50mpg reasonably practical?

[paulqv]

I have been very disappointed recently to have hired a Clio 1.4 which only returned 33mpg on a lot of motorway driving in spain and portugal.
I read the recent Autocar test on the new Fiat 500 twin and despite all the hype about it's amazing economy they only got about 35mpg.
Was wondering how many cars actually can do over 50mpg?
Whilst my wee collection generally can do that if you added up the mileage from all of them
So what cars driven normally can get that mpg? Ie driving at say a steady 80mph on motorway actually accelerating to overtake etc? also a car which has enough power for general driving and overtaking
Wouldnt mind some genuine replies.
Paul

[flipflop1]

I would go for any vw blue motion prob golf or passat for 80mph if that's the main type of driving.

Would also consider the BMW 1 or 3 series oil burning engines.

Plenty of others but for 80mph as the main goal I'd say that rules out the smaller cars.

[6C4GTS]

320d touring - although I'm not a BMW fan..for the family and high miles at good mpg this does it all.

[S2red]

Wife took our diesel 150bhp Zafira from Bishopbriggs to Blair Athol and back and managed 54mpg

If I'm bored on way to KH I can fill up at Bishopbriggs and average 60MPG ! before A80 OK so very feather footed but fun trying to beat my record

Came back fro MPH show at Birmingham 75 mph ave 42mpg

All from Trip computer which Ioften suspect is a wee bit low

[Angelus]

Peugeot 1.6 HDI engine used to get me good MPG. In the wifes 207 and my 407. It was onlt 110 BHP though, so not alot of overtaking. I liked the car, but they were new and I'm glad I didn't have to service them.

[ian2144]

The wifes Fabia vRS is more often over the 50mpg than under. and it's a good fun wee car. Kicks @ss well above it's weight.

[C.J.87]

well my punto hit 58 mpg as proven by the pic after a journey on the M8

Edited by C.J.87 on Thursday 2nd December 09:16

[RDM]

Does the Skoda Superb 170 Estate really do 70mpg extra urban as, I think, I saw advertised.
That sounds like a fantastic vehicle, my dream car for my 680 mile commute to work.

[a11y_m]

ian2144 said:

The wifes Fabia vRS is more often over the 50mpg than under. and it's a good fun wee car. Kicks @ss well above it's weight.

That's exactly what I was going to suggest. My previous car was an Ibiza Cupra TDI (basically a Fabia vRS with 30bhp more and revised gearing) and it struggled to return 45mpg in normal driving - the gearing was more for performance than economy and sat approx 500rpm higher at 70mph than the wife's Fabia vRS. Howevere, her Fabia (which unfortunately we're selling soon in favour of a 4x4 for her work) lives with roofbars on permanantly and still returns 55mpg+ for general driving. The gearing's much better suited for the car IMO.

And you've only got to look at KayvRS on the runs to see that it's a fun little car with lots of go.

[paulqv]

RDM said:

Does the Skoda Superb 170 Estate really do 70mpg extra urban as, I think, I saw advertised.
That sounds like a fantastic vehicle, my dream car for my 680 mile commute to work.

That is my point! There are numerous quoted consumptions about by car manufactureres and none appear to be sustainable! I used to get 40mpg out of my Honda accord in 1980 35mpg out of my alfasud even on a 2500 round trip to Cannes at about 85mph cruising. Both above what was expected, perhaps due to smooth driving back then!
Most of us could drive any car in economy mode and get very high mpg but what i was asking is what car in reality actually gets a regualar 50mpg or on long distance motorway cruising?
I could get 50mpg in my 4.0L W8 auto passat on a long cruise, with a warm engine going at 50mph on v light throttle! so what? It is ACTUAL real driving mileages
One of my mates is fuel economy obcessed. he drives only to get max mpg. his choice but not a barometer to go on.
if one reads the long term running reports in car mags the fuel consumptions are awful and no where near the claims.
If i get 28mpg on a long run in a 4.0L passat 4wd auto would i want to sacrafice the power the auto and 4wd security for a 1.4 clio at 33mpg?
I apprecaite in england you will get 2-3mpg more with their fuel or 4-5 mpg with continental fuel. so is a scotland only comparison
Paul
xx

[Proxy]

My mate has a Fabia VRs - that still says it does 52.something MPG after a pretty ... shall we say "spirited" drive

[900T-R]

Mini diesels should be able to get a real-world 50 mpg quite easily, seeing as my petrol-engined example gets early-mid fourties with an ehm, 'spirited' driving style.

[cstrachan]

My Fabia VRs will return approx 50 mpg running up and down the motorway. In the country if not driving like a loon you can see it go well over 60mpg, drving like a total loon can get it down to just over 40mpg. Great wee car, bought mine new (now 5 years old) and never found anything to replace it with.

[Lastinclass]

I've just come out of a 1.6tdi Golf that I did 8000 miles in. It did 52 - 54 mpg on my regular commute and my usual weekend use but went up to 58-60 mpg on motorway running. 60+ if I wasn't in a hurry.
In a Kia Cee'd 1.6TDi at the moment with 1200 miles on the clock thats returning 48-50 mpg on my commute.

[900T-R]

paulqv said:

I apprecaite in england you will get 2-3mpg more with their fuel or 4-5 mpg with continental fuel. so is a scotland only comparison

Eh? I never noticed UK fuel giving me less mpg than what I use on the continent... I'd almost say it was the other way round...

[IainRS]

I bought a new VW 1.9tdi Passat sport estate with the 6 speed box back in 2004. I used it everyday clocking up 88000 miles with many long blasts up and down the A9, NEVER getting less than 48mpg. If I drove it 'sensibly' then I could easily get over 50mpg.
I replaced that with a 3.0 TDI A4 avant quattro which regularly gave me around 45 mpg, and over 50 if driven with economy in mind. A fantastic car with a superb, powerful, torquey engine. Wish I hadn't sold it! Now I'm down to typically 18 mpg or upto 25-27 mpg with the RS4 Avant but don't bother as I have to do lots less miles now!

[tonytifoso]

Over the 35000 miles I've done in my Grande Punto(1.3 MJet 90HP Dualogic) it has averaged 50.7mpg. Every single one of those miles has been a pleasure, way more than its predecessor a 1.6 Focus Auto which averaged 31mpg over 42k miles. The Fiat beats it hands down in all respects(manual Focus is brilliant though, auto p!$$ poor).

[FamilyDub]

^^^ To add to Tony's comments, my last car was a Grande Punto 1.9 M'Jet (130PS) Sporting, in Exotica Red and I f00kin LOVED it! I still miss it.

Fun fact of the day is the 1.9 M'Jet GPS has the same torque output (207lb/ft) as my GTI has...

Just one thing; make sure it isn't riding on the Bridgstone RE050 runflats mine came with...

I only used it in a very, very, uneconomical & 'sporty' driving style, mainly on motorways above 80mph (ish), or on windy Inverclyde B-roads and IIRC, my average over 12 months/15k miles was somewhere in the region of 45mpg, so with some care 50+ should be pretty easy to obtain.

Edited by FamilyDub on Friday 3rd December 12:28

[chrisj]

I run a 1.9tdi Skoda Octavia (105bhp model) and I'm generally getting an average of 56-60mpg from a tank, and that's a mix of town and motorway stuff.
My best has been 67mpg on a run down the A697 to Newcastle, and this isn't the Greenline model either.

The weight of the right foot has a huge amount to do with the mpg though.

[300bhp/ton]

paulqv said:

I have been very disappointed recently to have hired a Clio 1.4 which only returned 33mpg on a lot of motorway driving in spain and portugal.
I read the recent Autocar test on the new Fiat 500 twin and despite all the hype about it's amazing economy they only got about 35mpg.
Was wondering how many cars actually can do over 50mpg?
Whilst my wee collection generally can do that if you added up the mileage from all of them
So what cars driven normally can get that mpg? Ie driving at say a steady 80mph on motorway actually accelerating to overtake etc? also a car which has enough power for general driving and overtaking
Wouldnt mind some genuine replies.
Paul

I got 58mpg out of mine the other week, best so far and it's a turbocharged petrol