Simple answer is a Seat Leon 1.4 TSi 140 PS or 150 PS. Great to drive, great to ride in and great economy. I only averaged around 7000 miles a year in mine and still got 45 mpg, doing the OP's mileage with a majority on the motorway I would expect possibly the mid 50's. A work colleage had an Auris Hybrid the same time as I bought the Leon, in his opinion it was dull to drive, dull to ride in, very noisy and on a motorway run it struggled to beat the leon simply because it was running on a 1.8 petrol engine. But he loved it because it was costing sod all in company car tax.

The Leon is every bit as good as the Golf for less money (or spend the same and get a newer Leon. Mine never went wrong in 4 years.

Given those small engined turbos are barely squeaking past real-word 40mpg,

Only just spotted this bizzarre comment which has obviously been posted by someone who has never owned a small engined petrol turbo.

Well we have owned 3 and in the "real world they are excellent. The Leon averaged 45 mpg for the 4 years we owned it. The Superb is currently on 44 mpg for just over a year and considering its size that is magic, I expected less. We ahve only had the fabia about 3 weeks but it seems to be averaging approx 50 mpg and its only done about 350 miles.

In addition we had a supercharged Nissan Note petrol 1.2 DIG-S for almost 3 years and 22,000 miles. It averaged 49 mpg in our hands.

These are all calculated and nottaken form the dash.

Perhaps the poster should buy and try before posting such nonsense.

Big fan of small (and not so small) petrol turbos here too. I’m on my 4th and my wife is on her second - all VAG. I don’t normally keep a car beyond 20,000 or so miles from new, but my first covered 40,000 trouble free miles before I traded it in. There is one blot, however. My wife’s Ibiza suffered turbo failure at 9,000 miles. I put it down to the fact that she only ever covered short journeys and the turbo - in my view - just wasn’t getting enough oil. It cost £1,000 to fix, but it was still under warranty so no cost to us. My 1.4 turbos would return mid to high 40s mpg on a run and high 30s around town. The Ibiza is a 1.2 turbo and will go into the 50s on a run. My current car is a 2 litre turbo and will return 44 mpg cruising at 80 on a motorway run. Very impressive technology in my experience.

Cruising at 80 is in reality nearer to 72-76 mph as speedos have to always read the exact speed or over, never under (as long as the correct wheels and tyres are fitted). Most tend to read 5-10% over at motorway speeds (the higher, the larger the gap).

Often, larger engined cars perform better at motorway cruising speeds than smaller engined ones because they aren't worked that hard, particularly if the car itself is quite large/heavy (including loaded up) in comparision.

Its why some modern very small trubo petrols and diesels do very well in EU mandated testing as regards mpg but do woefully in the real world, especially when fully loaded as their engines really struggle to cope with the weight or extra demands generally. I've seen some 1.8 and 2.0 N/A petrol engined big cars return better mpg than 1.0 and 1.2 turbos (as well as 1.6 N/A like mine) in smaller ones when the cars are fully loaded with people on a decent run.

As I recommended this car to a friend of mine, I will recommend it to you too. Kia Optima is a great car for commuters.

"Family cars are falling out of favour with the public, but cars like the Kia Optima still have their merits. They are practical, spacious and will return better fuel economy than a similarly sized SUV."

You would definitely get your money's worth.

Edited by Arrius on 31/05/2018 at 14:29

Often, larger engined cars perform better at motorway cruising speeds than smaller engined ones because they aren't worked that hard, particularly if the car itself is quite large/heavy (including loaded up) in comparision.

Its why some modern very small trubo petrols and diesels do very well in EU mandated testing as regards mpg but do woefully in the real world, especially when fully loaded as their engines really struggle to cope with the weight or extra demands generally. I've seen some 1.8 and 2.0 N/A petrol engined big cars return better mpg than 1.0 and 1.2 turbos (as well as 1.6 N/A like mine) in smaller ones when the cars are fully loaded with people on a decent run

Here we go again, the usual nonsese from a poster who has probably never sat in let alone driven or owned a modern petrol turbo.

Please take note of the following, all our VAG TSI's have done excellent mpg. On a trip to Scotland and back ;last week including local running (1000 miles in total) our Superb averaged a genuine calculated 54 mpg. We did not hang about either, 63 mph average for the runs upa dndown. Could you name a 1.8 or 2 litre N/A petrol the size of the Superb that could do that please.

Still early days for the 1.0 TSi Fabia but its appears to be doing about 52 mpg in mostly local running including a couple of trips the the MIL's. Just better than the Note managed after it was fully loose.

As for working hard at mortorways speeds, more proof you have never been in one. Both the Fabia and Superb are doing about 2300 at a true 70 mph in 6th gear with very little throttle needed. No drop down needed to change lane either.

I think you need to calm down a bit Skidpan - not every comment is a personal criticism of you and your ownership and praise of TSi VAG cars. As it happens, I did test drive a VW Scirocco 1.4 TSi (122PS) and found it to be more peppy than the 2.0 N/A petrol Mazda3 I tested a few days before. Note that I was the only person in the car, no passengers or load in the boot.

I was actually talking about driving cars with 3 passengers + boot load with a small, low powered (but decent to drive/mpg when one the driver) car (often a smaller one, petrol or diesel with a turbo) that is really design for economy and not to lug 4 people plus luggage around. I've seen on many occasions such a smaller car, loaded up with people and stuff, struggle and give very poor mpg (including the smaller de-rated 1.2 TSi, but mostly other makes and small capacity turbo diesel engines) whereas a large engined car, say a 2.0 N/A petrol OR a 1.6 turbo petrol or 2.0 TD fairs much better because it can handle the extra weight without the driver having to floor it every time they need to accelerate.

When my old 1.0 N/A petrol Micra was full of people, it went from an average 50+mpg down to low to mid 30s; I've driven my Mazda3 1.6 N/A petrol (saloon) with 5 people (including me) and stuff in the boot at higher speeds and still beat that mpg. I'm sure I would with a VAG 1.4TSi in comparison as its torque is even higher, so is even better suited to the heavier load. I've seen people driving 2.0 N/A Mondeos get better mpg than my Mazda on a long run up the motorway when carrying passengers, but less if its just one person.

That's all. Oh, and BTW, on my Mazda thats 12 years older in design than your car, I've managed (in 'summery' conditions on regular fuel) calculated 46mpg (max) on the long motorway run from Hertfordshire to Cornwall when I go on holiday (with a full boot), so not bad for an older less advanced design of car that's of similar size to yours.

The 0.9l turbo triple in the Renault Captur in our fleet has adequate economy but by no means startling. Even on a run 50mpg is considered amazing rather than the norm.

By comparison, 40mpg in my E350 estate, capable of almost 150mph and incredible acceleration, is a regular occurance on a similar run. Just done a brim to brim trip of 560 miles which included about 60 miles of suburban and urban driving with the remainder on the motorway. I used exactly 14 gallons = 40mpg.

I'm of the old-fashio0ne persuasion that therr's no substitute for cubic centimetres / inches - for the simple reason illustrated very effectively by Happy Blue.

I agree. My mazda 6 2.0ltr 165ps is averaging 45 real mpg (tank full measured) and on long runs the best has been 51 indicated mpg (2% error) and recently on a 700 miles trip real mpg was 48. This with fully laden boot and cabin and full size spare and full size 10 ton hydraulic jack. Box of beer bottles too ;-) and enough food to feed 4 hippo's!

I believe the next generation mazda engine is even more frugal too. So it seems we have a choice but its only mazda going the cubic c's route.

Nailit