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I had a 1990 Golf GTi which averaged 38mpg. We bought a new house which required some work so the Golf had to go, I was given a brand new 1996 Pug 306 XRDt as a company car - no fuel card. Great ! I thought major savings to be made...I averaged 35mpg with that car.
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Saab99 GLS auto no amount of tunung, carb servicing could improve the 19-22mpg
was as slow as a snail, but built like a tank
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Land Rover 90 - 3.5 V8 petrol stripped out, roll cage, bull bars, big balloon style offroad tyres on oversize wheels, extended wheelarches, ( this is getting embarassing but I was a lot younger then ) orange bodywork, great big spotlamps, trick..... ahem ...loud that is....exhaust, sports steering wheel and seats. Lots of unnecessary stickers and a ski rack.
12mpg if you took it steady, more like 8mpg if you gave it the beans :-(
Just a hoot to drive mind and we did live a long way from a public road and had a lot of open country to play on ! Rubbish on the motorway.
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In the early '90s, I had a 1998 Ford Escort, with the 1.3L OHV engine.
Although it was fairly economical and returned about 40mpg, I decided to see what I could do. I was using unleaded petrol, and the timing was set for 4*, but I still wanted to see if I could advance the ignition.
The result was that with the timing advanced, it performed better, and the economy improved to 44 mpg! Not bad for half an hours work.
I was really pleased, until 10,000 miles later someone drove into the back of it and wrote it off. The hire car I had was a more modern Escort, and fitted with a catalyst, it only gave about 30mpg. Since then, I've only owned diesels.
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Astrabob, you've just brought my old mate Horace (rip) back to my thoughts, he taught me a lot of good old common sense tricks with cars, obviously no use any more, but made my varied array of vehicles run as well and as economically as possible.
He always said ignore the timing lights, loosen distributor, and adjust timing gently till you get peak revs, at the same time weakening off the mixture whilst listening for a really sweet exhaust note, then turn back timing just a fraction, had to road test carefully to get it just below the pinking point.
Very hit and miss it sounds but it wasn't a bad way to get your own vehicle running as well as possible, and i invariably ended up with that lovely light grey exhaust pipe outlet as against sooty.
I used to richen the mixture on my turbo diesels very slightly as well, sounds counter to the economy tweaks, but it would mean you could drive around at very little over tickover revs as the turbo would start to spool up at much lower revs.
Don't suppose the experts will agree with any of that, and those tinkering days are over, but one size never has fitted all, and all engines vary very slightly, and that was a very crude way of getting the best out of them in a kerbside cowboy way.
Funny you should say about the catalyst equipped vehicles being not as economical, a friend bought a rounder shaped (cat) fiesta diesel to replace his classic fiesta diesel, economy went from 50 mpg to 40 mpg.
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In the late 1980s I had a Honda Aerodeck 12-valve 2 litre on a standard twin-choke carb that went like the clappers and never dropped below 40mpg. I think the 12-valves of that era were the best engines Honda made - excepting the 2.2 VTEC, which was designed for high performance but can still manage 36mpg with no dirt, smell or rattles. (I say that after - yet again - getting filthy shoes and car mats after having to use the same multi-pump as the oiler brigade).
The Aerodeck was also nice to look at, quiet, comfortable and highly practical. Why did Honda stop making inspired cars like that?
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Oh, I forgot to mention the Legend 2.7 litre V6 that was shared with the Rover 800.
Fantastic performance, a delight to drive and never less than 30-32mpg although it was laden with anti-emissions gear.
Why can't they do that now?
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"I was given a brand new 1996 Pug 306 XRDt as a company car - no fuel card. Great ! I thought major savings to be made...I averaged 35mpg with that car."
I generally average between 42 and 45mpg in my 306TD and I don't exactly drive slow. However, if booted around town then the fuel economy can drop as low as 37mpg. The fuel economy on these tends to suffer if thrashed around town or driven at over 85mph on motorways.
Martin
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Gmac you must have a very heavy foot. I owned a 306 XRdt, and even though I hated it and drove with my foot on the floor most of the time, got over 45mpg most of the time , with a peak in excess of 65.
You might think it was a mistake changing to a petrol after that, but I don't regret it - the reduced maintenance costs make up for the fuel consumption.
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