We have recently bought a new KIA Venga 3 automatic for which the consumption figures were quoted as 48mpg for a long run. We've never had trouble achieving the claimed for mpg in any car in the past. We recently did 220 miles in it from London to the North, virtually all on motorways, and did not exceed 75mph. At the end of the journey our onboard computer showed 31.1mpg. We had it on its factory set metric consumption figures since we took delivery in June, and whilst we always thought it was a thirsty car we did not realise just how thirsty, until we changed to imperial readings.

We've done 2500 miles in the car so far and KIA head office claims that it is not run in until about 5000 - 6000 miles. Furthermore they said that we should expect on the road consumption to be 15 per cent less than the claimed for figures that they (and presumably all manufacturers) give out. The overall mpg of this model is quoted at slightly more than 40 mpg, but we are not achieving anything like this, even on a long run. The annoying thing is that in all other respects this car is giving us everything we looked for. Is it possible, please, that you could give us any guidance?