What MPG do you get?

[Brown, Jon Brow]

The published combined figures for my 1.2 Grande Punto are 47MPG but I checked my trip computer and for the last 300 miles I've managed to squeeze out 52MPG That is with a mixture of rural and urban driving (and even a few B-road blasts). I reckon I could get more if I didn't do most of my journeys with a passenger.

I know this is more than I was getting last year, but as fuel prices have increased I've started driving everywhere in 5th, keep a steady speed over my journeys, and avoid harsh braking/acceleration.

As fuel economy becomes more important has anyone else changed the way they drive?

[MrJan]

When I had the induction kit on it I usually managed about 33-37 mpg (doing basic rough maths) with combined from my 1.6 Civic. Trouble is that the noise was quite nice so had a tendency to drive everywhere in a gear too low and rev it to about 6700 all the time (yup, basically I drive like a t***).

Anyway my brother has come back and had the kit away (as it's is anyway) and the consumption seemed to be looking really good on dual carriageway/town driving on the way to Bournemouth last week. Trouble is that I think it drinks much more at high revs than before and seems to have really dropped. Haven't checked it in it's un-modified state but hoping to have over 40 mpg at least, maybe 45 if I'm really sensible.

My old man managed to get 72 mpg out of my mum's 1.4 diesel 106 on his B/A road route to work. Basically he pinned it on 60 mph which he said was actually really tough to keep up with in some areas. Still it's a lot better than the 29 mpg he was getting from his Type R (now sold and replaced with a diesel Audi )

[Mark]

My 1.4 Fiesta I've calculated I've been getting 37MPG on motorway runs, not great by any means, but not disasterous either I suppose.

Since I'm switching to diesel I hope to do significantly better!

[MrJan]

How do people without fancy computers work out MPG? I always brim the tank and divide whatever I've put in by 4.54. Then use the answer from that to divide whatever my trip says (zeroed whenever I fill up).

E.g if I put 45.4 litres in then that would be 10 gallons and if I'd done 330 miles on that then it would be 33mpg. Not sure if that's the right way to do it but at least if I'm consistent then I know when I've been more economical and when I'#ve thrashed it too much.

[Daniel]

Jan, google for Mpg calculator and the first link is a good one to use. My car usually gets about 40mpg but since getting the head gasket done it's managed a record of 44! That's with crap normal diesel fuel. I'm hoping to get 50 out of it on the drive to and from Scotland on motorway roads this weekend and make it there and back doing 750 odd miles on one tank with some shell v power diesel in. Would be great if it were and hdi because i'd probably be able to get close to 1000 miles on a tank!

[MrJan]

Top link Daniel, cheers

I tend only to check on the forecourt using my mobile but is nice to do a proper check on it every now and then.

[Daniel]

forgot to mention that it's 44 mpg with lots of stop start and b road driving where i'm not able to keep a constant speed. But I still try not to use the brakes and stay in a high gear to keep it as economical as possible.

[wedge]

As fuel economy becomes more important has anyone else changed the way they drive?

Well I always driven relatively smoothly since my uni days! If you find that hard to believe its because I got my car at the height of the fuel protest in 2000 so I've stuck to 5th gear whenever possible, shifting at 2000rpm and going over to 3000rpm or more when necessary.

I was quite happy to do 80mph on motorways but thats down to 75 to compromise a bit on speed and efficiency.

The only downer is that I've cut back on taking the scenic route

[Mark]

How do people without fancy computers work out MPG? I always brim the tank and divide whatever I've put in by 4.54. Then use the answer from that to divide whatever my trip says (zeroed whenever I fill up).

E.g if I put 45.4 litres in then that would be 10 gallons and if I'd done 330 miles on that then it would be 33mpg. Not sure if that's the right way to do it but at least if I'm consistent then I know when I've been more economical and when I'#ve thrashed it too much.

I always brim the tank too. I remember how many litres I put in during the last fill up. Then using google maps work out how many miles I'd done because I remember where I've been. Then work it out from there, pretty similar to you really.

At least my new car should have an inbuilt MPG readout which will be very useful to experiment with to see what driving styles use the least fuel. At the moment it's rough guesswork really.

[Daniel]

I brim the tank too and just remember how many miles are on the trip meter and how many litres.