Real long term average MPG figures

[Sp!ke]

I know that manufacturers claim all sorts of outlandish MPG figures and under the right conditions some people are able to get pretty close to them. However, almost every vehicle I've checked on recently gets somewhere in the 30's range over the long term average. A much lower figure than I imagined.

This makes the headline "look at what I got on a run" posts seem irrelevent if over the long term you're not much better off than you were driving a 2+ Litre petrol engined car of two decades ago.

Yesterday I was in a 1.9tdi Skoda Fabia, manual transmission, driven by a very sedate driver who lives in the country side and its overall average over 60,000 miles was a mere 32 MPG Another example was the new Kia Rio, a 1.2 Petrol version. Was sat at a 36mpg average over 5000 miles, so not significantly better than my 1978 VW Polo 1.3 I once owned despite it manageing to show 70mpg on the dash when conditions were pefect.

I guess my point is, are we really driving much more economical cars than we were 20-30 years ago or are we merely fooled into believing we are with dashboard trickery?

 

[wemorgan]

Spritverbrauch berechnen und Autokosten verwalten - Spritmonitor.de have a very large database of real world fuel economy figures.
I use it when ever I want to know some real numbers, rather than one-off posts as you say.

My experience of onboard mpg figures is that they over predict by 5-15%. Which I constantly find disappointing. For all the advances in other electronics within the car this aspect remain poor.

32mpg from a 1.9TDi - sounds like short journeys whilst going up and down hills to me.

You're correct about some OEM fabricating the mpg results: BBC News - Hyundai and Kia shares dip on overstated mileage claims

In my experience of comparing old to new cars it's difficult to compare like with like, but my small diesel car in 1995 was giving me 45mpg, today my car gives 60mpg, plus it has more bhp and is heavier.

 

[gaz_l]

30 MPG? I wish...

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[tode]

S350: Real = 36.2 mpg (over 10k miles)
. Computer = 37.6 mpg
. Error = 3.9%

 

[asinrutee]

There is an excellent Ipohne app called road trip, evrytime you fuel up you enter the figures into the app and it calculates your mileage from your last trip as well as you overall MPG. I had afreelander which I had for two years and always entered the fuel into my phone. over two years it avereaged 33.6 mpg. I have had my Class coupe for 6 months and so far it has averaged 46.8 mpg. I now have the full version and you input all your costs and expenses and it gives you lots of figures like cost per mile, day, week etc

 

[ming]

My aged 2003 SL500 computer says it does 22mpg over the last 12k miles , that is how long I've had it my wife's 2009 diesel Ranault Laguna estate over 30k miles from new computer says 40mpg
Does this help
I suspect not
Diesel is expensive and I enjoy the SL the Renault transports the dog...

 

[John]

Despite advanced in engines, cars are a lot safer than they used to be - and with all those safety features comes additional weight...

My first car was a 2.0GTE Manta which averaged mid-30s quoted - but weighed 970kg.

I can't believe the old 2.0 CIH engine was frugal...

 

[Dieselman]

None of my petrol cars averaged better than 25mpg, even from new.

Mrs Dm has a VAG 1.9tdi-130 and it solidly gives 47mpg for the regular town work and well into the 50's for out of town work. I have had 66mpg out of it when trying.

The problem with any real world driving comparisons is that they are dependent on the type of driving, cold starts, hilly terrain and mostly the driver.

 

[Mr. B]

Not bad for a C63.
View attachment 32753

 

[wemorgan]

Not bad for a C63.
View attachment 32753

To answer spike's questions - how accurate is that figure and how representative is it of the car's average mpg?

 

[neilrr]

So would it have been cheaper to have not bought the Smart car & to have continued to drive the 190?

 

[Mr. B]

To answer spike's questions - how accurate is that figure and how representative is it of the car's average mpg?

The figure is as accurate as the boffins who assembled the fuel system would like me to believe.

It doesn't represent the car's total average mpg at all.

It's done 22K and averaged 19 mpg from new.

I was pleased with the mpg on that particular day and that was the reason for the post.

 

[tode]

The figure is as accurate as the boffins who assembled the fuel system would like me to believe.

It doesn't represent the car's total average mpg at all.

It's done 22K and averaged 19 mpg from new.

I was pleased with the mpg on that particular day and that was the reason for the post.

= 1158 gallons

 

[Mr. B]

= 1158 gallons

I have shares in Shell so I like to keep their profits up.

 

[Borys]

Mpg - life is too short to worry about that.As long as car can do 20mpg perfect.
Where we gonna take the saved money?Spend it in afterlife?
That us the point of diesel car right?Saving

 

[V12]

You can see in my signature what I average.
You wouldn't get that from a 116 or 126 would you?
My driving is a mixture with 80%+ of town driving with a very relaxed style most of the time.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using MBClub UK

 

[SmartMAC]

I always keep a record of the mpg on my cars (see signature). That is a realistic figure over the last 10K miles and possibly a worse case scenario for a car like mine as I don't do much motorway.

 

[mattc]

my golf says it is averaging just over 56 mpg for the last 12,000 miles. its a 50 litre tank and I get 600 miles from it give or take so I seem to be around the figure the computer is telling me. the economy impresses me; the rest of the car leaves me very underwelmed, uninvolved and, frankly, bored.

 

[Sp!ke]

So would it have been cheaper to have not bought the Smart car & to have continued to drive the 190?

ha ha - the smart is a bit of an exception. I'm averaging a little over 75mpg over 11,000 miles.


My neighbours 2007 Scenic (poor choice I know) long term average is 26mpg, or to put it another way, not far what I get in my SL500, certainly my W124CE from two decades prior did better. Looking at some of the posts here though it would seem that folk here seem to be doing quite well and getting reasonable figures although I suspect this isnt a representative example with us all being enthusiasts and perhaps more mechanically sympathetic than the average bod.

>V12 I'm not sure that low 30's is a great leap forward from what could be achieved in a 20 year old diesel of a similar size and weight.

>JohnEBoy - Your mantra is a great example of what I trying to get at here.

Another thing to consider is that most speedo's and therefore odometers over read, so you can probably reduce all figures by 5-10% depending on model.

 

[Frugal]

I'm pretty pleased with my long term average from new which is showing as 60.1 on the OBC and 55.7 actual per Fuelly - OBC is 7.9% optimistic. Close enough to published figures and based on a mix of about 40 town 60% dual/Mway.