Thinking of selling up. But what next?

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Wed 22 Feb 2006 19:18
Thinking of selling up. But what next? - mss1tw
Well, it looks like the 306 is only going to return 580 miles to a tank this time, which is unacceptable. This is after driving at 60 when on the A3, not revving hard, and giving it a good 'blow out' every now and then. The quoted 650 miles I was achieving at one point, I was happy with. The fuel consumption leads me onto my next point...

The whole common rail '££££' scenario has left me feeling a little cautious.

But what next? The 306 was to all intents my 'perfect' car.

I'm a little out of ideas, so just throw some my way. Anything at all; I just wonder if I've missed anything.
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Wed 22 Feb 2006 21:01
Thinking of selling up. But what next? - DavidHM
I get 580 miles to a tank (never running it quite down to empty) from my 406 HDi. Usually that equates to 55l, or 48 mpg. I'm not sure how many miles you're getting, or how much it takes for you to brim it, but I hardly find 48 mpg unacceptable.

Incidentally I was quoted £900 to replace a fuel pump, inclusive of labour, after my car developed a fuel leak shortly after I bought it privately. It turned out only to be a pipe that needed replacement (£70 including labour) and common rail failures are relatively rare, so I wouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater just yet.
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Wed 22 Feb 2006 21:24
Thinking of selling up. But what next? - BobbyG
What is your mpg working out at brim to brim? What are you expecting the car to actually do?
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Wed 22 Feb 2006 22:50
Thinking of selling up. But what next? - mss1tw
Cheers guys,

Thanks David, I'll remove the drip tray and have a look around there, see if anything looks leaky.

Bobby, I normally got about 620, I know it sounds like a small difference, but, that was when I did 70 most of the time on A, roads. Then the economy dropped, and I've been doing 60, with, it seems, little difference.
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Wed 22 Feb 2006 22:51
Thinking of selling up. But what next? - mss1tw
I forgot to say, I have achieved the often quoted '650 miles to a tank' once or twice so I know the car is/was capable of it.
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Wed 22 Feb 2006 22:59
Thinking of selling up. But what next? - Vin {P}
"I just wonder if I've missed anything"

Perhaps that you should do a quick calculation of the amount you will save in the next year versus the cost of changing. It might be worth keeping the present motor for another year depending upon the answer.

V
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Wed 22 Feb 2006 22:59
Thinking of selling up. But what next? - DavidHM
MSS - I've had wildly varying figures with my last car - from 420 to 590 miles per tank.

I'd change the air filter and run some injector cleaner through the system.

Of course the real question isn't whether the car can achieve 650 miles per tank - it'd be nice if it could, but if it can't whether

a. Any replacement car could, be it another 306 HDi or something else; and
b. Whether those extra 70 miles per tank (or the equivalent in mpg) would make up for not having a car that you apparently otherwise like.

Also you haven't said how many litres you put in when filling up, and without that we have no way of estimating how good your mpg is. For what it's worth, if you're putting in 50l at a time, due to 10l of air and diesel that were already there before you started filling up, at 580 miles you're getting nearly 52 mpg which is a highly acceptable real world figure. At 650 miles that would be 59mpg - astonishingly high, although not impossible with a bit of luck.

Also don't forget that it's normal for fuel economy to drop by 3mpg or so due to winter fuel mixes and as we get into spring, economy will naturally improve anyway.
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Wed 22 Feb 2006 23:15
Thinking of selling up. But what next? - Lud
OFFS. Anything between 20 and 70 mpg is acceptable depending on footweight. Stop quibbling.
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Wed 22 Feb 2006 23:17
Thinking of selling up. But what next? - mss1tw
OFFS. Anything between 20 and 70 mpg is acceptable depending >> on footweight. Stop quibbling.


That's my bad.
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Wed 22 Feb 2006 23:16
Thinking of selling up. But what next? - mss1tw
Very good points made by everyone here!

Thanks a lot guys, I guess I was just being paranoid - unfortunately people only report on car forums when something goes wrong with their cars!

I imagine 20,000 posts saying 'My common rail diesel was still fine today' would get boring to read, anyway. :o)

David, good point about how much actually goes in - I will try and record it for a more definitive answer. Also, I wasn't aware MPG could fluctuate so much 'normally' - like most people I do the same old journey every day.
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