Aw come on, don’t start a row.

To the OP – different fuel types in my experience (of a non-fast car) won’t make much more than maybe 5% in a diesel, and I’ve not been able to tell any difference in economy in my petrol.

In contrast, a different set of journeys, a different season or different weather can make far more difference. Even comparing identical motorway journeys a rainy day in winter can knock 10% off my Prius mpg compared to a hot summer’s day. And driving my Passat around town knocks 30-40% off compared to the motorway.

gonzy – Member
not really as i have already complained to them over the fact that there were fuses missing they should have checked for, the car wasnt valeted properly as they promised, they gave me the run around over certain warranty documents and mot certificates, and the fact that the car suddenly had gained an extra 75 miles on the clock between the time we paid the deposit and collected the car a week later…all these niggles are currently being looked into by their complaints team so why shouldnt i add this to the list?

While they are all perhaps valid grievances to aim at a dealer, moaning about low tyre pressures after many weeks of ownership is not valid.
Bare minimum you should check tyre pressures at least once a month. And the fact that only a few posts above you pointed out this:

….but the fact that under inflated tyres can be as dangerous especially when you’ve got kids in the back

surely means that it should be even higher up your radar of things to keep an eye on.
I’d also be regularly checking the coolant level, oil level and at this time of year think about putting a stronger concentration of screenwash in the bottle in case the temp drops suddenly.

That thing about doing actual calculations is right if you want the actual consumption figures, but only really necessary if you’re comparing to another vehicle – if you’re tracking relative consumption figures in the same vehicle then the onboard computer figures are fine to use, as they should be consistently wrong.

E.g. if you’re trying to work out if a different fuel is giving you better or worse consumption in your car, if the figures on the dashboard on Tesco fuel says 32.5 mpg and the figures for the same sort of driving running on Shell superstrength racing petrol on the dashboard says 35.9 mpg then that gives you the information you are looking for, doesn’t it? It doesn’t matter if the actual figures are 20.1 mpg and 24.6 mpg as it’s the variance that you’re interested in.

surely means that it should be even higher up your radar of things to keep an eye on.
I’d also be regularly checking the coolant level, oil level and at this time of year think about putting a stronger concentration of screenwash in the bottle in case the temp drops suddenly.

those are actually done already…i may not have not noticed the tyre pressures like i would have normally done. they looked fine so i assumed they were…the reason i’ll be raising this with the dealer is not to get something in return (the issue with the fuses i sorted myself) but to make them aware that their technicians arent doing their jobs properly….
but yes you’re right i should have been checking the pressures regularly. i was very anal about it on the last car much to the wife’s displeasure

E.g. if you’re trying to work out if a different fuel is giving you better or worse consumption in your car, if the figures on the dashboard on Tesco fuel says 32.5 mpg and the figures for the same sort of driving running on Shell superstrength racing petrol on the dashboard says 35.9 mpg then that gives you the information you are looking for, doesn’t it? It doesn’t matter if the actual figures are 20.1 mpg and 24.6 mpg as it’s the variance that you’re interested in.

the cheap fuel was used up doing urban driving…a lot of it was stop start traffic during rush hour. the shell stuff was used up on the motorway, a clear run as it was late at night at a steady 70…average consumption for both fuels types has been around the 35mpg

edlong – i had a v6 gmc acacia – could make the onboard computer tell me 4mpg – of course thats instataneous as oppose to trip but – whats the point in instantaneous MPG reading to a driver – the trip mpg is what you want.

it was a hire car on company fuel so the game was how low does it go without breaking the law.