Measuring the Impact of Instant MPG Info

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I've only driven one car with an instantaneous mpg readout - a Jeep Cherokee - and it was too scary. Even when petrol was 60p a gallon. :D
 
I have mine set to show average MPG and will moderate my motorway speed to push it over the magic 50 (MPG not MPH). The real time display is just distracting..

It has changed my driving style :eek::)

Ade
 
Ooo that would be more addictive than Tetris!! im bad enough as it is with trying to get good MPG without a gauge telling me exactly what im doing at that point. On the other side it will be seriously depressing as you become far more aware of how much money your pumping into your car.
 
Hardly news, old boy! Jaguars for the past 30 years have had instant mpg readouts on their trip computers!

I had a 3.6 XJ-S of 1986 vintage which had that readout on its dashboard. That trip computer had at that stage already been in use on the XJ6 and XJ-S for years.

Interesting reading when booting it however... :eek:

2nd button from left:

trip_computer_front.jpg
 
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Come to think of it, im pretty sure Some BMW's and MB's used to have them as well.
 
My old BMW had an instant one on the dash all the time. Found it quite good on the motorway as you could see what backing off the throttle a touch would do for increasing MPG.
It also had the digital readout for long term average etc.
 
A proper trip computer would let you tap in the cost per litre of your last fill-up and display fuel consumption in p/s, £/mile, £/trip, etc. Now that would alter driving styles.
 
Yep pretty old News Volvo had it on their cars in the late 70's similar to the jag dispaly keith posted was at the bottom of the console in my 240 GLT.

My current V50 also has a myriad of functions on its computer but I run with it showing instanteneous mpg all the time. :thumb:
 
A proper trip computer would let you tap in the cost per litre of your last fill-up and display fuel consumption in p/s, £/mile, £/trip, etc. Now that would alter driving styles.

The Volvo does my current running costs 9.48p per mile :bannana:
 
It was on the LandRover I was driving last week..... scary isn't the word for it..:eek:
 
I've had a car (can't remember which) where the mpg never went below 8 - suppose this stopped the driver going into shock.

More honest 4*4's can get down to 0 for an instant when flooring it!
 
As already mentioned Jag's had this read out for years. On my last XJ8 I was particularly impressed when I saw 3 mpg setting off from some lights. At the next set I thought I just know I can better that... I did... 0 mpg. :)
 
My Mondeo displays the average miles per gallon/litre since last reset of the computer. This can be quite distracting as I tend to look at the read-out instead of the fuel gauge and it would be a real possibility for me to run out of fuel.
 
my W204 had it on the cluster. W212 has it too.

BMW have it and its a good judge of how heavy your foot is being.
 
my W204 had it on the cluster. W212 has it too.

BMW have it and its a good judge of how heavy your foot is being.

Yes the swing needle in the bottom of the speedo, miss that. Was always fun planting it and watch it swing well past 10mpg.
 
Some Italian car i drove once either an Alfa or a Fiat had this feature, figures were all over the place from memory.
 

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