How low can you go?

[captain_70s]

None of my cars drop below 35mpg in average use...

I did once get 22mpg out of the Dolly 1850, which doesn't sound too bad until you remember it was using that to develop a WHOPPING 90bhp...

[Steve79]

I'll get a chance on sunday to really see how low i can get the mpg's on the saab. I'm fairly confident i can crack 9mpg on my private test track aka a4174 ring road.

[Cooper1]

31 minutes ago, Steve79 said:

Was the headgasket intact after that?

yes, surprisingly!

[Zelandeth]

Any real degree of throttle drops the instantaneous MPG readout to 1!

I may have to go for a 10 mile hoon for a laugh and see what happens.  Have struggled to get the *average* over 10mpg this tank even driving normally...

[rantingYoof]

This game would normally favour me, but frustratingly my last tank included the trip to Cannock and a trip to MK, so the tank average (calculated) was over 26mpg. It did 34mpg on the way to Cannock, somehow.

My record was 9mpg average after a track day at Llandow in a 3.0 Omega.

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[Zelandeth]

Well here's a 135 mile average as a starter...and I wasn't trying.

I dread to think what would happen if I was trying...

[Steve79]

1 minute ago, Zelandeth said:

Well here's a 135 mile average as a starter...and I wasn't trying.

I dread to think what would happen if I was trying...

If at first you don't succeed, etc!

[dieselassist]

I got a calculated 55mpg out of the 04 audi a4 Tdi wagon last Saturday on a 400km round trip down to pick up a decent ratios T25 5speed box in deepest west Cork; I decided to go the windey  backroads through a series  small 'no mans land villages, in the hope that I might spot some aul chod in fields etc (very little spotted on that front) so I was up n down the cogs quite a bit on the bends/ narrowly avoiding flocks of lycra clad cyclist etc... it needs a service, so I was quite happy/surprised/less skint by that...

[Daviemck2006]

I managed to get my citroen c1 down to 25mpg over 7 miles tonight, going into a headwind, mostly uphill flat out in 3rd which was about 65mph. The other side of the small engine coin lol

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[mat_the_cat]

Not especially trying, although it included a bit of idling:

Given only 10 miles to aim for, I'm certain I could do better worse.

[loserone]

I got the leaf down to 3.5 miles per kWh this evening.  Hilly road, heating on, caning it.  Am I doing this right?

[Dick Cheeseburger]

2 hours ago, dieselassist said:

I got a calculated 55mpg out of the 04 audi a4 Tdi wagon last Saturday on a 400km round trip down to pick up a decent ratios T25 5speed box in deepest west Cork; I decided to go the windey  backroads through a series  small 'no mans land villages, in the hope that I might spot some aul chod in fields etc (very little spotted on that front) so I was up n down the cogs quite a bit on the bends/ narrowly avoiding flocks of lycra clad cyclist etc... it needs a service, so I was quite happy/surprised/less skint by that...

Is that the B6 130? I have owned a couple and they were pretty much the best relatively modern dervs I've owned - frugal, reliable and tough as old boots. Both of mu old ones are still on the road at the age of eighteen and seventeen respectively. Can't see the equivalent Ford or Vauxhall managing that. 

[dieselassist]

...its a 115bhp BKE engine code B6; mine is a sort of irish spec semi s-line spec; colour coded lower bumpers but base level cloth interior etc; its up at 380k kms at the moment; TBH its had an intank  lift pump that I replaced with a 2nd hand unit; it has a 'every 4 to 6 months' -refuses to start at all, issue; possibly worn injectors; 2 days in the year on the day it will crank n crank n wont catch at all; draining battery's  n wont start- next day it starts on the key- no issues... I actually forget about this issue occasionally; had it plugged in but they found no faults - it had all audi service history before me with eye watering bills before I bought it for €600- previous owner used to chug it round france n Europe with no issues... its just a daily / load lugger to me; a motorised holdall for tools etc - I have broken a rear spring in it... best MPG I had was when me and the brother bought my old mans 04 skoda estate 110bhp auto - he originally bought that from BCA in blackbushe, Hampshire UK - it was possible to achieve 65 mpg in that 50mpg if you hammered it with the right foot...

I like the VAG Tdi's as the seem to largely 'look after themselves' if you bother to service them; even without regular service they seem to plod on; just all round a decent reliable daily chugger...

[Dick Cheeseburger]

They were brilliant lumps. And then along came the 2.0tdi and all the problems began. 

[Schaefft]

My 500SEL should get me in the low teens around town without much trying. Mercedes was right when they said taking an S-class to the grocery store is mental.

[Steve79]

Embarrassingly i have failed at the first hurdle with this challenge today as i forgot to renew the insurance for the e28 and saab and it expired yesterday! ?

Will resume normal activity tomorrow.

[Conan]

When I had my W124 E200 I once did 17mpg. That doesn't sound too horrible compared to other examples here but it was a 136hp 2-litre 4-cyl petrol. Back then the engine had some issues and after I fixed it I got few extras mpg. and to think I used to drive the thing everyday... On a perfect motorway run it did about 30mpg though and the 6-cyl would've done even worse, so can't really say it wasn't enough engine for a big car.

[Spiny Norman]

The only car I've ever owned that could drop to single figure mpg without caning it was my first Vauxhall Royale which had a huge 4 barrel carburettor with a sticking auto choke, but I've had a few which caused a celebration if a tankful yielded 20mpg. 

It's fun watching cars with instantaneous mpg readouts reading 3mpg during a clog to the carpet blast uphill out a motorway service station to reach 70, and then see it hit 99mpg as you lift off completely on a long downhill stretch.

[Zelandeth]

24 minutes ago, Spiny Norman said:

... and then see it hit 99mpg as you lift off completely on a long downhill stretch.

Jag don't even give you that pleasure...the readout maxes at 50 in the XJS when you're off the throttle!

[17-Coffees]

How can I take part in this? 
*looks outside, LS400 looking right back at me*
Mhmmm...LS400, me being a nightshift worker meaning 4am drive home from work on the  Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route/New Duel carriageway A90 Northbound with no Speed cameras and no hidden places for mobile cameras. Yeah, I need to get that ol girl back on the road for another M6 Toll style speed run...

For now, the Abarth averaging about 200 miles a tank is best i can do fuel wise...

 

Admittedly back in 2015/16 when I'd used the LS400 as an everyday car, commuting from the city center of Aberdeen to the outskirts in evening rush hour (Night shit worker as i said) id get comically low MPG. Average of 17MPG was considered high for me then...
 

[Zelandeth]

Today's average over about 20 miles.

Would have done better if I hadn't got stuck behind the bloody Panamera doing 45 for the last five miles...

[burraston2006]

I feel like an amateur with this

In my defence it's a P38 V7 (miss firing on one cyclinder) and I my have been pootling* along the A303 today! 

[Zelandeth]

Oops.  I touched the accelerator again.

[Cooper1]

Do i win? 

[Zelandeth]

If that's over 10+ miles...yeah, that's going to be hard to beat!

[castros_bro]

Are we going for fuel consumption or oil consumption?  I had one of these pulse jets but fuel consumption was down to gallons per mile.

 

[Cooper1]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

If that's over 10+ miles...yeah, that's going to be hard to beat!

Over 15mi fully loaded

[Zelandeth]

Are we going for fuel consumption or oil consumption?  I had one of these pulse jets but fuel consumption was down to gallons per mile...

Sorry.... can't get the quote to work without embedding the video again too because this editor sucks...

I've always wanted to play (carefully!) with one of those things, they're just such a crazy bit of physics and engineering witchcraft.

[castros_bro]

6 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Are we going for fuel consumption or oil consumption?  I had one of these pulse jets but fuel consumption was down to gallons per mile...

Sorry.... can't get the quote to work without embedding the video again too because this editor sucks...

I've always wanted to play (carefully!) with one of those things, they're just such a crazy bit of physics and engineering witchcraft.

Someone on here has my pulsejet (mini version of V1) if you want to try a "tame" jet - 25mm open exhaust from an explosion is an interesting noise.

[LightBulbFun]

28 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

I've always wanted to play (carefully!) with one of those things, they're just such a crazy bit of physics and engineering witchcraft.

Ditto! for me its amazing how simple they are

normally you think of a jet engine as something pretty complicated, but a pulse jet is just a U bent pipe with some fittings screwed into it

you can even make one with a pressure washer LOL, inflatable pulse jet!

it makes me wonder has anyone made a pulse jet from Quartz tubing or such? that would be neat to see!