that aren't use adds weight.

4. Runnings electrical equipment, this goes without saying... AC will lower mpg we all know this, but so does the blower, headlights and pumping stereo, put all of these together and you may find despite of your careful driving you can never achieve your ideal mpg. (Whenever talking about AC, do not open your windows and turn off the AC on the motorway, this creates drag that kills your mpg. Use AC at high speed and close your windows, the higher revs and speed will aid to AC to use less power)

5. service service service. you can never over service a car.

6. Fuel types. Now this will always trigger strong opinions but here is mine. Shell fuel kicks @ss, forget anything else, Shell fuel is no gimmicky marketing crap it really does increase your mpg over other fuels try it for your self.

7. Get your self a Shell fuel card. It's simple, once you have your card you swipe on each fill up, end of. shell sends you vouchers in the post, next fill up you swipe your card and voucher, instant money off, there is no BS waiting around there is no jumping through hoops or calling some strange 0845 number to claim your discount. Money is simply minus from the fuel on the spot, last time my £60 fill up was £45 using vouchers.

Since i am self employed and calculate my mileage and fuel cost for tax purposes, i can tell you it makes a huge difference regardless of how crappy your mpg is.

8. As others have said, tyre pressure is very important. Low resistant tyres are also a must on your next tyre shopping list, forget the budget tyre or something from your local kwik fit, invest in some performance low resistant tyres it's money well spent. Get your tyres well balanced and tracked. From experience i find this to be something that goes a miss very easily. Ford does free tracking!

9. Get rid of your roof rack if you have one of course. i know it can be hard to gather the effort to do so especially when some roof racks are fiddly. Handle your biz like a man.

10. I don't have one :- )

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