What car gives the best 'real world' fuel economy

[TallTony]

I am organising a new company car for a colleague, it needs to be a small executive saloon eg A4, 3 Series etc.

The one singluar criteria is that it must be the most fuel efficient diesel possible. He does mega commuting miles and pays his own fuel, so this request is understandable.

All the manufacturers give their own figures, but I know from bitter personal experiences (Seat Leon Cupra does 44mpg my @rse) and so please PH can you tell me what you are actually getting in real-world figures.

Thanks, TT

[Dracoro]

Thing is, it will depend on what type of driving (and how good they are at economy driving). A larger car may be better on fuel if sitting at 70 on the motorway for an hour but a smaller one (and not necessarily diesel!) if commuting through town/built up areas.

[Mr Gear]

Dracoro said:

Thing is, it will depend on what type of driving (and how good they are at economy driving). A larger car may be better on fuel if sitting at 70 on the motorway for an hour but a smaller one (and not necessarily diesel!) if commuting through town/built up areas.

Exactly. There's no such thing as "real world economy" because it depends entirely on what your "real world" consists of.

[V88Dicky]

Mr Gear said:

Exactly. There's no such thing as "real world economy" because it depends entirely on what your "real world" consists of.

Nail on the head.

My 'real world' involves about 3 minutes of suburban driving, then about 30 minutes of dual carriageway @65-70mph, then another 3-4 minutes from said DC to place of work. 28 miles each way, and 45MPG by the end of the working week.

Oh, and that's in a 2.0 petrol BTW

[Deerfoot]

I know it`s the default choice but a 320d will be a good bet I`m sure.

[Caulkhead]

I'd probably look at a BMW 320d EfficientDynamics first.

[300bhp/ton]

Mr Gear said:

Dracoro said:

Thing is, it will depend on what type of driving (and how good they are at economy driving). A larger car may be better on fuel if sitting at 70 on the motorway for an hour but a smaller one (and not necessarily diesel!) if commuting through town/built up areas.

Exactly. There's no such thing as "real world economy" because it depends entirely on what your "real world" consists of.

[300bhp/ton]

TallTony said:

I am organising a new company car for a colleague, it needs to be a small executive saloon eg A4, 3 Series etc.

The one singluar criteria is that it must be the most fuel efficient diesel possible. He does mega commuting miles and pays his own fuel, so this request is understandable.

All the manufacturers give their own figures, but I know from bitter personal experiences (Seat Leon Cupra does 44mpg my @rse) and so please PH can you tell me what you are actually getting in real-world figures.

Thanks, TT

Do you have a budget in mind or any other requirements?

I suspect you'd struggle to top something like a 118d, albeit a hatch not a saloon (does it matter??).

[kambites]

BMW certainly get the best figures, but in my experience that's more down to their skill at tailoring cars to the test than an indication of what you'll really see from the car. They aren't bad, but they certainly aren't as far ahead of the competition as the figures suggest.

The Passat Bluemotion seems to get pretty good reviews and Mercedes are certainly catching BMW up in terms of official figures, although I have no idea how that translates into real driving.


In all cases, in my experience, manuals tend to be more efficient than automatics if driven properly. They do better on the official figures because they are allowed to "cheat" by selecting their own preferred gear, where a manual is forced to be in a particular gear which may not be the most efficient one.

[jbi]

only if the college is as vain as me

they are hideous

[the-photographer]

Lots of data here, check the Passat pic at the bottom!

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[djt100]

try the PH wiki

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[AnotherClarkey]

Try looking at www.spritmonitor.de for huge amounts of real world. There is an English language option but you need to convert to mpg. It let's you look at things in huge detail including type of driving, winter/summer gyres etc.

Perhaps the most surprising thing is seeing how much putting an auto box on a diesel massacres the fuel consumption.

[5lab]

i think the volvo s40 drive has <100 co2s of emissions. I suspect that means it'll do significantly more mpg (15%) than the beemer which (from memory) does 115co2.

urban : 61mpg
extra urban : 85.6 mpg (!!!!!)
combined : 74.3 mpg

that's pretty impressive! Obviously, not as good a steer as the 320, but it doesn't sound like thats a top priority. Volvos normally are lovely places to sit

Edited by 5lab on Friday 3rd June 10:53

[TallTony]

5lab said:

i think the volvo s40 drive has <100 co2s of emissions. I suspect that means it'll do significantly more mpg (15%) than the beemer which (from memory) does 115co2.

urban : 61mpg
extra urban : 85.6 mpg (!!!!!)
combined : 74.3 mpg

that's pretty impressive! Obviously, not as good a steer as the 320, but it doesn't sound like thats a top priority. Volvos normally are lovely places to sit

Edited by 5lab on Friday 3rd June 10:53

My sentiments exactly, it looks good on paper but I was hoping that someone can confirm what they have actually acheived. (should have been more specific on the topic heading)

[5lab]

TallTony said:

My sentiments exactly, it looks good on paper but I was hoping that someone can confirm what they have actually acheived. (should have been more specific on the topic heading)

I think most people achieve a certain % age of the book figures, and the %age will remain fairly constant between cars - so if his current car is 50mpg book and he does 40mpg, a 90mpg book car could probably see him at around 72mpg

[Jasey@]

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/

[CraigyMc]

5lab said:

i think the volvo s40 drive has <100 co2s of emissions. I suspect that means it'll do significantly more mpg (15%) than the beemer which (from memory) does 115co2.

urban : 61mpg
extra urban : 85.6 mpg (!!!!!)
combined : 74.3 mpg

that's pretty impressive! Obviously, not as good a steer as the 320, but it doesn't sound like thats a top priority. Volvos normally are lovely places to sit

Edited by 5lab on Friday 3rd June 10:53

The 320d ED is 109gCO2/km.

The best I've had from mine so far (on a real journey) is 86mpg, the worst (while ragging it) 52mpg. I've averaged 66mpg so far, and I tend to "keep up with traffic" if you catch my drift.

It's the only car I've ever been in that will speed up while rolling down a hill in top gear at 70mph without any gas...

C

[bull996]

Well, my company Volvo S40 1.6 Petrol Eco does 28mpg at 85 mph. (56k miles on it so far)

My other halfs Jag Xj Sport, 3.2 straight 6 does 31 mpg at 90mph ha ha ha.

Ace isnt it!

So sont believe the crap manufacturers come out with, its only right if you drive everywhere at 42 mph.

Edited by bull996 on Friday 3rd June 12:28

[Gruber]

Sounds like you need a 50 mile testdrive!