Real world MPG of small engine superminis

[SonicHedgeHog]

I'm trying to find a car for a good friend who is truly clueless about cars. She really is at the "oh, that's a pretty colour" level of interest and knowledge. Her budget is up to £2000 and wants a small hatchback to do about 12,000 miles per year of mixed driving. This is an area of the car market that I haven't looked at for 15 years and I'm amazed at how little you can get for two grand. I need a car that is low mileage and has a FSH and yet all I'm finding is ok stuff about ten years old which worries me because I need it to be reliable and cheap to run. If I had my way we'd be buying a brand new car for 6 grand with decades of warranty, new tyres, zero road tax and good mpg. But, she doesn't want that so I'm stuck with two grand's worth of second hand car.

What I'd like to know is what kind of real world mpg are people getting out of old 1.0-1.3litre superminis? Also, what kind of mpg are people getting out of the old Ford 1.6 petrol found in the original Ka and numerous Fiestas? We have got 84mpg out of the missus' Fiat 500 diesel and I keep thinking that a new super economical car will more than pay for itself with fuel and tax savings.

Thanks

[Baryonyx]

I bet the majority of people driving these daft little eco boxes get nowhere near the quoted MPG, as they rag them everywhere trying to wring some performance out of them!

[J4CKO]

What i do think is that drivers of eco cars and diesels tend to over state it and owners of performance cars go the other way.

[SonicHedgeHog]

Yeah, I agree that you have to drive very slowly to get the claimed mpg. However, that is true of every car on the road. What I need to know is what people are actually achieving. She is a crap driver so it is pointless me buying something with the expectation that she will master hypermiling. If she's only going to get 30mpg then I need to do some serious thinking.

[SonicHedgeHog]

Thanks A lex, that is just the sort of thing I'm after.

[bamberwell]

ford ka is a 1.3 surely?unless it's a sportka...
our 07 clio 1.5 dci 86 averages a true 49.5 mpg , and my audi a2 1.4tdi gets a true 60 mpg , but in our experience small petrol engined cars are nowhere near as good as you' think they'd be. the missus managed to get under 30 mpg from a ka courtesy car we had once!!!!!

[vrsmxtb]

My first two cars, a 1 litre AX and a 1.1 106 consistently achieved between 45-50mpg consistently and driven with very little regard to fuel economy.

[thinfourth2]

A 1litre K11 bubble micra i have get 48mpg

[chriscoates]

Beaten to it, was just going to suggest a Clio with the 1.5dCi engine.

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3255654.htm

[SonicHedgeHog]

Thanks, very interesting. Anyone own a base model Polo? Personally I think the maintenance will be too high, but she likes 'em.

[SturdyJ]

I've owned a Clio with the 1.5 DCi, if you got it below 50mpg you were being a bit silly with it.

Given her level of interest, she (I assume) is going to take no interest at all in how to drive to achieve any kind of MPG, so i don't see any point quoting you figures obtained through a genuine effort / attentive driving, hence my 'when thrashed constantly' figure.

[cptsideways]

Anything with the VAG 1.4 Tdi is a great bet, genuine 60mpg+++ & way way quicker than any 1.0L petrol.

Car's that come with them are VW Polo & Lupo, Seat Arosa, Audi A2 (Audi will be out of budget) & Skoda Fabia. Post 2000 thay are all £30 a year to tax. My suggestion would be go for an earlier model as they suffer less from the VAG electrical bugs (post 2000 it would appear) which might be in the higher tax band but worth it in the long run.

[Si 330]

My mrs used to have a (well for sale now) 1.2 clio 56reg if driven around town in a hurry about 39mpg if driven carefully about 43mpg.

[SonicHedgeHog]

SturdyJ said:

Given her level of interest, she (I assume) is going to take no interest at all in how to drive to achieve any kind of MPG, so i don't see any point quoting you figures obtained through a genuine effort / attentive driving, hence my 'when thrashed constantly' figure.

I agree. I figured that if some of the hooligans on this forum can get half decent mpg then she's in with a fighting chance.

[vit4]

My dad's Skoda Fabia with the 1.9 tdi engine is good, he averages nearly 50mpg around town and can get 70 without trying on the motorway. Not in budget though. The SDI engine is painfully slow and has lower book economy figures than he gets from the tdi.

The 1.4 tdi is in budget though:
Autotrader linky

[SonicHedgeHog]

Great stuff guys, really appreciate all this real world info.

[projectgt]

Seat Arosa is her best bet and within budget.

Solid, reliable great MPG with either petrol or diesel.

[Matt UK]

My sister has a 10 year old Golf Tdi 130 and that seems to get 50mpg easily. 60mpg on a steady run, 45mpg if used locally.

Edited by Matt UK on Thursday 13th October 20:32

[john2443]

My commute is 55 miles mostly motorway but includes M25 so some traffic queues and I get 60mpg from a 1.9 TD Stilo;I am being a bit careful but do 80 some of the time, I'm not going to do 50 all the time just to get better mpg.

In over a year since I set the main trip it's done 55mpg+ over 30k.

[CatfishCKY]

The Lupo I've owned for a couple of months isnt too bad - has a radio gremlin I need sorting out but that will be done at the end of the month! It's bright, cheerful, somewhat 'cute' if she likes that sort of car?
I'm doing motorway miles currently and it's returning circa 40mpg, but that sort of thing might be ok for her? It'll be for sale soon if she's interested
I've been told the S or 1.4 TDI are good too, but Seat Arosa is the same sort of car for cheaper!