Not very economical petrol car

[casper76]

Hi. New to the group so no laughing 😅. For 7 years I had a 1.6 diesel Focus, but as I don't do much driving, and many dpf issues, I traded it in for a 2017 Astra Ecoflex 1.0. Thinking it would be more economical around town and shorter journeys being a petrol, I'm surprised to see it isn't. It's costing more to run than the old diesel and the range drops much much quicker?

[Sheepshanks]

But on the upside, no more dpf issues!

I have seen reports of poor mpg around town with that engine in Corsa's, so it's going to be worse in an Astra.

The car might have something wrong with it, but assuming you've checked all the usual things it could be due to driving style - the engine is pretty low power and doesn't respond well to be being slogged in high gears like a diesel.

[casper76]

Thanks for the reply. What should I be checking?, signs of leaks i presume?

[ninepoint2]

Don't know much about that model but at a guess I suspect it may be linked to hauling a sizeable, weighty car around with a tiny underpowered engine.

[casper76]

Yes, I'm beginning to think the lure of cheap tax might be my undoing 😅

[Lincsls1]

I genuinely wouldn't expect the car you've just bought to be any better on mileage than that 1.6 diesel. If anything, as you've found, a little worse.
A diesel of that capacity is very frugal, but as you've pointed out, no good for lots of town driving and short trips due to the DPF issues so there is your advantage with the swap.

[Maxym]

So what mpg are you getting?

[casper76]

Currently 35mpg

[stogbandard]

If you’re doing low miles then low mpgs shouldn’t be a big issue. My old 1.8T Passat was crap on mpg round town in busy traffic - low 20s. On a decent long run on the open road I’ve been able to hit 40+ mpg, so you might surprised when you go for a longer run.

In any event, if it’s a car that’s spend it’s life chugging around town, I’d find an excuse to give it an Italian tune up and see how it runs after.

[Alex_225]

One thing to consider is that a small engine is going to require some working to get the car moving, even if it has a turbo. So it won't be as economical in an Astra in part due to the size of the car. That said 35mg round town sounds fairly respectable.

If you do the boring maths bit with a full tank to full tank does it work out much worse than the diesel or is it based on the readout from the trip computer?

[tallpaul26]

casper76 said:

Currently 35mpg

Sounds like a reasonable return to me. We had 1.0T Fiesta which was similar around town but would happily return near 50mpg on a steady NSL run.