Large cars with high mpg?

In my experience with the golf, cruise always knocks back the mpg by at least 2mpg….even on motorways…perhaps its just a bit throttle happy on the ups….I can easily beat it anyway, nice to know my right foots better than a computer.

perhaps its just a bit throttle happy on the ups

It’ll keep the same speed, you’ll only beat it if you slow down on the ups.

Or carefully build momentum for ups and ease on the downs…works for me, and I beat the cruise mpg everytime. Whereas cruise can’t see a slope in the distance and reacts only when speed drops, so applies more throttle than I would having anticipated the change earlier and with a gentler throttle adjustment. Imho of course. The mpg suggests I’m right so I’m happy. Yes it takes some concentration, but then I think u should concentrate when driving.

Fine on A roads but a pain in the arsenal for anyone around you on motorways…

well there is a fast lane and an overtaking lane to use !….anyway im not looking for approval, just explaining why I get better mpg not using cruise.

well there is a fast lane and an overtaking lane to use

But they’re full of cars jumping the queue.

Posted 1 day ago # Report-PostMark – Resident Grumpy
Yeah, people reading display mpg in cars on journeys does not = accurate mpg figures.

Mine claimed I was getting 41mpg over 50L of fuel, empty to empty. I worked out 33.6mpg, so yes, those onboard computers are garbage IMO.

Current Volvo is about 1 or 2mpg out. The previous D5 XC70 was about 8 to 10mpg out. The sad thing was it took me 15months to realise that I wasn’t getting anywhere near the figures indicated. Range to empty = 695miles. More like 500 at a push however generally 450miles.

Hence I now have the V70 1.6d FWD version.

Just driven to Hull and back, god that’s a boring drive once you get past Leeds. Concerned that I might have been lying after Mark’s posts I filled up before we set off and once we got back (and normally I’d suggest that filling up the big assed tank on my car is more likely to reduce fuel consumption, it’s like having someone permanently sat in the back seat).

Cruise control virtually all the way there and back at 50mph through the extensive Leeds workings and about 76-77 the rest of the time (indicated anyway, probably more like 72-73 in reality), worked out at roughly 45mpg which is a little less than I expected but still pretty good as far as I’m concerned. I bet keeping it at 70 would get that up a bit.

That’s a 2.2 diesel Honda Accord, fricking huge car.

Nods head at aracer as he rushes past !

Love the “I carefully track my mileage and do the sums” brigade. Oh really? You use what for the mileage? GPS? must do because you do understand that the mileage on your car is not true mileage in the same way as the speed is not true speed.

er, we covered that one up there. The accuracy of the milometer is unconnected to the accuracy of the speedometer. Haven’t yet got round to calibrating my current one (on the motorway, 11 miles is almost exactly 17.7km which you can check against the posts – yes using that level of accuracy is really geeky – or you can of course use a GPS) but my last one was a bit less than 1% over, which is the worst I’ve had.

Do all you high-mpg folk also switch off the air-con and other electrical items?

In my last car it saved 2mpg, so I never bothered.

Best way is to have them gutted and the DPF deleted from the ECU’s software.

In an ideal world yes. But it’s technically illegal and in the future a missing DPF could result in MOT failure.

Also you have to make sure you get a decent remap so the car doesn’t flag up phantom DPF errors

Currently awaiting the fate of my car today… I think I could be looking at £1500+ for a new DPF 🙁

Do all you high-mpg folk also switch off the air-con and other electrical items?

No, it’s never made much difference in my cars. Any difference seems to be overwhelmed by variations in weather, season, traffic and type of driving.

Some of this advice comes from the USA I think where a/c compressors tend to be very large and powerful, and crudely designed and implemented. I once drove a Hyundai Accent 1.6 that was specced for Texas weather, and if you had your foot to the floor you’d feel a huge surge as you turned off the a/c!

b r – Member
Do all you high-mpg folk also switch off the air-con and other electrical items?

In my last car it saved 2mpg, so I never bothered.

I don’t bother in my car, as it doesn’t seem to make too much difference and I’d rather have the comfort of the climate control.

In my other half’s Ka, the a/c made a massive difference to mpg & performance so that only came on when necessary!!

dmorts – Member
In an ideal world yes. But it’s technically illegal and in the future a missing DPF could result in MOT failure.

Why is it technically illegal? It is illegal to remove the catalytic converter on a car that has one fitted but a DPF is not a cat, they are different things. So if the DPF is removed but the cat is still present, is that illegal?