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Whats yours:
a) Day to day?
b) Bike on the roof?
(Alfa 159 JTDM 16v
a) 44mpg
b) 38mpg - 1 bike 2 racks
Audi A4 Avant 3.0 V6 TDi
a) In town - low 30's, open road - 44
b) Don't notice much of a difference TBH. Tend to drive more cautiously with bike on the roof so if anything the MPG is actually better!!!
2008 Passat 2.0 170bhp, 32mpg used mainly around town & not used as intended.
Used to be 50 in the Mondeo est of my mates
Down to about 28-30 with bikes.
My Picasso was 47 unloaded and 30 loaded with bikes on roof.
I soon declared it to be a bad idea.
towbar mounted bikes take only about 5-8 mpg off the Mondeo.
Audi A4, 2.0TDi 177PS
a)40
b)35ish, 2 bikes on the roof, drops a bit with 3, if it's just me on my own then the bike goes in the back, front wheel off and a tarp to protect the interior.
55-60 typically, 45-50ish with bikes on.
2.0l tdi Octavia estate.
Goddam those pesky Skoda's!
Audi A6 2.7tdi Quattro - mid 30's around town low/mid 40's overall (not driven sedately). Never put bikes on the roof always inside the car.
Hmmm, can I wind back a couple of years?
Ok so I have owned 2 5 series Sport Tourings, one I stuck 175k on and the other 260k on. Both Autos, the first a 530d the second a 535d. Other than that both had the same spec, both did the same type of journeys and had hard lives towing Yachts/Dinghies/Windsurfing gear and Bikes too, all over the UK and Europe.
The 530 did an age of 44mpg, if towing it would drop to 37, carrying nothing but me and the Mrs I'd often get 50's. The 535 did an ave of 42, towing would get 35, Mrs only it'd be in the 50's. I drove them like a grandad, never used sport mode other than once or twice, if in Europe I drove faster than here but not by much.
Both serviced by Beemer, no bother about service charges nor what needed replacement I just wanted a car to drive and tow stuff.
I have to point out that post these two I bought an M3 Convertable for a bit of fun but that didn't last long (not my choosing) and was suprised to find an ave mpg of 30's a bit shocking at first 😆 ohh and they're shit at carrying bikes and rubbish at towing (horrendously expensive hidden towbar)
So for how I drove, what I did with them I think I really had the best cars I could and they performed faultlessly.
Some of these figures aren't presenting a particularly strong case for owning a diesel!
Passat 1.9 TDI 130 (177k on the clock)
low 40's normal day to day
high 40's on a motorway run (80 ish)
low 50's on a motorway run (70)
1.6 hdi citroen C5, seem to constantly get 48 mpg (based on tank fillups) irrespective of bike on or off. only have a towbar mount but occasionally use a roofbox.
Passat 2.0 tdi auto, 2006 so pre blue motion.
Without bikes 38 is lh around town, 50ish on windy roads and low 60s on the motorway at 70.
Bikes on roof - 52 ish motorway
Bikes on towbar - 50 ish motorway.
Brand new Focus 1.6tdci 95bhp estate. Average MPG is exactly 50.41 since it was first on the road. Mixture of motorway and town driving (50/50) driving carefully in West Yorks. Would get more if I lived somewhere flatter!!
Bikes on a tow bar rack? I measure MPG very carefully using an iPhone app and I can't detect any difference in using a tow bar rack at all. If there is any difference then it's maybe 1-2mpg at most and hidden by other variables.
I once had a full Thule roof rack setup - never again for all the faff and for the plummeting MPG, it really made a huge difference.
My brother did some calculations based on real world experience of MPG with bike on and inside his Vectra estate and found that on a trip from the South up to the Scots border area (7 stanes) it would actually be cheaper at the time to post a couple of bikes there than pay for the extra fuel that was needed for them being on the roof of the car!!!! So long trips they went inside the car.
Some of these figures aren't presenting a particularly strong case for owning a diesel!
Ditto.
Hearts been saying buy a discovery, heads been saying buy a big diesel estate for double the mpg. Not sure it will be as better off as heads saying. Especially if I want a >2 litre and 4wd estate.
Consistent 50-52 mpg although if I'm forced to use it for short trips round town for too long it'll drop to low 40's.
I never have bikes outside, they always go in the boot - that's why I got an estate!
2009 Vauxhall Vectra 1.9 CDTi.
jam bo - MemberPassat 1.9 TDI 130 (177k on the clock)
low 40's normal day to day
high 40's on a motorway run (80 ish)
low 50's on a motorway run (70)
Almost exactly what I'm getting from my Mazda 6 Estate 2.0D 180bhp
For those that don't think the figures are that high, I think some people like to quote their best MPG figures rather than usual so it becomes ingrained that all diesels do 60mpg?
BMW 525 D Estate 44mpg, bikes always in the back of car. Seems pointless to buy an Estate car and bung your bikes on the roof?
I think some people like to quote their best MPG figures rather than usual
I did quote my usual. I will be driving to Heathrow from Cardiff today at an indicated 70mph and I will get 57mpg provided it's clear - that is on winter diesel and with winter tires, only me in the car.
Would you like screen shots?
BMW 525 D Estate 44mpg, bikes always in the back of car. Seems pointless to buy an Estate car and bung your bikes on the roof?
Not pointless at all. Much more room to store everything else in the back and the rear window isn't constantly blocked.
Ps mine's not an estate.
Astra 2 litre 160:
Long term average 48
Alps and back loaded plus 4 on the roof 35 🙁
That's from the obc btw, fill your boots.
BMW 320d (163ps version)
45-48 for most stuff assuming I'm moving. Actual cruising speed doesn't seem to change things much.
Depressingly poor if sat in stop start traffic.
Not great if B-road hooning.
Never put a bike on the roof.
Seems pointless to buy an Estate car and bung your bikes on the roof?
^this
Not pointless at all. Much more room to store everything else in the back and the rear window isn't constantly blocked.
2 bikes and a weeks worth of assorted biking/outdoors/camping kit goes in comfortabley below the window line.
2 litre Trafic. 44 mpg on a decent run, 38 on a poor one. No racks, more bikes, luggage and camping gear than you can shake a big stick at.
2 bikes and a weeks worth of assorted biking/outdoors/camping kit goes in comfortabley below the window line.
With the seats down presumably? In which case, you could just have bought a golf.
My boot is permanently filled with kit (to save dragging it in and out of the house) and I've often got passengers, so bikes go on the roof.
Mk2 Focus Estate 1.8tdci - 52mpg average over 25,000 miles of mixed driving. Round town it'll do 40mpg+, on motorways up to 65mpg. It doesn't get used very much and then mostly round town at the moment.
'lifestyle estate'?
Are you sure you don't mean 'sports tourer'?
Well, SportWagon if we are being particulate...
Skoda Fabia vRS 240HP - 56.7MPG.
2006 Octavia 1.9 TDI. Roughly 50mpg with the bike carriers on the roof, 45 with the three bikes in them.
Can pootle into the office before rush hour kicks in at about 60mpg.
Is anyone quoting brim to brim figures, or just taking from the display?
(cue everyone claiming brim to brim anyway 🙂 )
Petrol comparison:
BMW 330i Sport Touring Auto:
Day to day - 28mpg
Motorway (80mph) - 33mpg
Motorway (65mph) - 39mpg
4 Bikes on the roof, 4 (6ft+) blokes + gear in the car - 28mpg
I think there's still a fairly strong case for diesel...
[EDIT] - My figues are (rounded) calculated, not taken from the display.
My figures are based on a shonky spreadsheet I did a couple of years ago when fuel prices were squeezing the budget. Based on litres to fill it versus miles travelled. Was fairly consistent, not far off the dash display.
Admittedly I wasn't driving very "enthusiastically"
My figures were taken form the dash, who can be bothered with a fill 2 fill and a calculator 😆
320d touring here. Usually around 47mpg, not much town driving. Don't put bikes on the roof, have a tow bar rack. Do have a massive top box though which pushes mpg down to just under 40.
BMW 330i Sport Touring Auto:Day to day - 28mpg
Motorway (80mph) - 33mpg
Motorway (65mph) - 39mpg4 Bikes on the roof, 4 (6ft+) blokes + gear in the car - 28mpg
I think there's still a fairly strong case for diesel...
Hmmm, not so sure it's a [i]strong[/i] case.
Out of the 2.7/3 litre diesels quoted here: 30-44, mid thirties to mid forties and 44.
So a spread of 30-44.
Yours is 28-39.
Petrols are cheaper to buy and cheaper to fill up, so the difference probably isn't much at all unless you keep the same car for 5 years+.
Let's say you're getting 10mpg less than the equivalent diesel on average, over 15k miles per year:
Based on current prices, your petrol fuel bill (@1.06) at 30mpg is £2,409 per year.
Diesel fuel bill (@1.14) at 40mpg is £1,942.
So you save £467 in fuel costs each year with the diesel. So if you could buy the equivalent diesel for the same price as the petrol, you'd be quids in. But you generally can't.
Diesel was about £1,500 more expensive in my car, so it would take three years just to break even. Petrol is cheaper until that point.
My figures were taken form the dash, who can be bothered with a fill 2 fill and a calculator
I agree, but I just take an arbitrary 10% off whatever people quote to account for the fact that most over read.
I drive a 1.4 diesel Kia Rio with towbar mounted rack, car has averaged 54.5 mpg since new, bikes on the back tend to take about 3-4 mpg off my average at most
Edit .. mine is brim to brim, every mile noted since new , i upload everything to fuelly.com
Has to be brim to brim, dash figures are pure fantasy.
Ford Mondeo estate, 3 adults, fully loaded for biking and camping in Alps. 53mpg steady 65-70mph all the way.
Think I worked out it was 39mpg general use
Volvo V70 2.0 Diesel 136BHP Auto
33k
Average since new 47.1 mpg
Mostly motorway driving 47-55mpg.
Don't put bikes on the roof, thats what my wife car is for. VW Touran 28k, 105 bhp TDI. Trip to South Wales, five inside, two bikes and a roof box and fully loaded, 52mpg!
Miles & litres for every fill-up logged on AccuFuel since 23/05/2010.
Just don't ask about the equivalent numbers for the Bongo...
Nana - whenever I've compared the figures have been very close. Both methods use the odo...
Has to be brim to brim, dash figures are pure fantasy.
Only some cars. Prius and Passat both very accurate for me.
So if you could buy the equivalent diesel for the same price as the petrol, you'd be quids in. But you generally can't.
No but you can buy one a litle older or higher mileage for the same money. So for many people it's a toss up between good economy or slightly newer. And a diesel will always have better economy, but a newer car will look just as old in 5 years time.
You make it sound like keeping a car for 5 years is the action of some kind of weirdo 🙂
12 year old 320d touring. Remap to about 180 ps
Average of 47 mpg all day long. Can keep it at about 55 if I drive real careful on a long trip but generally don't think, just drive and always seems to be about 47ish.
Bikes go in the Land Rover 🙂
Focus Estate 2.0 TDCI
Commute 38/40
A/B roads fun 40/43
A/B roads normal 48/50
Motorway Fast 45
Cruising 65ish 50/52
Eco driving 55
All averaged over reasonable times/distances.
1998 Passat 1.9tdi
Round town mid fourties.
Long motorway trip 65-68
Get stuck behind someone doing fifty all the way and I've known it get 70-72. 🙂
(Figures from trip computer, but the times I've checked the figures against the pump, they've been bang on.)
Mk3 focus from New. 1.6 econetic. Average brim to brim over 17000 miles is 65mpg. Mix of sedate motorway and urban. Bikes go inside.
Best ever on the display, 33 motorway miles to work at 91.7mpg.
these are not showing much progress from my old Peugeot 2.0 HDI estate.
14 years old with 150k on the clock and on a calculated mpg I just got 45mpg. Half of that is country lanes, not taking it easy as I've just fitted my winter tyres so enjoying the grip. Half is motorway - which was a very windy/rainy trip not taking it easy and spending about an hour in traffic jams. The first half of the tank had a roof rack fitted with 3 bike racks too. (back is for the dog and other stuff, trying to keep the dog off the back seats these days before anyone moans about having bike on the roof).
Without the traffic jams (one caused by a truck rolling over on the M32) I would get 50mpg with a motorway/country/town split.
okay the 1.6 focus above is a big increase but crikey that must be boring! Not only do you have a 1.6 diesel but you have to drive it economically! Can get 55 average out of the 306 if I really try but I lose the will to live.
I can get 400-450 miles out of our Freelander TD4 auto which averages about 35mpg. OH gets 400 if she's lucky. When towing the sheep trailer we are lucky to get 20 😥
2004 320d Tourer followed by a 2007 9-3 Sportwagon.
Both averaged 42 with heavy stop-start traffic followed by 15-20 miles on the motorway.
Bikes never on roof.
Just taken delivery of a 2011 Ford Kuga 2.0TDCi AWD. Same driving pattern showing 38 but i haven't done the motorway bit since i filled up on Saturday. I expect the average to improve to about what i was getting in the above estates. Better than a 2004-7 4x4 would have got
14 years old with 150k on the clock and on a calculated mpg I just got 45mpg.
I reckon 50 is an improvement. But yes - technology has not changed that much - afaik that one is common rail.
45 represents a pretty poor day in the Passat.
Best ever on the display, 33 motorway miles to work at 91.7mpg.
Ford seem to be the worst for wildly over-reading. Knock 20% off those figures.. but they are still good.
Has to be brim to brim, dash figures are pure fantasy.
Mine doesn't have a dash mpg option! 😳
I use an app called "My Cars" which calculates pretty much everything you could ever wish for - trip by trip cost, distance between refueling, cost by week/month/year, mpg (or km per litre or any variation of) etc.
I reckon 50 is an improvement. But yes - technology has not changed that much - afaik that one is common rail.45 represents a pretty poor day in the Passat.
Yup, common rail HDI but before all the DMF rubbish. EGR blanked, cat gutted and welded back up. Costs me peanuts to run and the body looks a couple of years old so much to my OHs and Dads dismay I keep refusing to buy a newer car 😀
Keep looking at 4x4s but to get anything with any kind of increase in MPG you have to go for a very recent model - like john above with the Kuga. Trying to hold off for an electric/hybrid land rover. I was excited to see the Outlander hybrid but petrol engine due to all the anti-diesel stuff and a rubbish tow weight rules it out. I did see one the other day at the petrol station. Was weird to see an almost silent car accelerate so quickly out onto the main road.
Please remember everyone that fuel economy is a RECIPROCAL! (it is miles PER gallon). As such, it is not a linear scale in terms of fuel consumption.
For example if:
a 25mpg car uses 1 litre more fuel over 100miles it drops to 23.7mpg (-1.3mpg)
a 50mpg car uses the same amount extra fuel, it falls to 45.1mpg (-4.9mpg)
As such, you can't really compare fuel economy directly for cars with different average consumption! (you'll hear people who drive massive cars saying "but yeah, my Range Rover always gets 15mpg" and this is because it has such a high consumption that even drilling a hole in the fuel tank and draining 10gallons onto the floor doesn't make much difference to the rate the engine is pissing it out the tailpipe!
Anyways, for the record, my 335d does:
Ultra Long trip (>50miles) driven at max realistic economy = 45mpg
Long trip(>20miles), driven briskly but sensibly = 40mpg
Short trip(<20miles) = 33mpg
Ultrashort trip, town driving (<3miles) = 28mpg
Bounding these the maximum economy i've ever seen, is 53.8 mpg, driven at no more than 50mph, tailgating trucks and annoying the s**t out of other drivers.
The minimum economy is 27mpg, in Germany, including visiting the 155mph limiter multiple times 😉
I had a VW Sharan 1.9 TDi from new and always calculated the MPG fill-up to fill-up it averaged between 38 and 42 MPG from the day I bought it to the day it went for scrappage 128,000 miles and 12 years later.
Mondeo 2.2 diesel estate.
Commuting 41mpg (spend a lot of time queuing)
Motorways 50-54mpg (depends on how many roadworks)
With the towbar bike rack not much difference in MPG.
Fully loaded going to Spain and back I've seen a sniff over 60mpg on cruise control at 80mph.
[quote=peterfile ]Some of these figures aren't presenting a particularly strong case for owning a diesel!
if it helps my bosses practical estate averages 18mpg on super-unleaded...
RS6? 😀
E62 525d touring, manual - the Pre LCI version with the 2.5, not the detuned 3.0
Mid 30s for normal driving, mixed commute with 80mph on any dual carriageway - 34-37 mpg typically
Motorway, 40mph at 80mph
Came back from Wales a few weekends ago, 3 blokes, 3 lots of bikepacking gear, 2 bikes on roof and 1 on back. Drove slower as 80mph was caning my fuel consumption. Averaged out around 32 mpg at about 70mph
Was expecting it to be higher when I first bought it but hey ho
The point about petrol vs diesel is good, but you forget the bit about residuals, diesels hold their value better so the initial higher cost usually results in a higher trade in or sale price as they depreciate less
EGR blanked, cat gutted and welded back up
Thanks for all the extra pollution. We appreciate it, especially when we are cycling around in it.
Passat 1.9 on a 55 plate (b6) Its mapped to 145bhp from a lowley 105. Its does mid 40's round town and low to mid 50's on a run. 60 if you nurse it on the motorway. Figures according to dash. 130,000 on odo.
Volvo V70 R Design 1.6d - mid 30s around town.
Motorway run at 70mph low 50s plus or minus 10mpg depending on speed above or below. Best 64mpg at 60 to 65mph. Figures according to the dash
520D Touring here, it has averaged 43 mpg since new, just under 2 yrs and 35k miles ago. Slow town commuting during week and lots of running around at weekends (company car). Bike racks always on roof, often with bikes on them.
The 318D Touring that it replaced was slightly poorer, at 41 mpg over the 3 yrs (60k miles) I had it, same use profile.
2005 Audi A4 estate 2.0 petrol turbo (200bhp TFSI)
Pottering around: 32mpg
Open road: 35-37mpg
Motorway on cruise @73mph to Edinburgh & back: 41mpg
Bikes on the roof hardly seem to make a difference. Live in the country and hardly ever do any town driving.
I think some people like to quote their best MPG figures rather than usual
I'm interested to know what the best method's for estimating MPG might actually be, what sort of sampling period do people use?
Currently I tend to reset the "Avg MPG" clock once a week and then scroll the display to temperature (because my missus doesn't know how to change it) just so I can see what the OBC reckons our mixed family in/out of town use comes out at on a weekly basis...
But I might let it run for a month or two perhaps, because obviously week to week use might not be particularly consistent, but over a month or two (a longer sample period) the reported Average fuel consumption from the OBC might start to approach something more consistent with reality... Or is that simply being naive?
Resetting it just for long journeys, seems a bit pointless, you might get awesome MPG for a 200 mile Motorway round trip and that warm fuzzy feeling that goes with high MPG figures, but what happens when a week of trundling about town effectively gets disregarded?
So what apps do people use for more "accurate" MPG estimation/calculation?
Mine are calculated at the petrol pump with a calculator. Don't trust what's in the car, always optimistic
Thinking back, I had a Passat Est 110tdi in 1999, and that would regularly return mid 50's.
Progression? Hmm not sure.
I must be doing something wrong!!!
Mondeo 163bhp
Daily pootling/comute through town and a bit of A road - 44mpg
Longer motorway trips taking it easy for economy (<80mph)- 42 mpg
Disappointed! Was expecting >50mpg.
Skoda Fabia Scout ( the estate version of the Fabia)1.6 105hp diesel.
Town 50mpg
Motorway 58 to 65 mpg
Passat 1.9 on a 55 plate (b6) Its mapped to 145bhp from a lowley 105.
Careful, you'll have old misery guts up there after you!
Thanks for all the extra pollution. We appreciate it, especially when we are cycling around in it.
You welcome. In fact, I would be only too happy to bottle up all the exhaust fumes and send them to you to breath if I could. There won't be much soot in there though as it's running very clean in terms of particulates (but sorry, no idea on NOx now) 😛
PS Thanks for all that increased pollution from towing your caravan 😉
Mondeo 3 2.2 with a dab of tuning, never really driven with economy in mind
Doesn't do much city driving
Suburban, 50-ish
All round, 55-ish
Max, 60-ish
Not that brilliant, I suspect largely down to the driver but it's not really built for top economy.
Varying massively depending on how broken it is 😆 It's doing mid-40s just now because the MAF is unplugged frinstance
Ahhhh...so [i]that's [/i]what MPG stands for 😀maxtorque - Member
Please remember everyone...it is miles PER gallon
2014 Skoda Octavia Estate 2.0TDI 150
About town in start/stop traffic about 45 mpg, this is probably not helped by my driving and unwillingness to put it in eco mode.
Long journeys around 55 - 60 mpg depending upon average speed and again my driving.
Would take off 5-10 mpg from each of those depending upon the number of bikes.
2007 BMW 335d 3.0l twin turbo remapped to 350bhp
A) 42 MPG tank to tank receipt/mileage check
B) 36 MPG - one bike on roof
It's a monster.
Off to price up a 335 bmw 😮 looks like fun
1. Petrol comparison:
BMW 330i Sport Touring Auto:
Day to day - 28mpg
Motorway (80mph) - 33mpg
Motorway (65mph) - 39mpg
4 Bikes on the roof, 4 (6ft+) blokes + gear in the car - 28mpg
I think there's still a fairly strong case for diesel...
[EDIT] - My figues are (rounded) calculated, not taken from the display.
I don't think that's all that bad - slightly better than our 330 saloon.
RS6?
Getting into teens on one is pretty good doing - I had a good drive in my step uncle's V10 jobbie and it averaged 11! Yikes.
I can't believe that so many people are that fussed about tracking their MPG. My derv Ford has dropped from 57 to 51 and I don't really notice the difference (can't wait for it to go though).
Not an estate, but the very small vauxhall combo crew van 1.7 cdti:
Average driving, 44-45 mpg.
(On paper it's 55 - hahahahaha - cheeky bastards. My best ever was 48 on a trip up the M6 back when it was almost entirely one long 50mph roadwork zone).
Bikes on roof, no idea, it's a van so why would I put them on the roof.
2011 a3 sportback 170tdi does around 50mpg overall and up to 60mpg if sticking to 70 mph.
Bikes go in the back.
Had a golf Gti before, 2litre petrol turbo which did 300 miles a tank, the a3 does between 500-600 so halved my fuel bills and with the extra torque feels just as quick (quicker under normal driving conditions)
V70 2.4 D5 . Running with a tuning chip which was fitted when i bought it . Can return 57mpg driving very carefully which isnt bad for the size of it.
Dropped to 52mpg now on winter fuel and colder starts .
These are brim to brim figures not fantasy island.
Never put bikes on the roof so no idea what the difference would be
Octavia vrs pd170 diesel estate ...stage 1 remap to around 200bhp
Average around 50 mpg day to day which is a 40 mile round work trip.
Bike goes in the back.