Honda Civic 1.6 iDtec - Poor Economy of 2014 cars

Honda Civic 1.6 iDtec - Poor Economy of 2014 cars

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Discussion

Jifen

Original Poster:

91 posts

228 months

Thursday 22nd May 2014
quotequote all
elephantstone said:
Shocker..

Person buys 1.6 diesel econobox and complains it is not returning the quoted MPG.
FFS I'm not complaining that it won't achieve it's quoted figures

I'm complaining that's it's 65% less than it's quoted figures!

I am also complaining that it's doing 40% less that last years identical car

Fittster

20,120 posts

212 months

Thursday 22nd May 2014
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C.A.R. said:
What I've found from hire cars is the modern 1.6d engines (Ford / Peugeot / Citroen etc all the same) require a good thrashing on motorways to keep up with traffic which sends the MPG into a nose-dive.
You have to thrash a 1.6D to keep up with traffic on the typical motorway????

C.A.R.

3,967 posts

187 months

Thursday 22nd May 2014
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Fittster said:
You have to thrash a 1.6D to keep up with traffic on the typical motorway????
Yes, when you consider that motorway traffic is doing 75/80mph, the 1.6 modern diesels have little 'shove' at anything above 60 so you find yourself flexing your right foot more than you would in a bigger car, which would need a gentle easing of he throttle by comparison. Perhaps thrash is the wrong word, but they do act a certain amount of 'oomf' when accelerating up slip roads and suchlike. Nice and nippy at lower speeds, yes....

Pferdestarke

7,179 posts

186 months

Friday 23rd May 2014
quotequote all
I checked my wife's 2013 1.6 idtec. It's got 739 miles on the clock and is only used around town and a few a roads.

57.9mpg.

I drove it to the chippy.

57.8 and falling.

Those seats are quite uncomfortable. And I hit my knee on the bulging door card getting in it.

Still, a decent little motor.

Jifen

Original Poster:

91 posts

228 months

Friday 23rd May 2014
quotequote all
Pferdestarke said:
I checked my wife's 2013 1.6 idtec. It's got 739 miles on the clock and is only used around town and a few a roads.

57.9mpg.

I drove it to the chippy.

57.8 and falling.

Those seats are quite uncomfortable. And I hit my knee on the bulging door card getting in it.

Still, a decent little motor.
Sounds about where it should be... Here is my (warm) last two 3 mile trips no traffic

32.4 & 34.1 can't upload pic from phone

Pferdestarke

7,179 posts

186 months

Friday 23rd May 2014
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So what's happening then? Why the variation and are you sure it's not just a computer software glitch?

Jifen

Original Poster:

91 posts

228 months

Friday 23rd May 2014
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Pferdestarke said:
So what's happening then? Why the variation and are you sure it's not just a computer software glitch?
I have yet to find one 2014 car doing anything different to mine. I have details of 3 other 2014's doing exactly same as mine (within 3mpg)

Honda have changed something and not in a good way!

Computer usually over reads by about 3 mpg. My 48 mpg is exact calculation fill to fill against ODO reading

Jifen

Original Poster:

91 posts

228 months

Wednesday 28th May 2014
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Still looking for consumption data from more 2014 1.6 iDtec owners please

Top pup

308 posts

205 months

Wednesday 28th May 2014
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Jifen said:
Not grumpy at all, they are all reasonable (but obvious) questions you would discount at an early stage and I did.

In my 11th week of ownership now, I reported not happy at week 2 after doing research which shows the car's mpg does not improve with age (which was my belief for the first 2 weeks).

Have covered 3500 miles in that time so it's well used, mixed journeys and all driven with eco efforts, I am a 47 y/o skilled driver (have the certs to prove it) driven 30 years with the last 27 on a clean license and only interested in saving money these days - hence buying this car.

Never carried any load, at most 1 passenger (or 2 kids), but driver only 80% of time. No spare wheel, no jack, tyre pressures perfect to book, ECO mode with no aircon on very gentle throttle openings.

Given all the 2013 owners i have spoken to I am in no doubt I am comparing eggs with eggs
3500 miles? The things barely run in yet alone loosened up properly, it may not improve enough to keep you happy but the economy will not be at it's best until nearer 10000 miles.

Pferdestarke

7,179 posts

186 months

Wednesday 28th May 2014
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That may be the case but the figures quoted by the OP are way off. I too would be disgruntled of I were him.

My wife isn't the slowest driver and town driving is returning 58.1mpg with less Than 1k miles on the clock

covmutley

3,012 posts

189 months

Wednesday 28th May 2014
quotequote all
I would say it is not run in yet. My old 2.2 civic started returning noticeably better figures after about 15k miles.

I also had a 1.6d focus and fairly quickly realised it was the wrong engine for motorway miles.

Edited by covmutley on Wednesday 28th May 20:38

Road2Ruin

5,167 posts

215 months

Wednesday 28th May 2014
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The figures vary massively depending on your driving. My old (2006) civic 2.2 driven without care would show 42mpg on the computer (yes I know they are not accurate!). However, driven with care for the same journey, I would get 62mpg!

Top pup

308 posts

205 months

Wednesday 28th May 2014
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I'm not really commenting on how good/bad the op's mpg is, merely pointing out that at 3500 miles a car is still not really going to provide it's best economy, that probably won't happen until after the cars first service.

greggy50

6,161 posts

190 months

Wednesday 28th May 2014
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I think its your driving technique to be honest when I ran a 2.2 Civic I was averaging 38mpg due to my driving style if I could be bothered I could get this up to 55mpg easily enough.

It will be the driver not the car I bet I could sit in it now and get it to average 60mpg if I wanted...

Jifen

Original Poster:

91 posts

228 months

Wednesday 28th May 2014
quotequote all
Don't worry guys I've done my homework. I held the same view that MPG would improve a little but having checked out 50 identical cars on spritmonitor.de where people have logged every mile from new, it is VERY clear that NONE have shown any improvement from new to over 20k miles.

I have consumption details of 10 x 2013 cars & 6 x 2014 cars and there is thus far a clear 20 mpg gap between them, the former averaging 68, the latter (like mine) averaging 48mpg.... No down to tyre size or pressure, ODO reading, driving style or colour!!! Just down to the year it was made !

Pferdestarke

7,179 posts

186 months

Wednesday 28th May 2014
quotequote all
So what are your next steps with Honda Uk?

Jifen

Original Poster:

91 posts

228 months

Wednesday 28th May 2014
quotequote all
Fittster said:
You have to thrash a 1.6D to keep up with traffic on the typical motorway????
You really don't have to thrash these, arms full of torque, can cruise on 1/10th throttle at 70mph and dial a speed change easier than most petrols.

The lowest 2013 car is averaging 62 mpg and in his own words 'has a very heavy right foot' and does not drive with any care for economy. The very best 2014 car I have details on is averaging 53 mpg and that's 80% easy motorway driving. This puts them a country mile apart and circa 20mpg when driven in a similar manner

In contrast worst 2014 is a averaging 45 mpg, best 2013 is averaging 74 mpg over every one of its 23k miles


Edited by Jifen on Wednesday 28th May 21:16

Benbay001

5,794 posts

156 months

Wednesday 28th May 2014
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You dont have to have a heavy right foot to waste fuel.

The right pedal uses fuel, the middle one wastes fuel.
Look further ahead and plan, lift off earlier if you predict traffic will slow or stop and then marvel and the economy gains.

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 28th May 2014
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Jifen has said repeatedly that the issue is not due to driving style.
There is probably another thread where economy driving wisdom can be shared.
Will be interesting to find out what has been changed on the 2014 cars, keep us posted!

Jifen

Original Poster:

91 posts

228 months

Wednesday 28th May 2014
quotequote all
Jimboka said:
Jifen has said repeatedly that the issue is not due to driving style.
There is probably another thread where economy driving wisdom can be shared.
Will be interesting to find out what has been changed on the 2014 cars, keep us posted!
A voice of reason - Thank you, of course I will keep all updated, this is the latest...

God knows why but Honda have insisted it so I have been loaned another brand new 'EU' and surprise surprise, I would estimate from the over reading OBC it's averaging 45 mpg.

Thus far Honda are not hearing the very clear message I have laid on a plate for them, all substantiated with very compelling hard data

Grated theirs is a tourer (which does 2 mpg less), but auto express state their test car as hoping to improve from it's 47 mpg http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/honda/civic/87118/lon...

Edited by Jifen on Wednesday 28th May 23:14