Hi

Car : Honda Steam 2.0l Vetec Auto (trip) We are getting about 20mpg in town thats the nursery run etc weekly mileage is between 80 to 100 miles, and this is costing about £24 weekly at this rate we will be buying an oil field !
Yes diesels are more economical but the Mrs wants an Auto (london traffic) so therefore having an auto diesel becomes the same as a petrol as of the auto.(i think)

The stream is a 7 seater…(inlaws that dont drive)

So what do you get mpg ?

so therefore having an auto diesel becomes the same as a petrol as of the auto.(i think)

Not necessarily true with modern automatics. Some Auto Golfs for example are more economical than the manuals with the same engine.

Mine’s an Auto.

71mpg, properly measured…..

IMG_6319 by PeterPoddy, on Flickr

😉

Get 35-40mpg out of my Megane Grand Scenic 1.9dti (manual) around town, more if I control my enthusiasm away from the lights.

I get a 30mpg average around town (almost all of my driving is urban).

2.0l turbo petrol

That might be a 7 seater in vietnam PP but not here 🙂

I get 45mpg in my 1.9td Peugeot 406 around town, was down to 40mpg in London.

How much time is sat in traffic, it will always kill the most efficient car.

Diesel’s arn’t nesecerily better for short town trips as they take quite a while to warm up and get into their highly efficient mode.

If your car deliveres reasnoble economy on a good run then i suspect its the traffic and type of journey you are using it for.

Given that you are in London and “urban” speeds can be amazingly low in the smoke. I think that you probably need a stop/start diesel auto like one of the VW bluemotion ones to get much better MPG or a Nissan Leaf (first proper size prctical fully elecky car).

Of course the cost you feel in your pocket (pertol £1200 pa) is nothing compared to depreciation or the extra costs of changing cars.

20 miles a day in London?

Rather her than me.

We get about 40mpg or so in town from either of our Jazz’s. When I used to have a 2l Accord petrol I’d be getting mid 20’s. That’s driving in Edinburgh though and I’d expect much of London to be worse for congestion.

If it’s a big 7 seater and London traffic, 20mpg doesn’t sound unreasonable. Stop start would help a lot I reckon – and you can get plenty of stop start petrols now.

This might help reduce the fuel bills.

😉

2009 2.0 TDCI Mondeo and I do mainly town driving and I’m getting 38ish, not driving economically. 20 mpg sounds pretty shocking IMO…

20mpg is getting down to the level of my 2001 BMW 530i around town!

Although, I reckon mine would be even lower if I was driving around London.

and that cost doent include the weekend petrol which is usually another £ 20 !

looking for a car at the moment – problem with performance diesels is the DPF filter – if you only have short journeys or sit in a lot of traffic they can become blocked, sometimes requiring a trip to teh dealership to clear it.

other point for me is the fact that you sound like a cabbie and belch out black soot everytime you boot it.

MPG does drop a lot in town, especially with petrol cars.

We get about 30mpg in town from a bi-turbo 3.0 diesel, less from the Jimnys 1.3 litre non turbo petrol!!!

My old Golf R32 was awful in town – well under 20mpg.

A car with a DPF will not (or should not) belch out any soot – ours doesn’t.

might be interesting to see what the fuel consumption is ‘per hour’ – does she spend 2-3 hours a day driving?

With driving speeds in london (at school run times) at ~10mph. 20mpg doesn’t sound too bad to me. No engine is going to be fabulous in terms of MPG at those speeds. I think of it in terms of time in the car and the fuel costs are about right.

wwaswas – beat me to it!

Driving in town I get about 20mpg in a 2.5l Turbo Focus ST. I’d have thought that 20mpg in a 2.0l car is poor but then if it’s 7 seater then that’s a lot of extra weight to be lugging around.

My manual, diesel Civic will do as low as early 30s in London traffic, and even then I’m usually going against the flow so don’t really get stuck. And that’s a modern efficient engine in a smaller and lighter car.

For a big petrol car with an autobox it doesn’t seem too bad. You could spend a whole load of cash replacing it with something like a Touran with a DSG box but how long would it take to recoup that money?

For 10k miles a year, the difference between a 20mpg petrol and 30mpg diesel is about £800 a year (don’t forget petrol is cheaper than diesel per litre). If your car is otherwise working fine you could spend a lot just for the psychological “saving” of a few quid each week at the pumps.

http://www.velorution.biz/2010/09/the-times-highlights-the-practical-role-christiania-bikes-can-play-in-family-life/

40-44 “round town” in my 306HDi. Late 50s on a run. And no I don’t drive like a granny, I’ve got through 2 front tyres in 11K miles with perfect alignment!

unfitgeezer, welcome to the honda auto club. I’ve probably got the same engine as you (CRV 2.0 Vtec Auto) – and I too get awful fuel around town.

Best policy I’ve found in mine is not to drive it much.

I do think Honda’s are hugely over-rated; after having a new handbrake cable fitted for £168 the smarmy dealer said , “see you next year!” to remind I am driving the dream that is Honda. I should’ve reminded him of the faulty cruise control switch, **** handbrake, warped brake discs (twice), shocking mpg, easily scratched interior.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s an okay car but I find people are generally not honest enough about their MPG and their car purchases so you probably aren’t alone in your low MPG, especially given it’s an Auto.

Living in London and using 7 seater for short school runs? Sometimes its faster-better-cheaper to use public transport, and if possible you could even brighten up the day for your loved ones to go by bike.

Started to notice a new trend in that respect, and never seen an unhappy child or their parent while doing so.

Go by bike.
Trailer probably too risky on the road though.
Xtracycle ?

Xtracycle Family Van by thingswelike, on Flickr

London is completely different from the rest of the country in terms of transport – I average 45mpg in general driving in town, but I don’t use it every day – after all what idiot would drive 5 miles, to then park a mile from work, and average 11 mph on the way there? when I can cycle there in an almost guarranteed 20 minutes whatever the conditions, park in the building and not send any more money than I have to…

Hyundai Tucson 2.0 CRTD CDX – 25ish around town.

55mpg ish from the Prius 🙂 And about 40 from the Passat but that’s in Cardiff where you don’t spend much time sitting in queues.

Definitely check out a used Prius, yours for £4-5k now I think. Very reliable and no battery issues to speak of. You would definitely cut your fuel bill at least in half, most likely more if you know how to drive it.

unfitgeezer

Wifey has Honda Stream 2.0 VTEC Sport Manual, 22-25mpg round town and about 33-35 on a run, great car but not very economical at all, engine needs to be worked a bit when fully loaded too (4 up plus luggage plus 4 bikes on roof), economy then was around 27mpg.

4 up plus luggage plus 4 bikes on roof

Don’t blame the engine for low MPG if you have four bikes on the roof!

The bigger (>1.8l) petrol engined hondas have never been known for their great economy to be honest. You have to try really quite hard to get them to return 40mpg extra urban for example. Their autos have always been quite draggy too so I would say what you are getting probably sounds about right. You might be able to gain 12-15% with some tailoring of driving style in traffic, but nothing really huge. The Stream is a great car, and makes very good use of its space. If changing cars is an option and you need a 7 seater have you thought of something like a previous generation Audi A6 avant? Some came with a 7 seat option, and the 1.9tdi is a very economical unit. Other option is to convert the Stream to LPG. I run my 2.0l Accord aerodeck on gas and would highly recomend it.

I currently have a 46.9 mpg combined in my 2007 mondeo TDCi 2.0 estate based on one months usage. 20mpg sounds pretty low but it depends on how you drive too as my other half likes to drive around in 2nd most of the time (i tell her off repeatedly for it)

Doesn’t matter what car you have, its the driving conditions that are creating the poor mpg.

I’d hate to imagine what my car (535i auto) would do under the same circumstances as you have.

Get rid of the car and contract a taxi for the run?

We have the 1.7 manual Stream, wanted the 2.0 Auto, but when we bought ours found a second-hand bargain. Seems to average 35-38mpg overall, but probably about thirty around town, though I don’t spend a lot of time in traffic jams/cities. It does seem low on power fully loaded for a holiday in hill country with top box, bikes, dogs and luggage, but for day to day use, five up mostly but all seven seats used a couple of times a week never struggles. Will miss the Stream when it goes, haven’t seen another car pack so much into a normal size and shape. Will probably go S-max or Mitsubishi Grandis next though as the kids get bigger we will want full size back row of seats.

Power to the Stream for being completely uneconomical !

But great car to drive on Mways even with a roof box ! Only downside is the lack of being able to tow anything heavier than 1100kgs!

Will keep it till May 2011 (then the hunt starts) Galaxy 19td ???

or Volvo v70 and strap the inlaws to the roof !

Thanks for all posts

I get around 32 in town but then it is 170bhp 2.0l diesel so not expecting miracles. Just bought its replacement (E Class estate) which should be better – not by much though.