Cars that amaze

[The_Burg]

Just got back from Fuertaventura. Hired a panda for 3 days. Driving at the speed of traffic and including many miles in 1st and second averaged just under 60mpg. Staggering. Reset trip and even around town high 50s. Seems impossible but that is what the trip said. It was gutless but comfortable and quiet. Seemed to stick to the road OK too. Is this the future?

[PHmember]

The_Burg said:

Is this the future?

It's more likely to be a memory of a holiday you've recently had.

[Buff Mchugelarge]

I believe so

I was reading the stats in the back of Top Gear mag and there are hybrid cars for sale right now that make > 150bhp, 0-60 < 9 secs and can do over 100mpg!
Things are changing and tbh I'm quite excited about it.

[otolith]

Would that be hybrids that start the eu drive cycle fully charged and finish it depleted, I wonder?

[Northernchimp]

Also hired a Panda recently... 80/90 up the A1 and averaged 35mpg. I'll be impressed when it does 60 mpg everywhere.

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

I usually find that you need a car with a sat-nav installed for a maze...

[Willy Nilly]

Northernchimp said:

Also hired a Panda recently... 80/90 up the A1 and averaged 35mpg. I'll be impressed when it does 60 mpg everywhere.

do 100hp worth of work and you will use 100hp worth of fuel.

My 11 reg Jazz is averaging 55mpg with a lot of short journeys and cold starts, that's driving steady, mind but the economy is there for the taking.

[The_Burg]

Ah well I was impressed. My scooter does a lot less.

[Cemesis]

It is indeed the future. I always find it funny when people say economy is bad at 90mph and it's not good enough.

[007 VXR]

Mine does 30MPG @ 80MPH That always amazes me

[Pannywagon]

I'm able to get 38mpg out of mine on a run. Saab 9-5 aero with 250bhp. Our V70xc gets 22mpg with a lpt and a lot less go.

[deeen]

Willy Nilly said:

do 100hp worth of work and you will use 100hp worth of fuel.

Power does not equal "work".

Back on topic, my Tuscan amazed me!

[james28]

my v10 rs6 with 700 hp does 10 mpg
but i still amazes me every time i press the loud pedal.

[kambites]

Willy Nilly said:

do 100hp worth of work and you will use 100hp worth of fuel.

You'd be lucky.

With a typical current internal combustion engine, do 100hp or "work" and you'll use around 5-600hp of fuel. Car engines are shockingly inefficient things.

[Krikkit]

deeen said:

Willy Nilly said:

do 100hp worth of work and you will use 100hp worth of fuel.

Power does not equal "work".

Close enough, it's a good analogy.

[Jonny_]

Spent a day in a 1.3 diesel Panda courtesy car a couple of years ago. Onboard computer showed an average of 74mpg over a 20 mile A-road drive.

Even allowing a 10% margin for bullst (although in my experience the Fiat computers are pretty accurate, unlike my VW's!) it would be over 65mpg which is excellent given that I accelerated up to NSL speed at full throttle several times on that journey to see how the wee engine performed (verdict: decently nippy in the light Panda, although I imagine the same engine used in the Astra was less pleasant, plus you'd be driving an Astra ).

[NPI]

The_Burg said:

Just got back from Fuertaventura. Hired a panda for 3 days. Driving at the speed of traffic and including many miles in 1st and second averaged just under 60mpg. Staggering. Reset trip and even around town high 50s. Seems impossible but that is what the trip said. It was gutless but comfortable and quiet. Seemed to stick to the road OK too. Is this the future?

Was it a diesel? I'm guessing not as you said it was quiet.

To be fair, you simply can't have done "many miles in 1st and second" and averaged just under 60mpg. Maybe the trip is insanely optimistic?

There's loads of complaints about the TwinAir models averaging mid 30's MPG when they're supposed to do near 70.

[The_Burg]

NPI said:

The_Burg said:

Just got back from Fuertaventura. Hired a panda for 3 days. Driving at the speed of traffic and including many miles in 1st and second averaged just under 60mpg. Staggering. Reset trip and even around town high 50s. Seems impossible but that is what the trip said. It was gutless but comfortable and quiet. Seemed to stick to the road OK too. Is this the future?

Was it a diesel? I'm guessing not as you said it was quiet.

To be fair, you simply can't have done "many miles in 1st and second" and averaged just under 60mpg. Maybe the trip is insanely optimistic?

There's loads of complaints about the TwinAir models averaging mid 30's MPG when they're supposed to do near 70.

Up over the mountains. Even allowing for optimism it must be hi 40s. It was hideously slow, borderline dangerously slow. Would never want to own one. But for commute...

[deeen]

Krikkit said:

deeen said:

Willy Nilly said:

do 100hp worth of work and you will use 100hp worth of fuel.

Power does not equal "work".

Close enough, it's a good analogy.

Disagree (sorry Kambites) but work = energy used, power = rate of using energy. So there is no such thing as "100hp of fuel".

Fuel contains some energy which can be released by burning, some of which can be converted to kinetic energy in a car.

Eg. (made-up figures) if I burn a litre of diesel in an oil lamp it might last a week, that might be equivalent to 0.1 hp, if I burn it flat out in a 4 litre turbo V8, the same litre might "give" 400 hp, but last 5 mins.

And my Tuscan still 'mazed me.

Edited by deeen on Sunday 16th February 22:53

[Billiam]

I used to have a Smart Roadster Coupé Brabus.. it never seemed to want for petrol compared to my other cars ! Ok their not overly stunning but i like the querky looks.. but performance was OK for a 50MPG car, although not overly practical lol the handling was amazing !! I used to do stupid speeds around roundabouts etc.. brilliant just to commute etc and reasonably priced now