Most economical car at 90mph?
Discussion
varsas said:
Bluemotion VW golf?
I would say one of the even smaller, 3 cylinder diesels but I reckon they'll have too short gearing and the engine will be under too much stress at those speeds.
Just a guess though.
Nah, we had a Skoda 1.4 TDi, and it got 60+mpg everywhere up to 80 ish mph, it really wasincredibly efficient, but if you pushed it up to the 90's economy dropped like a stone to low 40's iirc. Too small an engine to punt at that speed.I would say one of the even smaller, 3 cylinder diesels but I reckon they'll have too short gearing and the engine will be under too much stress at those speeds.
Just a guess though.
ian_touring said:
At that speed its got to be the lowest drag shape that has priority over engine type.
Vauxhall Calibra? 
As said before, a larger engined car with low drag that is running just above tickover at that kind of speed. In terms of petrol I seem to remember Corvettes do especially well at those speeds. A a school friends dad had a Cobra replica, it was at roughly 1500rpm at 80mph in 5th.
WeirdNeville said:
varsas said:
Bluemotion VW golf?
I would say one of the even smaller, 3 cylinder diesels but I reckon they'll have too short gearing and the engine will be under too much stress at those speeds.
Just a guess though.
Nah, we had a Skoda 1.4 TDi, and it got 60+mpg everywhere up to 80 ish mph, it really wasincredibly efficient, but if you pushed it up to the 90's economy dropped like a stone to low 40's iirc. Too small an engine to punt at that speed.I would say one of the even smaller, 3 cylinder diesels but I reckon they'll have too short gearing and the engine will be under too much stress at those speeds.
Just a guess though.
I agree, a small 3 cylinder diesel (like your 1.4) will be under too much stress at those speeds, which is why I went for the 4 cylinder, 1.6 Golf.
A German car magazine conducted a test similar to this question, but up to a speed of 180kph (ca. 110 mph). I'm going to have to see if I can find the relevant magazine as I can't remember the detail, but the conclusion was that over 140kph, efficiency took an alarming nosedive. A lot worse than you would have thought. They used a Passat, BMW 3er, Golf... etc.
Something with a loooonnnnng 6th gear. It doesn't matter how small the engine is if it's pulling 6k rpm.
I would doubt that aero would be that much of an issue at 90mph, at least in comparison of the cars which we'd be talking about (e.g. we're not comparing Bloodhound to a Ford Mondeo).
I would doubt that aero would be that much of an issue at 90mph, at least in comparison of the cars which we'd be talking about (e.g. we're not comparing Bloodhound to a Ford Mondeo).
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