Improbable MPG Figures - Post Yours

[320touring]

I just drove 278 motorway miles in an A4 1.9 TDI Sport (1998). I brimmed it before setting off, and the needle was exactly on 3 quarters full when I arrived. Impressed is an understatement, it's a 12 gallon tank, so I used 3 gallons. 92.6 mpg by my calculations - staggering!

It'll not be that, you'd need to refill it to see what it has actually used. Gauges are often not linear due to tank shape and design.

 

Guessing based on gauges or OBC's won't give proper results..

 

That said, I'd imagine low 70s could be possible out of a vag TDI:)

[doubleyeller]

You're probably right there - it's still massively economical compared to my old Rover R8 214 - which would probably have used double the amount of fuel!

[vulgalour]

Austin Princess (1.7 single carb) - 37.8mpg

Rover 414 (1.4 16 valve twin cam) - 52mpg

 

That's not bad, is it?  No on-board computer, I rely on Fuelly for the maths.

[bunglebus]

The dash in my Passat is wildly optimistic and the average MPG is usually 99.9 after anything other than local runs. No idea why, it also insists I am doing 20 odd MPG when at a standstill.

[Tamworthbay]

Just got 44mpg out of my 318 auto, 780 miles, 500 motorway, 150 A roads and the rest shitty Cornish lanes with herds of cows and arse holes in soft roaders or rep mobiles. Very pleased with that, especially as the motorway stuff was five up with luggage (and as the mother in law is about twenty five stone it's not lightly loaded).

[Pillock]

I've never had a car where the petrol gauge was linear - I think the float is normally on an arm so the second half of the tank goes quicker than the first.

 

I can normally do 250 miles on a quarter of a tank, 400 on half but only 650 or so on a full tank.

 

Gotta brim it for true figures, there's no way a 1.9TDI is getting 90mpg otherwise VW would had it back to clone it

[Tamworthbay]

I've never had a car where the petrol gauge was linear - I think the float is normally on an arm so the second half of the tank goes quicker than the first.

I can normally do 250 miles on a quarter of a tank, 400 on half but only 650 or so on a full tank.

Gotta brim it for true figures, there's no way a 1.9TDI is getting 90mpg otherwise VW would had it back to clone it

My first mini used to 160 miles to half then another 60 would see it running on fumes. I did try to make an electronic interface to make the sender on my MGB GT be programmable and linear but whilst I know it should be doable I couldn't get it to work.

[Pillock]

Probably easier just to move the halfway mark on the gauge

[Tamworthbay]

Probably easier just to move the halfway mark on the gauge

It would be I guess (why didn't the makers do that?) I just went through a phase of making solid state replacements for earlier kit. Some worked well, some less so.

[Pillock]

Actually the MPG gauge on my modern BMW (yeah, they still have the swinging needle that they've had for decades) is nonlinear, equal spacing for 16-20-30-50-80 I think.

[The Moog]

Hyundai Getz 1.6 Auto - currently 28mpg.

 

Mix of motorway and round town.

[HMC]

My old 2002 Audi A6 tdi pd 130 has been the most economic vehicle I've owned, would do approx 60mpg at a constant 60 MPH and 56mpg at 70mph, I would expect the polo to better this but haven't any figures yet.

[bub2006]

After doing over a thousand miles the past week in the mondeo,the mpg app says I'm averaging just under 35 mpg. Mainly door to door driving stop start all day and the ac is on a lot. I'm really impressed with that.

[Matt]

I'm not entirely sure how I managed it but over my last tank of fuel I travelled 297.3 miles with an overall average of 61.5 MPG. Autocar found that the current model Toyota Prius will average 62.5 MPG...

 

New Personal Best MPG by MattLikesCars, on Flickr

 

Not bad for a 14 year old car with just under 80k miles and very basic single point injection is it?

 

Members of the Geo Metro forum (the North American Suzuki Swift variant) suggest that I should be able to get over 400 miles to a tank. The fuel tank capacity listed in the hand book for my car suggests that with my average over 25k miles I should be able to get 475 miles to a tank but I don't believe it. The needle must drop well below the 'empty' line on the gauge before the tank is actually empty. In other words when the needle hits the empty line there must be something like 2.5 gallons of fuel actually left in the tank for that range calculation to be correct.

[Justin Case]

Last week, North Birmingham to Bude in 2 litre petrol n/a estate, only 2 people but well laden with the family's luggage/ 2 childrens bikes, etc 220 miles (same as AA routeplanner so must be fairly accurate) gave approx 37mpg. Running around North Cornwall for a week generally on narrow lanes gave 28mpg. Coming back I reset everything at Gloucester Services.There to M5 roadworks at J2, average speed 67mph, including check at M42 junction roadworks, Mpg - 44 which I thought was quite impressive. Thoughts of Giulietta now starting to vanish

[Pete-M]

I'm still quite proud of this.

[doug]

Took my old camper fitted with a 318 Chrysler/Dodge 318 (5.2 litres) V8 engine up to Fort William. I took note of miles and fill ups. 8.2 mpg. Yes there is a decimal point there.

[DodgeRover]

Had the tracking done on the RX300 and fitted new plugs, disconnected battery to reset the trims and it's showing 26.6mpg over the last 150 miles.

Will get a proper reading when I fill it tomorrow

[spartacus]

I've managed 47mpg in my 1.9d Kangoo on the last tank, that's a mixture of running around and motorway, I'll keep trying to improve but I'm pleased with that.

[cobblers]

According to calculations my ex spartacus talbot express has done 29 and 30 mpg over the last couple of tanks. I must have cocked up my sums because my Abarth 500 does 33mpg on the same journeys. Maybe the odo is over reading or someone is tipping fuel into it at night when I'm not looking.

[spartacus]

Get in! Sell your secret to the Talbot owners forum.

I wish for your sake it were true but sadly I don't think it can be.

 

Edit, I just re-read your post Cobblers, I don't think it's an odo fault, my calcs all came back less than yours I'm afraid.

[DodgeRover]

Had the tracking done on the RX300 and fitted new plugs, disconnected battery to reset the trims and it's showing 26.6mpg over the last 150 miles.

Will get a proper reading when I fill it tomorrow

Bah brimming the LPG showed 19.8mpg, just done another 210 miles and it's showing 25.8mpg will refill again tomorrow and see what the real figure is.

[Junkman]

16.

[DodgeRover]

Big block or small block that's quite reasonable really

[gtd2000]

2010 Hyundai i20 Diesel - 83MPG - gets 65MPG all day long, sit at 50mph and you get 75+ MPG.

 

2002 Honda Jazz 1.4 DSI SE - 73.1MPG, 55MPG generally speaking

 

2010 KIA Picanto 1.0 - 80MPG - very variable MPG between 47~60+ generally speaking

[Lacquer Peel]

Spurious MPG read-outs thread.

[Noel Tidybeard]

You might find it's not averaging out over the entire 11 years. My Peugeot 2008 trip computer stopped reading at something like 4312 miles (an odd number but might mean something in KM) and it was clear that the average MPG was only taking the last few hundred miles as data.

 

4349miles = 6999km

4350 = 7000

[Talbot]

According to calculations my ex spartacus talbot express has done 29 and 30 mpg over the last couple of tanks. I must have cocked up my sums because my Abarth 500 does 33mpg on the same journeys. Maybe the odo is over reading or someone is tipping fuel into it at night when I'm not looking.

On the Hasummpshun that your Tablot is a 2.5 N/A Diesel, that is entirely a reasonable figure. My Citroen C25 LWB high-top (same vehicle) would easily do 30mpg if not driven like a motorway maintenance van with a driver late for his fry-up. I even managed 36 on one occasion. Worst it ever did was ~27mpg, and that was when I was laden to the roof and towing a laden car transporter trailer. Across Wales.

6 tonnes and a maximum of 75bhp, not allowing for all the horses that had buggered off over the years. FML that was slow.

[spartacus]

It's a 2.0l petrol.

[stephen01]

My first mini used to 160 miles to half then another 60 would see it running on fumes. I did try to make an electronic interface to make the sender on my MGB GT be programmable and linear but whilst I know it should be doable I couldn't get it to work.

 

Our C4 Picasso was the same, easily do 300 miles on the first 1/4 tank. then anopther 350 on the last 3/4