Hyundai i10 - fuel economy and journey length

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Tue 1 Nov 2011 11:10
Hyundai i10 - fuel economy and journey length - shfcsv

I am not a "petrol head" so I appologise if my questions seem stupid but like many people I am disappointed by the gap between "real" mpg and claimed mpg on new cars.

I bought a new Hyundai i10 1.2 and like some people on the forum I am disappointed with fuel consumption. BUT do I have unrealistic unrealistic expectations? I average 42 mpg driving on A and B rural roads with a few stops and starts. I guess this is what is "combined" driving? The car is still "new" (1000 miles) and my typical journey length is only 5-10 miles. I change through the gears quickly and am in 5th gear when I go over 40 mpg - changing up gears at 1500-2000 rpms. I watched HJ's video on eco driving and think I am doing the right sort of thing to maximise mpg.

Q: How long should a journey be to achieve optimal mpg?

Q: How quickly should one go up through the gears (lowest recommended rpm) to maximise mpg. The Hyundai forum seems to imply that this car (1.2 i10) should be driven "harder", changing up at 3000 rpms?

Q: When Hyundai claim mpgs in excess of 55 (about 25% better than I can achieve), is this from a cold start and how long is the journey?

I have asked HJ the same sort of questions but maybe the forum is a better place to ask?

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Tue 1 Nov 2011 11:20
Hyundai i10 - fuel economy and journey length - oldroverboy

Q: How long should a journey be to achieve optimal mpg?

Q: How quickly should one go up through the gears (lowest recommended rpm) to maximise mpg. The Hyundai forum seems to imply that this car (1.2 i10) should be driven "harder", changing up at 3000 rpms?

Q: When Hyundai claim mpgs in excess of 55 (about 25% better than I can achieve), is this from a cold start and how long is the journey?

If you are getting 42mpg on short runs, excellent! don't forget all lab tests are for a comparison woth other lab tests, not the real world. If you do a 150 mile or so motorway trip you will find things change, but all depends on your car and engine, there is no magic formula. my car will do carmarthen to london 46mpg (a48 + m4) conversely, a465 heads of the valleys a40 will only return about 40....

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Tue 1 Nov 2011 11:55
Hyundai i10 - fuel economy and journey length - jc2

Whilst the driving cycle is the same for emissions and economy,emissions is from a cold start and economy from hot.

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Tue 1 Nov 2011 12:02
Hyundai i10 - fuel economy and journey length - oldtoffee

I'd be pretty ok with that mpg - new car with a tight engine that will loosen up. Don't be overly gentle with the car during the early days, don't labout it in too high a gear, when its warmed up, occasionally give it some revs, hold on to the gear a bit longer and a few blasts to loosen things up and you'll end up with a smoother, better performing car with better mpg. I think Hyundai and Kia are one of the more optimistic manufacturers where official mpg is concerned; my wife's Kia Picanto (auto) used to return mid 30s when high 40s were supposed to be achievable and my Santa Fe is way off too!

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Tue 1 Nov 2011 13:02
Hyundai i10 - fuel economy and journey length - daveyjp

"I watched HJ's video on eco driving and think I am doing the right sort of thing to maximise mpg."

So have I and it made me cringe - change gear too early and you will labour the engine thus using MORE fuel.

Small cc cars need revs as they don't have much torque, an adaptation to your driving may improve matters, try this for a week or two and see what happens:

In 30 zones use 3rd

In 40 zones use 4th

Don't use 5th until 50+ mph

This is worth a read:

http://www.ridedrive.co.uk/driving-tips-06a.htm

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Tue 1 Nov 2011 15:39
Hyundai i10 - fuel economy and journey length - dieseldogg
Pretty well regardless of the car(electric cars excepted) journey length is the key.
Our 1.6 CR Octavia can, and over 5000 brimmed holiday miles did, achieve the manufacturers stated 62 odd mpg.
Ditto for a long summer Sunday sightseeing drive.
However my repeated 3 miles runs to work and bitsy piecy short runs have her down to less than 50 mpg
One issue is the accelerating from rest, statistically a more significent proportion of fuel is used in this manner on shorter runs.
The second issue is that the engine need to get up to temperature to return the stated economy figs.Which it dosnt on shorter runs.
I am interested in your figs though as we will be looking to buy the daughter a car, a Hyaundi I10 is/was in the running.
But now most probably go diesel again.
Cheers
M
PS
I am convinced that diesels are more likely to be nearer the claimed figs than petrols, this is
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Tue 1 Nov 2011 16:20
Hyundai i10 - fuel economy and journey length - dieseldogg
purely a subjective judgment, based on my own diesel mpg figs and the petrol figs from others.
However a caveat, iffen petrol cars are bought by lower milage drivers, and diesels by higher milage drivers, statistically the diesels stand a better chance of matching the claimed manufecturers figures, because the cars are doing longer runs with warmer engines.
Yes?
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Tue 1 Nov 2011 19:57
Hyundai i10 - fuel economy and journey length - shfcsv

Thanks to all people who have been replying. It sounds as if my mpg is "acceptable" though I may need to increase the revs before changing up gears. Still a bit unsure about that but worth trying.

There is obviously a big discrepancy between mpg on short journeys - say 5-10 miles - and longer journeys - over 50-100.

Maybe the manufacturers should differentiate between these types of journey. I bet most people buying a small car like the i10 are doing short low milage journeys so knowing a reaslistic mpg would be useful. I used to achieve 56mpg in a 1.4 Ford Fiesta diesel (same journeys). Ford claimed around 60.

The i10 is great fun to drive and ticks all the boxes for a small car. I got mine new for £7000 and I think this is outstanding value. The 5 doors are a useful feature and with the backseat down there is decent room for most stuff. If anyone is comparing with with other "small" cars - Aygo etc - it is certainly worth considering! Insurance costs are low too.

But I wish i could achieve the claimed mpg of 50-65!

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Wed 2 Nov 2011 09:37
Hyundai i10 - fuel economy and journey length - dieseldogg
So I been averaging 48.5 mpg recently, short runs & colder weather (on the trip, & accutate to within 3% from several/many previous measurments)
Last night went over the mountain to visit my mother on her birthday, 25 miles there & 25 miles back, going with the rush hour traffic flow there and 60mph odd on the ret journey = 57 mpg
So say 10mpg or 20 % better fuel economy for a 25 mile run.
Cheers
M
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Sun 20 Nov 2011 12:59
Hyundai i10 - fuel economy and journey length - bintang

shfcsv - Doesn't your car have an indicator to show you when to change up - top right in the same panel as the odometer? Mine (two weeks old) does but it is useless. Being guided by it always results in a laboured engine. Too early to judge fuel consumption.

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