130 miles to a tank!!?

[ktg1000]

A*se. I've recently changed jobs and I am lucky enough to be commuting just 6 or so miles per day instaed of the choo-choo, I can now drive my beloved Chim every day! However, I've noticed that the fuel consumption has gone through the roof! Not had the courage to work it out in MPG but I reckon I'm getting about 130 miles to the tank?!! Does this sound right?! I'm sure I have no leaks and the car seems to be running fine? What does your do?

[colinrob]

I used to get over 200 miles from a tank in my 4.0 once over 280 miles, just brought a 5.0 thought I'd get 200 miles from a tank ran out at 185 miles shan't do that again

[shnozz]

I do approx 400 miles to the tank in the mondeo

in the Tiv, I have never looked. And I shall not. I dont care. I never will. Its a TVR.

[JonRB]

Short trips will hammer your mpg, especially in cold weather where the engine never really gets a chance to warm up.

Having said that, 130 does seem a little low for a 400. I would expect to get more than that in my 500 even on a similar trip profile.

You're not caning it on a cold engine or anything, are you?

[hut49]

Get up a little earlier and take a slightly longer route to work - it'll be good for the car and more importantly you too. I suspect if you do a careful fill drive and refill cycle you'll find it isn't as bad as you fear. I rarely get more than 18/19 out of my 450 maybe 22 cruising on a motorway - but I have no interest in doing that. Going for an Optimax fix is like therapy to me - to hell with the £ - it always goes better with a full tank

[V8 Archie]

Ouch! That sounds nasty. I'm with JonRB on this one. I'm guessing your trip to work involves almost continuous traffic jams (especially when cold) an no chance to stretch it's legs.

I tend to get 200+ miles before fast corners give fuel starvation (unless I'm really hooning for all of it), BUT at 150 my guage reads 1/4 full. I know that the guages can be very variable, so it might be that you can go further before filling up.

Get a can of fuel in the boot before testing this theory .

[simpo two]

Most TVR fuel gauges seem to show 1/4 full (or more!) when the tank is actually empty. Maye yours is the other way round, ie showing empty when there's still plenty left? I can think of two ways to test this: 1) Fill it up and go for a 200+ mile blat one weekend and see if the situation improves on a proper run, 2) If it doesn't, carry a spare fuel can in the boot and see how far you get...!

[JonRB]

Hmm. Yes, stop-start traffic jams on a cold engine will be murderous for mpg. Expect low teens / high single-figures.

If the TVR is not your only car I would suggest not using it for a trip like that. It's not good for the car or your wallet.

[verysideways]

Okay, i know i don't drive like a wet paper bag (ask Iguana about my 993 on the way back from Bruntingthorpe) but i'm getting over 200 miles per tank from my 400.

Mixture of short trips, motorways, etc, and this equates to 30 quid from the light being on to completely full. That's Optimax mind you, at about 80p per litre, so should equate to about 40 litres. I'm pretty sure the tank holds 58 litres though???

Does that help at all?

VS

[Jim'schim]

When I had my Chim 450, I used it to work, a five mile trip each way. I was getting about 10mpg that is about what you're getting. On a long run doing normal speeds, I could get about 26 mpg, but generally I got about 18mpg with mixed driving.
You won't get many miles per gallon doing such short trips as your commute

[tobeee]

Doing a 10 mile no-stop journey to work and back, and a good blat at the weekend, I get about 200 miles to the tank in my 97 5.0. Like a proper nerd I also record the amount filled up and the mileage, so that can calculate the consumption accurately. Now isn't that clever. And nerdy.

[Rob7]

I do about 5 miles each day to work, steady traffic for about 4 miles then a 1mile sprint before turning in to the gates of work....it works out (i think) to do about 40 odd miles to a tenner. Then come the weekend roof down cruising 80-100 ish she turns in about 250 odd miles on a tank of optimax - seems to do more mpg on optimax - found a garage that is selling it for 76.9 a litre!

while am here, out for a run last weekend temp did not get higher than 60deg c,when we had the heaters on (roof off)she dropped to 50deg c....thinkin i should dam some of the airflow throu the rad as i have the no.plate mounted below the grill also....

Car - 4.0 Chim 96

[count duckula]

My trip to work is 20 miles each way and I get 240 to the tank full.

Malc

[M@H]

Hmm.. I get 26 MPG out of mine now on optimax on a decent run.. I reckon it gets to the mid teens with stop start driving and a heavy right foot though.. 200-220 a tank for me

Matt.

[beano500]

In the Griff around town and including 10 mile commute sometimes got the consumption down to about 150-160 on 3/4 of a tank - aroundabout 16mpg. Your experience doesn't seem quite right (based on the fact that you won't have warmed the tyres up enough to really boot it without an unexpected park up in a hedge!)

Why don't you take the long route on your commute? Worked for me every time!

[Nick P]

Had everything from 110 miles out of a tank of Optimax(On a trackday) up to 260 miles on a long trip...for some reason it seems to like sitting at higher speed on the motorway than lower speed....97 Chimaera 400
I work my fuel economy out every tank cos it may be an indicator to a fault and I like to know how much it actually does guzzle

[PhillWalden]

I've been running normal unleaded recently and get at least 250-270 out of my tank every time.. have gone up to 295 but was very scared needle showed well below empty.. I do drive 70 ish miles every day though (96 chim 400)

Only got 16 to the gallon when I was driving around the lake district though Great fun

[Voltaire53]

ktg1000 said:

What does your do?

I also do short trips to work and back every day (about 2 miles) and I have a little spreadsheet that tells me I average aout 15mpg on those trips, 18-19mpg overall and once managed 26mpg on a motorway only run.

I get about 180-200 miles between fill-ups but tend to top up with at least a 1/8th tank showing due to warnings about the petrol guage accuracy!

I once got down to 12mpg but that was the time I left the petrol cap off after filling up and suspect a signifcant amount was lost ...

I do of course not care about these awfully expensive figures, I just want to know them

[phlap]

ktg
Ive been commuting in my Chim 400 for the last 6 months and have been getting about 270-300 miles per tank. When the cold weather started a few weeks ago range has fallen right down to the slightly scary 180 miles I managed on the last tank

However, the point is that we get to drive a stunning V8 sportscar twice a day
Or would you rather be a numpty in a tinbox?



>> Edited by phlap on Friday 31st October 14:24

[edward1]

I recently got rid of the company eurobox sold the 350 and got a chim 4.5, on a 25 mile commute to the office, peak district road until the outskirts of Sheffield are reached, without excessivly thrashing it, I would get around 200 to the tank no thanks to some stop start traffic, cross country with a bit of m/way bordom and it will do around 260 to the tank. The consequences are a cheap old Astra to sit in the traffic and keep the Tiv for the interesting roads at the weekend.