36mpg in a V8 Mustang!

Who says you need an Ecoboost for decent economy?

The annual MPG Marathon isn't typical PH news fodder, you're right. But it does become rather more interesting when silly cars take part. There's only so excited you can be about a Suzuki Baleno posting a 4.78 per cent improvement in official fuel economy, but a Mustang doing 36mpg? That's a story! And certainly a better one than PH managed in a Caterham last year...

Thanks to a remarkable 75.12 per cent leap from the official 20.9mpg combined figure, the 5.0 V8 Mustang won the competition for best improvement in fuel consumption at the Marathon. Goes to show the big, unstressed engine spinning at low revs can still be of some use!

The car was driven by an ex-works rally team pairing of Andy Dawson and Andrew Marriott. Apparently the Mustang was "perfect" for the event because of its "brilliant steering, handling and roadholding." That meant speed could be conserved, with little energy wasted on speeding up or slowing down.

So well done chaps, you and your Mustang certainly earned a line-lock burnout, some drag races and a few gratuitous throttle blips on the way home. It's nice to hear some good Mustang news too, what with the factory having recently shut down for a few weeks.

Finally, it's worth taking a look at the full MPG Marathon results too; an MX-5 achieved 55.79mpg (but was marked down with time penalties), a Vauxhall Maloo hit the heady heights of 27mpg and a petrol, all-wheel drive Audi A4 did 50mpg. Madness!

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