Cars which economy defy belief

[matt21]

What cars economy defies belief, good or bad.

Not talking about an Elise which can do 40mpg, it does weigh sod all, but something which offers MPG you simply wouldn't expect. Talking true MPG, not OBC (those D5's don't really do 60+mpg!)

My recent cars achieved the following. Most impressive is the 525 Touring considering the age, mileage and weight. Least impressive for what it was 05 Cooper S.

1994 525 Touring manual - 32mpg
1996 Mazda MX5 1.8 - 29mpg
1993 Mazda MX5 - 33mpg
2000 BMW 530iA - 26mpg (22 on gas)
2003 Cooper - 37mpg
2005 Cooper S - 31mpg
2010 Cooper S - 42mpg
2004 Passat Estate - 45mpg
1998 Integra Type R - 30mpg
1998 BMW 540iA Touring - 22mpg

[talksthetalk]

e46 '02 330 ci. 35mpg on a run. 215BHP
Toyota Corolla T-Sport '53 (1.8) 35mpg on a run.187BHP
"
What's all this about smaller engines being more efficienteconomical?
Edited for beards accuracy

Edited by talksthetalk on Sunday 24th March 12:37

[Vince70]

I'm getting well over 30 to the gallon out of my 2.3 5 pot 90s audi,
But my best was my old 2.5 v6 cougar I would get over 35 to the gallon on a regular basis.
But now I don't use a car anymore to drive into town and generally when I drive the car it's on a good run. So the engines are suited better to my sort of driving.
My old fiesta was worse on fuel than my cougar at 70mph so it doesn't always pay to drive a small engined car.

[*Al*]

Recently drove my Z4 2.5 to St Ives Cornwall from Swindon (230 miles each way) staying mostly 70-80 mph with the odd 'spurt' i achieved 37.2 mpg. Taking it easy it would have been up nearer 40 mpg.

Edited the miles: 230 miles not 320 as stated.

Edited by *Al* on Sunday 24th March 12:45

[Willy Nilly]

talksthetalk said:

What's all this about smaller engines being more efficient?

The size of an engine is no indication of how efficient it is and we don't get specific fuel consumption figures for cars.

The 27,000 litre Wartsila engine used in some container ships has a specific fuel consumption of something daft like 196 gramme of fuel per kw/hr which is lower than the 6.6 litre engine in my tractor which is a good engine.

[premio]

I get 31mpg urban on my z4 3.0 auto! I'd say 80% of the time it's in traffic or doing under 40mph. Not bad at all really.

[anonymous-user]

Maserati GranTurismo S Auto (4.7) York to Egham, 28.9 mpg average....

surprised me, especially as on the way back it was only 26.9! Maybe heading north is uphill?

[TheLastPost]

matt21 said:

Not talking about an Elise which can do 40mpg, it does weigh sod all...

Can I just say that anyone who manages to regularly achieve 40mpg with an Elise should have it taken off them: they are not driving the car in an appropriate manner. IIRC, the best I saw with either of mine was about 32-33mpg.

[Benbay001]

After resetting the trip and driving for 20 minutes with the cruise control on at 70mph on an almost deserted dual carriageway the mpg figure reached 31 mpg!
This is in a 4.2 Jaguar S Type R!
On a run, if you drive like miss daisy and really plan ahead/ avoid temptation you can get 26mpg.

[clockworks]

*Al* said:

Recently drove my Z4 2.5 to St Ives Cornwall from Swindon (320 miles each way) staying mostly 70-80 mph with the odd 'spurt' i achieved 37.2 mpg. Taking it easy it would have been up nearer 40 mpg.

Typo on the trip distance, or did you go "the long way"?

[JREwing]

clockworks said:

Typo on the trip distance, or did you go "the long way"?

What, Swindon to St Ives via Crewe?

[POORCARDEALER]

My E34 M5 3.8 used to manage 14 mpg

[0llie]

After a trackday at Silverstone in my 2007 Cooper S (achieving about 12mpg), I managed nearly 50mpg whilst cruising home. Admittedly at 65-70mph, but had heated seats, cruise, lights and heaters on. Normal average was around 28-30mpg.

[Monkeylegend]

I don't believe any of you.

[Super Slo Mo]

Willy Nilly said:

talksthetalk said:

What's all this about smaller engines being more efficient?

The size of an engine is no indication of how efficient it is and we don't get specific fuel consumption figures for cars.

The 27,000 litre Wartsila engine used in some container ships has a specific fuel consumption of something daft like 196 gramme of fuel per kw/hr which is lower than the 6.6 litre engine in my tractor which is a good engine.

That's probably because most people seem to confuse efficiency with economy which, as any mechanical engineer should know, are two completely different things.

[v8will]

Monkeylegend said:

I don't believe any of you.

Neither do I. Brim to brim tank averages, not OBC figures are a better reflection.

[croyde]

premio said:

I get 31mpg urban on my z4 3.0 auto! I'd say 80% of the time it's in traffic or doing under 40mph. Not bad at all really.

That's amazing. My '98 2.5L E36 struggles to get up to 18mpg urban. 25mpg on a long country thrash and 30mpg if I take it easy and keep to 70 on the motorway.

I once got 47mpg but that was an overnight crawl from Calais to Avignon, all done at 50 mph as there was something wrong with one of the wheels.

[kambites]

TheLastPost said:

matt21 said:

Not talking about an Elise which can do 40mpg, it does weigh sod all...

Can I just say that anyone who manages to regularly achieve 40mpg with an Elise should have it taken off them: they are not driving the car in an appropriate manner. IIRC, the best I saw with either of mine was about 32-33mpg.

I've had over 50 from mine on a slow motorway cruise.

[WeirdNeville]

Skoda Fabia 1.4 TDi

A Gen-u-wine at the pump brim to brim 65Mpg across 50,000 miles. Saw 75Mpg out of it when stuck to low limits pootling around the isle of skye, but it was just impossible to get bad economy out of.
And it wasn't even bad to drive. I liked it a lot.

[premio]

croyde said:

That's amazing. My '98 2.5L E36 struggles to get up to 18mpg urban. 25mpg on a long country thrash and 30mpg if I take it easy and keep to 70 on the motorway.

I once got 47mpg but that was an overnight crawl from Calais to Avignon, all done at 50 mph as there was something wrong with one of the wheels.

It is a 10 plate so I guess newer engine more economical etc, but still very nice. About 340 miles to a tank! If I pull away normally it will change gear at 2k rpm, so it's a low revving car mostly.