A roads, bit of town driving, admittedly drive like grandad a bit — 1.4 TSI Skoda Octavia estate – 60 plate.
Can kit 50mpg on long journeys – Elgin – Edinburgh/Glasgow, 170 odd miles.
Maybe not with bucket loads of kit as well, but regularly get around the 45mpg on a practical load lugging car..
I have a 63 plate 1.2TSI, I can get slightly better, I have seen 60mpg+ on gentle longer journeys (it’s a bit lighter is the mk3 so the power is adequate from that engine, even if not particularly exciting). I think the reason many people don’t get the benefit of the more efficient engines etc. is that many these days have more power available, and the figures indicate how they compare if driven without using the power.
I find it’s not too horrendous around town, 45mpg or so is realistic, 50mpg to work and back (which is pretty stop/start) is my benchmark when I use it (it’ll be worse on cold days etc.). On hilly routes cruising around 70 it’ll get 45-50mpg, and driving it like you stole it, or never using stop/start around town it’ll drop to 35-40mpg.
Edit – 60mpg was Inverness to Fort William and back, 60mph limit, but slow traffic and not many overtaking opportunities (plus little to be gained from overtaking with the amount of traffic at that time) so I just sat there and pottered. I got quite excited by it.