Is fuel economy blown way out of proportion?

[Lostprophet]

dapearson said:

Owned an impreza wrx (standard bugeye wagon) a few years ago. It was quick...ish, but i could never square the 26-30 mpg with the fairly unimpressive performance. A VAG PD diesel was punchier and with a better cabin, but i liked the impreza's feeling of driving something a bit special. It was definitely old-school though.

Traded the scoob in for a Leon TDI, which was much slower (obv), but even that only did 42-45 mpg in similar driving.

The scoob was traded for £2.5k against the Leon for £8.5k. Fast forward 2 years and the Leon was traded in for £4.5k with 40k miles added to it. The scoob would be worth about £2.5k still...

Makes you wonder if the trade in was worth it.

schmalex, fair enough. I have to say though I love the S5. I like its looks, and comfort and general feel. If I was to sell (and was not down-sizing)it I would be aiming to go for a RS5, a Bentley GT or a Jag XKR. All have similar levels of class and quality. There is only so much performance you need. The S5 has plenty of grunt however its not a fast car, well it does not feel it! 0-60 in early 5's I think. I remember the 335d(and i) on a test drive felt seriously fast!

I too looked at the 635d. Quick again. Plenty of power... Good plan.

Edited by Lostprophet on Tuesday 23 April 17:27

[DuncanM]

DuncanM said:

excel monkey said:

It's still a pretty impressive trick if you do a lot of that kind of driving. Even ignoring the cost and mpg considerations, the long gearing makes for a relaxed drive, and the increased fuel tank range is very useful.

Absolutely, it's a very impressive trick.

I don't quite understand people buying a diesel and then not capitalising on it. Thrashing a diesel will lower MPG to ~40MPG which is 1.8 Petrol territory. I would much prefer a 1.8 petrol for driving/maintaining and so, buying a diesel comes with a complete change in driving technique or it's not worth it.

I'll update in a month on how I'm getting on. The Pug forums are full of people barely getting more than 40MPG out of this motor so I'm a bit worried!

Update:

51.3mpg on a run so quite please with that!

I actually expect better once I'm doing my new commute, starting 21st May

50ish mpg from a big car (1500kg) is good going IMO.

Nice car too, smooth and refined, perfect for the job in hand

[Rick_1138]

Having run the 350z for a week now, getting the brain around 25mpg rather than 40-45 of the tdi is an eye opener.

think the plan is once the wifey and i are in house, she wants to buy a newish mini and i will inherit her 1.3 03 plate fiesta, as its great as a cheap runner and that will let me run the Z as a weekend, days out, sunny days car.

I can stomach the fuel costs but if i can half the amount i use the car day to day i would take that option.

But the MPG rate is worth it for the enjoyment the car gives

[AndyCowman]

I do 200 miles a week on back lanes and A Roads in my old Porsche 944 Turbo with a few alterations. I am consistently getting 28mpg from the car in commuting mode which I am pretty happy with.

The difference between that and say a mk3 Golf petrol (cheap to buy etc) is something like £500 a year. Factor in maintenance, insurance tax and the like and it would cost me more the have the two. I also found that when I did run a second cheaper daily drive (I tried it!) that the list of jobs on the old Porsche never got done as it was too easy not to bother.

I appreciate that argument for a diesel commute barge in some cases - but for me it doesn't stack up. I think if the car would only manage 15mpg I would probably have to pick a toy that was more useful as well!