Misleading fuel figures
I’ve noticed that car owners are not getting close enough to the stated mpg figures. In my circumstance, I bought a new Audi A4 2.0-litre TFSI quattro S Tronic 7 which should do 33.2mpg urban, 42.2mpg combined and 50.4mpg extra urban. However, I get about 23-25mpg urban and combined of 34mpg - once I got 40mpg.
It's a fact that under the Sales of Goods Act a car must be 'as described'. I therefore deduce that the manufacturer is choosing to publish their mpg figures as part of the overall description of the vehicle in their sales brochure. The key point is that the government
(http://www.dft.gov.uk/vca/fcb/the-fuel-consumption-testing-scheme.asp) says "Only one production car is tested as being representative of the model and this may produce a slightly better or worse result than another similar vehicle ".
I would further deduce that obtaining 70'ish percent of the advertised mpg is not representative of the model. There would appear to be sufficient people discontent with their real world mpg to possibly take some joint, class action against a manufacturer. As Audi were unable to test my car in lab conditions to re-test it against the stated figures (thereby taking my driving and the road conditions out of the equation) and cannot find a fault (that does not mean a fault does not exist) then I'm left a dissatisfied customer.
What are your legal thoughts on this?
It's a fact that under the Sales of Goods Act a car must be 'as described'. I therefore deduce that the manufacturer is choosing to publish their mpg figures as part of the overall description of the vehicle in their sales brochure. The key point is that the government
(http://www.dft.gov.uk/vca/fcb/the-fuel-consumption-testing-scheme.asp) says "Only one production car is tested as being representative of the model and this may produce a slightly better or worse result than another similar vehicle ".
I would further deduce that obtaining 70'ish percent of the advertised mpg is not representative of the model. There would appear to be sufficient people discontent with their real world mpg to possibly take some joint, class action against a manufacturer. As Audi were unable to test my car in lab conditions to re-test it against the stated figures (thereby taking my driving and the road conditions out of the equation) and cannot find a fault (that does not mean a fault does not exist) then I'm left a dissatisfied customer.
What are your legal thoughts on this?
Asked on 16 November 2014 by Mr T
Answered by
Honest John
Manufacturers are legally obliged to quote only the mpgs achieved in the ECDC tests and should make it clear that this is what they are quoting, not that the car will actually achieve those mpgs in real use. It should also be emphasised that the ECDC tests are conducted using the very best fuels, which are usually Shell V-Power Nitro+ petrol or diesel, so if you run on a lesser fuel you will get a worse result.
If the tests were tightened up to be more realistic, cars would correspondingly be rated at higher CO2 and taxed at a higher rate, so that is why we prefer to leave the situation as it is and invite motorists to contribute to www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg , which provides a realistic average that they can hope to attain.
If the tests were tightened up to be more realistic, cars would correspondingly be rated at higher CO2 and taxed at a higher rate, so that is why we prefer to leave the situation as it is and invite motorists to contribute to www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg , which provides a realistic average that they can hope to attain.
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