Mingebag motoring for the leaden-hoofed

[pogweasel]

Right then, after doing some sums, I have calculated that over the last 3 weeks my shitty little van has averaged a frankly appalling 31.3 mpg. I have been mostly doing motorway miles, at night, including the M6 Midlands Raceway, sorry, expressway. This is not a situation I am very pleased with, given the discomfort and instability of this nasty little vehicle.So I put it to you, the shiter, what is the best 'misers' car for travelling at *ahem* motorways speeds? Because the headline figures OMG 60MPGS!!! etc are always based on a steady 56mph, which no matter how hard I try I simply cannot achieve. I was thinking that an Omega with the BMW Turdblowa would be pretty ace for mile-eating in comfort and at acceptable economy... but can't find any which haven't been to the sun and back already.

[mk1_4dr]

I'll offer my very limited knowledge by suggesting a Xantia TD? From what I understand they are capable, comfortable and frugal.TD Omega is a good choice, but like you say, you've got to pick through the chaff.What you wanting, van load capacity? Comfort? MPG? Or an unthinkable mix of all of the above?

[pandamonium]

Perodua Nippa

[Richard]

The Xantia TD isn't particularly economical, it's too heavy for the engine. A Xantia HDi 110 should return 45mpg under most circumstances.I know somebody who drives flat out all the time in an Audi A6 1.9TDI and claims to get over 40mpg. I can't remember the exact figure because I was too busy fearing for my life.

[mk1_4dr]

The Xantia TD isn't particularly economical, it's too heavy for the engine. A Xantia HDi 110 should return 45mpg under most circumstances.I know somebody who drives flat out all the time in an Audi A6 1.9TDI and claims to get over 40mpg. I can't remember the exact figure because I was too busy fearing for my life.

I think I meant the HDi TBH - I know I've heard good things about he late plate turbodizzlerZAs far as the 1900tdi VAG lumps go, I always felt it struggled in a part loaded A4 estate, I can't imagine it being a ball of fire in an A6...

[Father Ted]

Bollox to the Xantia (and I know I am a little biased here) Find a late BX estate in either 1700TD or 1900NA dizzle guise and enjoy 45 - 55MPG motoring as well as uppy-downy suspension antics. GR8 for showin the kids you haz slammed da motor.....

[Cavcraft]

/\What he said. Also don't discount TDi Galaxy, magic on fuel if you can stand the image of those sort of cars.

[Tayne]

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[seth]

We got 48mpg on a motorway run to Manchester out of our Herald estate and I think you'd find a steady 56mph quite easy to achieve on one of them

[Pillock]

Our new 307 HDi90 averages 45mpg on a fairly good run, it'd get more on the motorway but I've been pootling to Newark and back down single carriageways. I got it up to 50mpg driving like a taxi driver.Shame it's so underpowered but it's all about the thrift these days.

[trigger]

My Passat has the later PD engine with 115 bhp and It's very good on fuel. Averages around 46ish mpg and sat at 54mpg on the drive back from North Wales whist sitting at 80-85 mph.It's no slough neither, towed my mates loaded trailer recently without even noticing it.Can't really fault at all really, not for the £2000 i paid for it.

[Mr Lobster]

I'd suggest Focus TDCi / TDdi but you should already know about this Pog?

[nigel bickle]

A lil' Suzuki Cappacinno hassled me yesterday at over 80 (according satnav) on M25. There's economy for you..

[Father Ted]

Zafira 1.9CDTi .....Pros....Shed loads of room for kids, dog, equipment, granny, luggages and so on.Moves like a scalded cat when the loud pedal is pressedSeats are actually quite comfortable.Handles quite well even at "motorway" speeds and doesnt feel like its about to tip over on bends.Cons....Dire fuel economy (38mpg)Has a tendancy to throw its toys out of the pram with regards the DPF system.Expensive to fix (well it is if you take it to my local Perrys).

[Mr_Bo11ox]

You need a ford P100 TD, they can achieve 40mpg quite easily and look super-pikey.

[AlsoMike]

How about getting something that is even more unstable than your van, so that you daren't take it over 60mph under any circumstances, because of TEH FEAR involved. Instant mpg increase.

[Lukas]

I once had one of the last Audi 80 Avant TDI ever built from 1995, it was a good car although I´m a japanese-car-guy. Very good on fuel (5 litres on 100km), well equipped (airconditon, airbag...) and rustfree even after 10 years! You can´t take this for granted in Austria. The Audi 100/A6 C4 is a very good car too, especially with the 2.5 TDi 5-cylinder engine that lasts forever. The Audi 80 B4 and the 100 C4 had the best rustprotection I´ve ever experienced!

[garethj]

A lil' Suzuki Cappacinno hassled me yesterday at over 80 (according satnav) on M25. There's economy for you..

I don't remember mine being especially economical, I'm sure it was thirstier than the Suzuki Whizzkid I had before it.Either aren't common as "daily drivers"

[Milford Cubicle]

I know somebody who drives flat out all the time in an Audi A6 1.9TDI and claims to get over 40mpg. I can't remember the exact figure because I was too busy fearing for my life.

Nice car if you can put up with the hard ride. It seemed to go really well for a big car with only 130 bhpI can't believe your Kangoo van only achieves 31 mpg pog, is the gearing very low?I thought modern common rail diesels were supposed to be mega efficient.

[trigger]

How about getting something that is even more unstable than your van, so that you daren't take it over 60mph under any circumstances, because of TEH FEAR involved. Instant mpg increase.

That would be the Citroen C15 van then! They can do 50mpg happily all day.

[r.welfare]

Omega TD's with the BMW lump can have fuel pump-related issues that make them a bugger to start when warm. I don't think they are hugely economical - 40mpg is a stretch, less when mated to the (popular) autobox.You can get the later ones with the 2.0 and 2.2DTI GM 4-pots, they are a bit more economical but an acquiantance of mine has one with the latter (after a string of BMW-engined ones) and has required expensive engine surgery.I'm not sure I buy into these huuuuuge MPG figures, unless you are doing almost exclusive M-way or quiet A-road work. I'm sad enough to spreadsheet my 405's expenditures (I use the template available from the dervman.com website), and over the last 10k miles I've averaged a smidgen over 45MPG, and that's on a real blend of M-way/dual carriageway, single carriageway and town driving.I got a fairly amazing 68MPG (calculated on a proper brim-to-brim basis, not by the on-board computer) out of a 308HDI a couple of months back, but that was 700 miles of pure motorway work, held at 70 with no traffic. It turned over at about 2300rpm at this speed in 5th which is, I think, the main reason for the high economy - contrast this with 1400 Astra/Corsa petrols which rev at nearly 4000rpm at the same speed which only get me 40MPG under the same circumstances.

[wuvvum]

Citroën AX 1.4D with the back seats taken out. I've been getting 50+ mpg on a run out of my 1.0i Début with a 4-speed box, so a diesel with a 5-speeder should be into the 60s. Alternatively, for slightly more refinement but slightly less economy, a Pug 106 diesel van.

[alf892]

Go for something with the VAG 1.9tdi. Strangely the higher power ones are even better on fuel. We had an 80 Tdi with 90bhp for 10 years and it never dropped below 47mpg (brim to brim) whether picking kids up from school of flying up the motorway. Well flying was relative with 90bhp. She now has an a4 estate with the 130 in it and it is superb. More go with equal and sometimes more mpg. Downside it more electric bits though.I had an a6 estate with the 130 as a company car which handled by 200 mile daily commute always around 45mpg. At 4.30 in the morning I never managed to to the 56mph trial........Pug diesels are great without the turbo but bolt a turbo on and actually use the power and they drink fuel. And leak oil. And blow headgaskets.

[Guest]

With regards to the Cappuccino, I've got a Mira Turbo which has a near-identical engine setup but less aerodynamic and 4WD - on a long run I sat at 55mph and averaged 59.9mpg so I reckon the Cappuccino should be able to at least top that. Main thing is the difference in mpg as you go up in speed, it's amazing how thirsty those little Kei-car engines can get when you sit there with the turbo howling away.Before I got rid of the Cuore I was taking it the motorway route to work most days (about 15 miles). If I had a quarter of tank left, that would would be good for four trips at 55mph or one trip at 85mph. Over 100mph you could almost watch the fuel needle go down. Obviously these are privately-owned motorways so I can do what speed I like, cost me a fortune to have them built but it was worth it.Pog, I reckon you should get a MK1 Transit and drive around singing about chips. Sod the fuel economy.

[Milford Cubicle]

Pug diesels are great without the turbo but bolt a turbo on and actually use the power and they drink fuel. And leak oil. And blow headgaskets.

They aren't that bad, like r.welfare's 405 TD mine averages about 40-45MPG and I'm not a slow driver. The best I got out of it was 50MPG (700+ miles to a tank yo) trundling around Ireland, but that was running mostly on vegetable oil. On pure diesel, my last 405 TD managed 56MPG, staying off-boost and keeping pace with lorries. Bit of a tedious experience though.If you do lots of fast driving, a non-turbo diesel is no more economical than a TD - maybe even worse.They do leak a bit of oil and care needs to be taken with the cooling system, but they are very rugged otherwise.

[myglaren]

The Xantia TD isn't particularly economical, it's too heavy for the engine. A Xantia HDi 110 should return 45mpg under most circumstances.I know somebody who drives flat out all the time in an Audi A6 1.9TDI and claims to get over 40mpg. I can't remember the exact figure because I was too busy fearing for my life.

I used to get 50mpg from my Xantia 1.9 TD and up to 70 on long journeys at around 60mph.The current C5 2.0 HDi is crap at 32mpg around town - admittedly mostly very short trips to work and back, with the lead foot syndrome painfully apparent.47 is on a long run (600 mile round trip). Should do far better.Youngest son has a 306 D-Turbo and never complains about fuel consumption but never bothers to calculate what it might be, does lots of very short trips interspersed with quite a few very long ones.My Accord 2.0I LS never did anything other than 32mpg, no matter how it was driven, long trips, short trips, lead foot, feather foot, all exactly the same.Contradicts the laws of infernal combustion but it was a law unto itself.

[Akron]

What about a Skoda Superb 1.9 Tdi or an Octavia? Same engines as the Audi's and Passat's but cheaper to buy and an amazing motorway cruiser.My Octavia 1.9 Tdi gets about 48mpg around town and 60+mpg on a long run, in April we went from St Nazaire in France to Nottingham on a tankful 70mph cruise control on.

[pogweasel]

Some interesting (?) suggestions here. I think that all these old PSA dizzles can be discounted on the grounds of being too sloth-like, even if they are frugal and comfy. A3/A4 is out too, the boot is too small to fit my stuff into.Maybe I'll just buy a Mondeo Mk2 (or is it Mk3?? - the 2001-2007 type) and be done with it, cheap & gets the job done. As for the problems with the current transport, the gearing doesn't help - 70mph is 3000rpm, presumably so that they get a good headline 56mph figure, but it means that proper motorway speeds are incredibly noisey and thrashy. I did recently try a new-ish Astra van, with a 6-speed box, that was pretty nice, fast and quiet, and a bazillion times better than the earlier one I had, but I would imagine that has the same engine / box as the F.Ted Zafira, so that will have to be struck off too

[ChinaTom]

Have you tried a Roomster with the 105 engine? They're pretty useful with the seats down.

[Tayne]

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