Poor fuel economy from a diesel – does this sound right to you?

My 320d does 42mpg in real world driving. No far I’ve ever driven has got anywhere near advertised figures

deviant – Member
I drive a Volvo V50 deisel at work as a response car…..with “spirited” driving I can get the dash readout to show the fuel economy as 9mpg….

Aye, I checked the average fuel economy on a job 330d the other night and it said it was averaging 22mpg over the last 500 miles

Trouble with modern oil burners is they have got them to close to the performance of a petrol and up the HP and the power band and this has decreased the economy, 25 years ago when they were slow off the mark, no turbos and diesel was way cheaper than petrol this is when I was first driving diesels, you would get way better economy

Eh? 25 years ago diesels were usually (very) slow and 40mpg if you were lucky. And diesel was never really that much cheaper than petrol.

But I agree that due to the push for turbo-power its only if you drive slowly that you can get the economy that’s been ‘advertised’.

I get about 23-26mpg out of my Bongo.

MTFU.

But I agree that due to the push for turbo-power its only if you drive slowly that you can get the economy that’s been ‘advertised’

You don’t have to drive slowly, you just need to drive smoothly and with foresight, and not in too much traffic. I can beat the extra-urban figure on my Passat on a motorway run at 70mph, depending on the weather. Not in the Prius though. But I can quite easily beat the combined figures easily in the Passat and in the Prius I can do it in the summertime. Of course in terms of miles there’s much more motorway than town.

Had loaner Renault Laguna DCi, was the 1.5 version, could only manage 34mpg average with that! Worst turbo lag and engine ever too.

04 Leon 1.9 150hp – long term average has just dipped under50mpg in this cold weather. That’s mainly 13 mile commutes, half of which is dual carriageway and the climate is never switched off. Drive like a saint and don’t brake!

Ive got the Megane GT estate 150 dci and find the computer returns around 33MPG (running kids around, 7 mile commute). However on motorways it is superb.
I came from a 1.8 petrol Vauxhall Signum which was really slow and very poor consumption which the computer said was around 32mpg yet i was forever filling it up.
When i first got the Renault i had very similar feelings to yourself but find that i am visiting the petrol station less often, its awesome to drive, looks good and when you put your foot down it really does go.

Got the roof bars on, 3 bikes on roof and was still pleased with the return mpg on an hours run and back down the motorways (driving at 60-70).

42mpg for 1.5l diesel is poor, although urban driving isn’t particularly economical or good for modern diesels. However changing a car for few mpg difference to “save money” is crazy. Spend it on bikes instead 😀

BTW I get 38ish from my 3.0 diesel, although it does little urban driving and on the motorway 70mph it’s doing ~1700rpm.

18.9mpg at an average of 24.2mph in my m3- powwweeeeeeeeer!*

*only posted to wind up the econojunkies

My 130 PD Passat does about 48mpg on a run in the country..however if I have to drive from cold through the town, this drops markedly; diesel engines are big lumps of metal and they don’t warm up very quickly tootling along at 10mph

41mpg for a diesel that claims 51 seems normal to me.

My focus tdci claimed 59 and managed 45-50, depending on if you drive like a granny or not.
Friends bmw diesel claims 55 and gets 44 (mostly long journeys).

In contrast, my turbo petrol golf claims 45 and does 44 on average (with the same type of driving as the focus) 😀

55.7 mpg average for a 9hr drive from Cardiff to North Wales and back in my Volvo V50 2.0D on Wednesday. I wasn’t hanging about and temp was down between -2 and -5 for the whole journey, so everything electrical was on.

Averages about 44mpg round town and have got over 60mpg on a motorway run. Not bad for a log burner with 70k miles on the clock.

Italian tune once a month

Don’t always assume more power = less mpg. You don’t have to thrash the nads off a powerful car to get it up a hill for a start.

If I drive my 2tonne 2.5l 170bhp pick-up sensibly (not even driving Miss Daisy mode) I can get 35mpg out of it. Mind you, thrash it and I’ll see 27mpg

Hmmm true I got circa 40mpg on my old Aygo but then like Ford (petrol) their quoted figures are pure fantasy.

In contrast, my turbo petrol golf claims 45 and does 44 on average

Interesting, most people seem to think that the turbo petrols are the worst for coming in far lower than expected. Even the dealer told me they were impossible to get anything like the stats. He was struggling to get 35 from a 1.4 Golf.

So to get good MPG out of a modern diesel you have to drive like an old fart and be really careful.

So glad I bought a petrol, at least I know I’m pouring money down the toilet without thinking about it

11 year old 306 HDI estate with 126k and I get 50mpg on mixture of country lanes, A roads and round town and up to 60mpg on long motorway trips. I don’t take it particularly easy either.

I’d say the OP is around about on the money for the bhp. Our old A3 tdi 140 did around 35 about town realistically. 50 on a run. The on board was optomistic to say the least.

4 years of sensible driving later it got handed back with an average 38 mpg on the computer. We didnt buy another (and will never).

Getting 28 combined off a 330i. Not quite the 44 I got of a vag 2.0tdi, but it’s fast, doesn’t sound like a tractor and goes sideways almost at will 🙂

9 year old CLK 270D. 42mpg urban. 60mpg on the motorway.

Im peeved as my 12 year old Golf estate Tdi (90bhp)was thrashed every day and never fell below 47mpg

My car is a year older than this,same engine,same horsepower.. not thrashed but i have continued to get great fuel economy over the years. In the magazines it seemed one of the most economic at the time with something like 62mpg/74mpg! I mostly cruise it up to speed without trying to get there as fast as possible and it averaged out approx 60mpg before xmas.There was a few moments thrown in there too so its still doing amazing for getting close to 1/4 of a million miles!

To the OP.. my car was still feeling tight around 50k. I remember after 60-65k it felt a lot better. I bought mine with 23k come to think of it.. so there you go!

Actually just made the mistake of filling up at Tesco. 34mpg urban, 45mpg on yesterdays motorway run. WTF.

So to get good MPG out of a modern diesel you have to drive like an old fart and be really careful.

So glad I bought a petrol, at least I know I’m pouring money down the toilet without thinking about it

Yep, 535i here 😆

It might only do 20-25mpg but its pretty much zero depreciation and has a V8 soundtrack – what more could you ask for?

Got 65-70mpg in my old 106 1.5D 60bhp, no turbo.

Get 60-65mpg in my current (but still pretty old, 2001) Clio 1.5D. 65bhp with turbo.

I reckon, if the power/turbo’s there youre more likely to use it even if you don’t realise.

My 106, I would thrash, well as much as I could and never got less than 60mpg. If I push, but not thrash my Clio, with its turbo I reckon in 40s wouldn’t be out the question.

My car gives much better economy since I realised I was calculating mpg using US gallons rather than Imperial gallons.

Laguna estate DCi 150
typical MPG = 39 to 42 ( mostly shortish journeys)

Recently did a trip to Birmingham & due to awful weather conditions, averaged less than 60mph – The MPG returned was 57 !!!
( I was quite impressed)

Periodic Italian tuning does seem to make the engine run better. ( but, ONLY do this when the engine is thoroughly warmed up)

Chris

1.8tdci focus here..

Currently sat at 37mpg.

Got the car when i was commuting 20mi each way, a year ago i got a job which was 3mi each way. Still drove, and the car is still cold by the time i get to work. The car really drinks fuel when it’s cold, and sips it when the engine is up to temp. Managed to get to Aberdeen last year from Chester and the car hit 67mpg for the run.

So to get good MPG out of a modern diesel you have to drive like an old fart

No, you don’t have to drive slowly, you just have to know what you are doing.

Been pretty happy with the economy of my 325D Touring.. 3 litre straight six with a remap (~250bhp) returns ~43mpg (tank to tank) in mixed driving – not too far off the 47mpg official figure. Seems to respond well to the occasional thrashing too..

I find some of your mpg claims basically incredible. How slowly do you drive? Are these real figures?

Hire car this weekend – 250 mile trip across two cities, 40 miles of A road rest motorway. 28 mpg 🙁 Petrol zafira

My 2003 Passat TDI used to regularly exceed it’s quoted book figure, with one memorable occasion averaging 67mpg on a long, slow drive from Manchester to Devon. The BMW, however, quotes up to 70mpg and averages, even being driven carefully on the motorway, 42.

TandemJeremy – Member

I find some of your mpg claims basically incredible. How slowly do you drive? Are these real figures?

My thoughts exactly. The only place I have ever got close to the supposed MPG figures of any of my cars has been in France on very quiet roads.

I find some of your mpg claims basically incredible. How slowly do you drive?

I drive at the speed limit almost all the time, and usually avoiding heavy traffic. You can easily gain 10% fuel economy by paying attention to fuel economy techniques, I reckon.

Oh and on the motorway I use cruise control.

Everyone loves MPG 🙂

Here’s a great free site : http://www.fuelly.com/

I drive six inches from the bumper of the car in front to maximise the slipstream effect and don’t bother with unnecessary power drains like indicators etc.. 😈

Seriously though.. real-world figures. I don’t drive particularly slowly (‘keep up with traffic’) but I do try and drive as smoothly as possible and anticipate the road ahead – leaving plenty of space on the motorway to minimise the amount of braking/accelerating needed etc. That and the right tyre pressures (a bit over if anything) and no unnecessary crap in the boot.

TandemJeremy – Member
I find some of your mpg claims basically incredible. How slowly do you drive? Are these real figures?

Hire car this weekend – 250 mile trip across two cities, 40 miles of A road rest motorway. 28 mpg Petrol zafira

What engine was it? I think they do a 1.6 Petrol in the Zafira and it wouldn’t surprise me if that managed fairly poor mpg figures lugging a heavy MPV about with a large frontal area. The cold weather won’t help either.

With the amount of miles I do, I keep a close eye on the mpg figures my car is achieving. It always takes a dive in the cold weather, but I am currently getting about 57mpg give or take. That’s calculated from fill-ups. I drive on the A1 mainly on the way to work, and there are two roundabouts where I probably sit for a total of 20mins/day at least. At the moment I stick to 60mph. From last year, I know that during cold weather if I drive at 70mph, then the fuel consumption is probably nearer 52mpg.

In the summer just gone, driving frugally I regularly used to get over 60mpg over a tank, with a high of 63mpg, I think. The computer shows nearer 67mpg though, but I ignore that.

The car is a 1.9TDi Ibiza, with 130bhp & 6 speed gearbox. 70mph sees it revving at about 1750rpm, so on long motorway cruising it’s not really trying at all. Still plenty of grunt for overtakes though, just knock it down to fourth and off it goes…..

thanks for all your advice guys, its helped me to realise that I shouldnt have expected quite so much from my car – and that I have been a little naive with regards to potential figures.
I love the way the Megane drives (honestly) so will put up with 40mpg until I can no longer afford to do so!

I’ve also started to nitice a slight increase in efficiency since the sub zero temps started to fade.

I’ve got a 1.9 TD Signum, 04 plate and I get on average 46mpg per fill up with keen driving and a little less if heavy footed (reset the average every fill up). Thats a mixture of country lanes, town and duel carridgeway.

Like you said though, as soon as the weather drops my MPG goes really low, annoys me when I have been super keen all the time and it goes down driving exactly the same as before.

My driving style has really changed since caring about MPG and it’s surprising how many cars I catch up with over the total journey after they overtake or speed off on the fast bits.

I have a 1.5dci megane estate and currently gettign between 51 and 57 mpg driving it normally. I expect this to go up when the weather impoves and we go back to summer diesel as this seems to make a big difference. For a change the on board comp is indicatting lower than the actual (brim to brim).