Hi all,
My mother-in-law drives the above car (2000 x-plate 2.0 vtec in sport trim), and gets appalling mpg (as a guide, it uses nearly twice as much fuel on a long trip as our 1.8 Avensis; we get about 40mpg+ on a run, she must get early 20s). Local Honda dealer has had it in & change a couple of bits (not sure exactly what), but to no avail. Any ideas as to known issues with this engine? As she does a lot of local journeys (quite a few of the family don't run cars), it's costing her a fortune. She really likes the car and doesn't want to change.
Thanks in advance,
Alex.
Edited by Webmaster on 28/05/2008 at 14:52
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Your info is a bit confusing - you mention using twice as much on a long run and then say the car does a lot of short journeys.
It's also pretty hopeless guessing or estimating fuel consumption - you really need to do a proper brim to brim check.
I don't know anything specifically bad about Honda VTEC's but they're not noted for good fuel consumption, and many cars are very sensitive to how they're driven on short journeys. It's not an auto, is it?
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Sorry, BP- I should have been more specific & clearer.
The car is a manual.
The comparison with our Avensis was a proxy for consumption- as compared on a run from London to the West Country (IRO 150 miles), in lieu of a brim to brim check. I was very surprised at the difference- even if the Honda is not renowned for good mpg and the Toyota is, the difference is stark.
I'll ask MiL to do a brim-to-brim check to get a real mpg figure.
I should also have mentioned that it didn't use to be as bad as it is now, suggesting that something is wrong. As I said, Honda have tried a couple of fixes (not sure what- I'm not helping, am I?), but it's still poor.
The short journeys thing is the typical use it gets (apart from the odd long run), to illustrate the cost issue for MiL- for example she did 85 miles on saturday, just picking up & dropping off people for an evening's bingo (not including me, I should add..)!
Any general pointers with this engine is what I was after- I know that you can't diagnose from an admittedly vague description like this!
Many thanks,
Alex.
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 29/05/2008 at 14:44
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for example she did 85 miles on saturday, just picking up & dropping off people
I know you said she doesn't want to change the car, but if she regularly does that, and the car really is only doing low 20's, then it might start to make economic sense to dump it and get a roomy small diesel, like a Nissan Note for example.
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I know it may seem a daft question, but is mum in law changing up in to 5th or just using 4th?
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Haha- good one. No, she does change up to 5th. She's a pretty good driver, aside from a propensity to sit rather close to the wheel & a mistrust of cruise control.
I will discuss a change of car with her, although a smaller model might not be useful as there are two grandchildren on the way this year, with associated car seats & paraphernalia to cart about.
Thanks for all replies,
Alex.
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