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Wrong tyre pressures are one typical cause.
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42mpg from my Passat 100ps estate at a 75mph (GPS) cruise.
Always been the same in the 73,000 I've done from new.
Worse if bicycles hanging off the back.
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I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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shrekr1, has the consumption suddenly got worse or has it always been this bad? If it has suddenly changed then maybe looking at things like tyre pressures, binding brakes, air con use etc etc.
If it has always been this way then maybe time to book it in for a good service and say to them about the consumption. Another cause, although none of us ever admit to it, is driving style!!
My brother complained about his car even though he was doing motorway journeys. One day I was a passenger and felt sea sick as he had a habit of accelerating up to 80, then taking foot off throttle till back to 70 , and then slowly accelerating again and so on. He was totally unaware that he was doing it.
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Have a look at your air filter (at that age it could still be the original), check that no debris has accumalated restricting your air intake (could be leaves at this time of year) try hoovering out all the dead bugs and stuff out of the air box. New filter should be no more than £10-£15 from the factors depending on it's size.
MK3 mondeos are heavy cars so would be difficult to detact a binding brake just by pushing it on the flat. Try jacking it up one corner at a time and spinning each wheel to see if it runs freely.
If not the tyre pressures then have you changed to a new brand of tyres recently? Big modern wheel + tyre combos can produce a lot of drag at speed. If you do a lot of motorway driving then energy saving tyres are the way to go.
Hope that helps.
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Mk III Mondeos can experience binding rear brakes, feel the rear wheels after a run and see if one or other is rather warm.
At the end of the day 41mpg is not dire however I get an average in mixed driving of around 47 out of my TDCi, 50+ on a motorway run.
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Would also get tracking checked- mine was out temporarily and had a big impact on MPG
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Shrek
sounds like you have a TDCi.
They have a known fault with the EGR (exhaust gas recirculation valve) sticking open causing heavy smoking and poor fuel consumption, but usually much worse than you are seeing.
I suspect it's a more trivial cause like tyre pressures etc. or possibly just you are not measuring it accurately enough?
Dan
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