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i have always wondered why i have never achieved the official mpg provided by parkers, what car etc. i wanted to know who advertises these figures and are they genuine for instance could a land cruiser Prado producing 31 mpg and an land cruiser amazon producing 25 mpg actually be more economical in a real life day to day running. it could be possible as i have heard but i want to know your opinions
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If fuel consumption is a concern then forget Amazons and Prados,never designed to be fuel efficient.
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The reason you have not achieved the official figures is that you are driving in the real world with a variaty different conditions which may have a greater or less effect. The official figures are achieved under strict laboratory conditions and are only designed to compare different makes fuel consumption under the same conditions.
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rustbucket (the original)
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I usually get pretty close to the manufacturers stated average consumption and my car has done 133k. However, I do cover a high annual mileage and I suppose the pattern of that must more accurately reflect the mix of conditions used to assess the stated average. Anyone who mainly uses their car for relatively short commuter type journeys would probably not achieve the same economy.
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I agree completely with shoespy. I also get very close and sometimes overdeliver the claimed MPG BUT I am a 40,000 miles a year man, mostly motorway and never short journeys. As an example my S-MAx 1.8 diesel is averaging about 44MPG over the last 30000 miles.
I also add that I am not a high speed motorway driver. 70MPH on cruise control. Relaxing, economical and the journey only takes minutes longer than burning fuel at 85-90MPH on the motorway and getting baulked all the time.
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The reason there are two official laboratory tests, Urban and Extra-urban, is to give figures which allow comparison between models. The third figure, Combined, is just a weighted average of the other two.
Short journeys around town can see overall consumption below the Urban figure. Cruising at 70mph on uncongested motorways would get closer to the Extra-urban figure.
Everyone's mix of driving is different. My mix of driving give about 10% below the Combined figure, whatever vehicle I use but another driver's mix will give a different overall figure.
As an earlier poster stated, don't even think about big 4x4s if you're concerned about fuel consumption although an LPG converted Toyota Amazon V8 could be considered if you trust the government NOT to increase the duty on LPG - I wouldn't !!
Edited by Ruperts Trooper on 22/12/2007 at 10:45
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It's more about how you drive and where you drive than the car in many ways. If you regularly drive in town with loads of stop start then you won't ever get to the government figure but you might well exceed the Urban figure quoted. If you always drive on the motorway for long distances each journey then you can expect to exceed the government figure, unless you do all those miles at 85-90 instead of 70.
A good example of this is a 180 mile journey I did yesterday, I sat on cruise control at 70mph all the way unless traffic demanded I came off cruise control. Perhaps half a dozen times I increased the speed to 75mph to pass a car or two, but never more than a minute at a time. I got 41.8mpg and an average speed of 64mph (I don't live more than a mile from the motorway and my girlfriend is only 2 miles off it). I travelled out of rush hour and the car is only supposed to do 36.7mpg. I also used the genuine figures not the trip computer figures for accuracy. In my last two cars I've always exceeded the government figure or equalled it on most tanks of fuel. I find it easier to "beat" the government figure in bigger cars with bigger engines simply because the anticipation and loss of momentum through braking and so on is that much greater with a larger vehicle.
Best I've done is 32mpg from an Audi S4 or 35mpg from a Q7 3.0TDI, neither of which can be considered economical in the grand scheme of things but both exceed their book figures by at least 30%.
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As has been said above, it is basically about 3 things -
a) lab conditions (which will always give a better figure than real life),
b) your driving style, and
c) your driving mix.
My Berlingo 1.6 has an official combined mgp figure of 38.2.
Over the past year, I have averaged 39.8.
My driving is largely rural with very little urban driving and the occasional long run.
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