How's everyone's mpg?

[Gozza]

In the interests of curiosity, I zero'd my trip computer when we left Dorset yesterday afternoon. Over an average mixture of tiny rural backroads, bigger main roads and motorway, when I turned off the motorway back home we'd done 29.1 MPG. I'm sure I could've achieved better, we had the usual traffic jams all across the New Forest, and I wasn't particularly driving for economy anyway so there's probably another couple of MPG there if I push for it.

Solo I get between 38 and 40, again I'm sure there's more there but my daily commute is 18 miles of the finest Hampshire rural roads and I definitely don't drive for economy then!

 

[Gafferbill]

I have two cars.......one is a Nissan Terrano 2.7 Diesel that is only used for towing and caravan holidays.
It does 23mpg and 5000 miles/year.......It will do 30 mpg when solo.
The other is a Ford Fusion I.4 Diesel that is used for everything else...... does 55/60mpg and 6000 miles/year.

 

[twindaddy]

Hi G
1976 Cavalier 1600 and Baily Mikado.
Solo 24mpg., towing 18mpg
And that was after I improved things by dumping the original carb and fitting a Weber.
The outfit's stability was incredible thanks to mod'd rear suspension, very heavy nose weight and a Scott stabiliser. This brand now seems to be taken over by Bulldog but I will definitely be fitting one when I get my new outfit.
I had not posted before as I think these historic figures will be of no interest whatever.
Tell me if I am wrong.

Wilbur's, do you have a picture of your car/van outfit, I'd love to see your '76 cavalier?

TD

 

[johnandrew70]

Hi G
1976 Cavalier 1600 and Baily Mikado.
Solo 24mpg., towing 18mpg
And that was after I improved things by dumping the original carb and fitting a Weber.
The outfit's stability was incredible thanks to mod'd rear suspension, very heavy nose weight and a Scott stabiliser. This brand now seems to be taken over by Bulldog but I will definitely be fitting one when I get my new outfit.
I had not posted before as I think these historic figures will be of no interest whatever.
Tell me if I am wrong.

Wilbur's, do you have a picture of your car/van outfit, I'd love to see your '76 cavalier?

TD

me too.

 

[Wilbury]

Hi T and J,
No I am sorry I do not.
It was a Mk 1 and was almost totaly Opal Ascona complete with 1960's technology engine. It was one of the first and was made in Belgium. After a while production was moved to the Luton works.
While I had it I had to do a total rebuild as the No1 cylinder got badly scored when a piston ring broke.
I rather hoped I would never have to do anything similar again. Removing engines and gearboxes single handed takes some ingenuity, as does replacing them. So far I have not had to. I am not even sure modern motors can be repaired anyway.
I kept it for 10 years and replaced it with an Audi 100, superb car.
I saw the old vauhall being thrashed along the motorway near Portmouth by which time it was about 20 years old. (Thinks, I owe it all to Finnigans Waxoil). Yes really I have allways used it and it definitely works.
Ramble ramble ramble.....
Rgds

 

[lgvdriver]

Outfit is a Kia Sorento Kx2 towing a Lunar Clubman SB average mileage solo 47mpg with caravan on tow 27.5

 

[fatgituk]

2011 Peugeot 207 1.4 diesel towing a 1992 Lunar Conquest.
55-70mpg solo, 30mpg towing average (based on the onboard computer).
Towing at 50mph if we're not going uphill

 

[squigglycrayon]

2011 Peugeot 508SW 2.0d Auto, towing a 2014 Elddis Avante 540. Only done a short trip of about 90 miles but got 25mpg. Solo i'm getting roughly 35 or so, but i do have a heavy right foot

 

[Mgran]

2007 Honda CRV 2.2 CDI with a 2008 Coachman VIP535. Only done towed shortish trips 40 miles on country roads so far and averaged 27.6 MPG.

 

[SwingLowJim]

Our mondeo 2.0 D tit est. gives 46 47 mpg solo and 27 28 mpg with sterling 460 2 on the hookif driven gently this drops to 23 24 mpg on autoroutes with higher limits

 

[CyberCynth]

hi Cynth,
there is a lot of us in the same boat, however one can get some idea by:-
1. running the car down on fuel untill the fuel warning light comes on. (reserve -this happens often, well it does to me anyway hmy: )
2. put in a measured amount of fuel say 10ltrs (not £10) at the nearest fuel station, and zero the mileommeter.
3. run it untill the light comes on again, check the mileage, (then) put in some more fuel "most important"
4. when you get home divide the mileage by the number of litres put in,

ie, 100 miles / 10ltrs = 10miles per ltr, ok so far! next times this figure by 4.55 gives the MPG (ie, 10x4.55= 45.5mpg.)
you now have a basic mpg of what the car does solo, "note" you need to put in Ltrs not ££s as this eliminates the difference in fuel price.
armed with this basic figure, working out the the fuel consumption while towing can be done by calculating the expected mpg solo (using the formula) to the actual mpg by noting the extra fuel used for a given journey length,

ps. while the above is not a precise scientific true reflection of the actual mpg as there are so many variables to consider it will a least give an reasonable idea of fuel usage both solo and towing.

Ok Colin, thanks for that, I'll give it a try. I'm hoping to show a good return solo, as the auto gearbox is 7 speed. The fuel gauge certainly drops alarmingly when towing! We shall see.

 

[Robbie]

Just changed my 'van from a 2012 Swift Challenger Sport 524 to a 2014 Sport 514 and achieved 32.6 mpg with my 2013 Honda CR-V 2.2 EX I-DTEC. With my 524 I got 28.2mpg.

 

[CyberCynth]

hi Cynth,
there is a lot of us in the same boat, however one can get some idea by:-
1. running the car down on fuel untill the fuel warning light comes on. (reserve -this happens often, well it does to me anyway hmy: )
2. put in a measured amount of fuel say 10ltrs (not £10) at the nearest fuel station, and zero the mileommeter.
3. run it untill the light comes on again, check the mileage, (then) put in some more fuel "most important"
4. when you get home divide the mileage by the number of litres put in,

ie, 100 miles / 10ltrs = 10miles per ltr, ok so far! next times this figure by 4.55 gives the MPG (ie, 10x4.55= 45.5mpg.)
you now have a basic mpg of what the car does solo, "note" you need to put in Ltrs not ££s as this eliminates the difference in fuel price.
armed with this basic figure, working out the the fuel consumption while towing can be done by calculating the expected mpg solo (using the formula) to the actual mpg by noting the extra fuel used for a given journey length,

ps. while the above is not a precise scientific true reflection of the actual mpg as there are so many variables to consider it will a least give an reasonable idea of fuel usage both solo and towing.

Ok, she says, about a fortnight later - done that! Except I saved up all my pennies and filled up the tank, and have just refilled it today. According to the calculations you suggested I did, Colin, I have returned 45.87 mpg. That's all solo driving but of all types of journey, some motorway and some A roads, quite a bit of pottering round town etc.

Tomorrow I am going out for my first outing with my Gobur since March. I'm off to Sussex, on a C&CC THS in which, as I'm going to go across country, will be quite a tortuous route from a towing point of view. I'll be really interested in how the MPG is affected with a folding caravan in tow, though its Max weight is only 900kg. Plenty for a 1.2 Tsi to pull though. Incidentally, my Skoda had a service recently, and I explained to the technician that the car was using a bit of oil, but when I said 1 litre over a period of a year, he smiled benignly at me and told me not to worry!

 

[colin-yorkshire]

Ok, she says, about a fortnight later - done that! Except I saved up all my pennies and filled up the tank, and have just refilled it today. According to the calculations you suggested I did, Colin, I have returned 45.87 mpg. That's all solo driving but of all types of journey, some motorway and some A roads, quite a bit of pottering round town etc.

Tomorrow I am going out for my first outing with my Gobur since March. I'm off to Sussex, on a C&CC THS in which, as I'm going to go across country, will be quite a tortuous route from a towing point of view. I'll be really interested in how the MPG is affected with a folding caravan in tow, though its Max weight is only 900kg. Plenty for a 1.2 Tsi to pull though. Incidentally, my Skoda had a service recently, and I explained to the technician that the car was using a bit of oil, but when I said 1 litre over a period of a year, he smiled benignly at me and told me not to worry!

Gordon Bennet CyberCynth!! thats nothing a litre a WEEK is the time to worry :woohoo: 46mpg ish sounds about right expect a 25% drop towing with such a small engine, OH!!! and be careful with that knee take plenty of breaks to rest it!! and enjoy, :blink:

 

[CyberCynth]

Colin, how thoughtful of you to remember that I was recovering from my knee op. My knee is still quite sore but I'm fed up with sitting around waiting for the pain to go away so, here goes! I will indeed take plenty of rest breaks, and I'm hoping I'll be able to find a service station or two on the A272 across Sussex. I looked on the met Office site last night, and the weather looks brilliant for the week ahead. Whoopy Dooooo! Will be incommunicado now until I return home, the THS being a basic facilities site. Bye bye all!

 

[The Sollis Family]

Ford Grand CMax 2l 160BHP. about 45 solo, 28 towing an Avondale Dart 525/4 down to Devon from Nottinghamshire (mostly motorway). Happy with the towing figure which is about the same as my 10 year old Peugeot 406 2l 110BHP. Less than happy with the solo mpg which should be in the low 60s. I can achieve that by driving everywhere at 30mph.

 

[Raywood]

Just back from our latest adventure. 1340 miles almost all towing. Indicated 37.4 mpg but on a tank full basis about 36 so pretty good going. Car nicely run in at 20,000 and new caravan does seem to help.

 

[intransient1]

Well we have just had our first outing with the new outfit Ford Kuga and Elddis Chatsworth 540.
Solo I can get 50+, but I did not expect to get an average of 32 mpg towing and that's with all the roadworks, so next year's continental tour will be cheaper as I won't be stopping as often.

 

[TheTravellingRooster]

Hi to all of you that are not only happy but to those that are not happy - with you fuel consumption figures.
Are you all going off the figures that the manufacturers want you believe you are getting with their on-board computers or are you using actual physical calculations and the conversion of 4.5461 litres per gallon?
I personally believe that there are many many totally disillusioned people out there that are using fuel figures that are tantamount to being from Cloud Cuckoo Land.
I wonder how many people that give-up caravanning allegedly because of the rising cost of fuels are actually now realising the their initial hopes and aspirations based upon the anticipated fuel figures both for towing and solo driving are just not really factual?

 

[ProfJohnL]

.....................
I wonder how many people that give-up caravanning allegedly because of the rising cost of fuels are actually now realising the their initial hopes and aspirations based upon the anticipated fuel figures both for towing and solo driving are just not really factual?

As vehicle manufactures have no idea about customers trailers and how heavy they are going to be, the cannot and do not publish towing consumption figures. So no customer should have any preconception about how well their out fit will do.

 

[TheTravellingRooster]

.....................
I wonder how many people that give-up caravanning allegedly because of the rising cost of fuels are actually now realising the their initial hopes and aspirations based upon the anticipated fuel figures both for towing and solo driving are just not really factual?

As vehicle manufactures have no idea about customers trailers and how heavy they are going to be, the cannot and do not publish towing consumption figures. So no customer should have any preconception about how well their out fit will do.

Hi Prof. I did not say nor did I infer that vehicle manufacturers quoted nor offered potential figures for towing.
The figures for towing are often supplied/suggested by some of the totally disillusioned people that I referred to in my post.

 

[colin-yorkshire]

Hi Prof. I did not say nor did I infer that vehicle manufacturers quoted nor offered potential figures for towing.
The figures for towing are often supplied/suggested by some of the totally disillusioned people that I referred to in my post.

which people would they be!!! the ones I know that have given up say there are various reasons, including ill health and in general a wish to no longer go through the hassle of towing and setting ect,
yes we pay through the nose for the privilege of owning and using a van it is no longer a cheap way of holidaying but to say fuel consumption is a deal breaker is wide of the mark.
the extra 20% or so on fuel pales into insignificance when one considers the overall costs. anyone who assumes adding more than a ton to a car wont affect it's consumption and then packs in because it does, lives in cuckoo land.
I gave up worrying about fuel costs years ago, it uses what it uses end of, when it needs it I put some more in at the nearest forecourt to where I am, then use it until it needs some more.
my mate Mo being a yorkshireman hates waste, so buys it from wherever is cheapest, last week he told me he saved £3.40p filling up at Tesco, fine but the nearest one with a fuel station is 12 miles away, probably cost him 3 litres of fuel to fetch it, nice one Mo, :S :S

 

[Willi-Wonti]

My Hyundai does between 20 / 25 mpg towing & about the same running around local solo
Solo on the motorway it goes up to about 30 / 35 mpg depending how fast I go
Fuel I buy from over the road from my station

 

[DrZhivago]

As vehicle manufactures have no idea about customers trailers and how heavy they are going to be, the cannot and do not publish towing consumption figures. So no customer should have any preconception about how well their out fit will do.

Hi Prof. I did not say nor did I infer that vehicle manufacturers quoted nor offered potential figures for towing. The figures for towing are often supplied/suggested by some of the totally disillusioned people that I referred to in my post.

TravellingRooster, were you referring to all of the previous posters being disillusioned then? LoL! It is not clear what you said, because the word "disillusioned" does not quite fit the context. Perhaps you meant "deluded"?

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think you are saying that you believe that people here are quoting figures based on what their onboard computers tell them, but that the manufacturers deliberately make these figures wrong on the optimistic side. If that is what you are saying, there are a lot of assumptions there (40+ posters all disillusioned/deluded, and any number of different makes of tow car) - do you have you evidence of this conspiracy by manufacturers? I'm interested.

I won't be deluded by any on-board computer - don't have one. I have not been towing very long, but I won't be disillusioned either, because my expectations are rock bottom already. My Jeep Cherokee pulling a ton-and-a-half will be guzzling it like there's no tomorrow! When I get more data I'll keep you posted.

 

[TheTravellingRooster]

Hi DrZhivago. Yes you are correct I did mean deluded - it can only have been the intoxicating cocktail of Whiskey,heat and the pills. The mind is otherwise OK (must of the time).
It is a known fact that OBC's offer wildly and widely optimistic figures because of the laboratory conditions that they are conceived in. They are not nor have they ever been collected in real world situations.
My 2005 Volvo V70 D5 SE Geartronic gives out figures that when checked against brim to brim are as far away from reality as 17% to 20% and that is not across the board,for some strange reason when towing the discrepancy is a lower figure.
My next scheduled caravan haul is Monday next,the 28th July, it is going into West Riding Leisure,Huddersfield for some extensive repair work, I will do a brim to brim on the way out and another when I return it to storage and I will come back with my findings.
I have not said that the manufactures 'deliberately anything',it is the fact that the figures are not collected in real world circumstances. The sad thing about it is that most people when quoting both solo and towing figures use those that are in-front of them on the OBC.
Another point,there are vehicles out there that whether solo or towing there is little or no difference in fuel figures recorded,a classic example of that was my last Ford Granada 2.8i GhiaX Auto Estate.
It gave 18mpg whether I towed or not and whether I drove with Fairy Feet or Lead Loaded Boots.