fuel economy

[chap]

How's it going. First time post here.

I just bought a 99 1.0 arosa (with only 37K miles) to try and get me around for cheap.
I have had it for about a week a done a calculation and I'm only getting about 42mpg.
Looking at Parkers, they say you should get around 48 combined.
Now my commute is a very consistant 80 mile round trip with almost no stopping doing a steady 50-60mph, so I was hoping to break the 50mpg barrier.

Anybody else know what kind of economy they are getting with their 1.0 litre? Is something wrong with mine or am I living in a dream world?

thanks

 

[claudefrog]

you seriously complaining about 42mpg???

slow down a little, im sure you will see you MPG rise, in a 1.0 driving at 70 will see you rev over 4k, the slower yo go the more mpg you will see.

however, i think your nuts for thinking 42mpg is bad

 

[SHADY-NINJA]

sorry to butt in.

i drive a highly modified 1.8t 20vt toledo (look at my cars specs)
and i still managed to get 44MPG on a constant run at 60MPH.
i'm confused with this Arosa's 42MPG.
i thought you should be getting 55MPG in that thing.
I'll prove it with pics when i get home.

 

[chap]

I know what you're saying. But I'm not exactly pushing the little engine doing 55mph.

A friend of mine has the new golf GTI. Parkers advertises the combined MPG as 34mpg. Over a similar run to mine he is getting about 42mpg as well.
So I would expect to at least match the parkers advertised 48mpg for the combined economy ( hoping to get over 50)

 

[sssstew]

theres too many factors here i would say :-

driving style
road conditions
road type
traffic level
condition of car inc engine, tyres etc
Fuel quality

all these will effect the final figure....

 

[chap]

driving style::
I've been very careful to drive in a non-agressive manner just to see how low I could get the fuel consumption.

road conditions::
I live in Ireland, so the roads arn't great though my commute is entirely along an A road equivelent

road type:: A Road

traffic level:: moderate but moving constantly ( between 45 and 60mph)

condition of car inc engine, tyres etc::
this is my concern, is there something wrong with the car that could do this? I don't know maybe the labda levels are screwed or the ECU is not working right.
I have a 3 month warranty with the car, so if there is something wrong I would want to get it checked. I just don't know if there is anything wrong!

Fuel quality:: from shell station so hoping it would be fairly high quality.

 

[lunalupi]

Don't moan about 42mpg - I wish I could get that My 1.0 will get between 27-40mpg, depending on how much of a loon I am for that tank of fuel......

Parkers and other economy estimates are often a bit overenthusiastic - 42 sounds reasonable, although it could be a bit higher, it doesn't sound overly low

 

[chap]

Thanks for that lunalupi, it's good to have an equivalent comparison.
I'm just shocked that it is that low. I know that 42 ain't bad, it's just that I was expecting more.
My last car was an old 1.8 vectra and I was lucky if I was scraping 30mpg so 42 is a vast saving.
I'm just a little upset that my mate with his 2.0l gti get better fuel economy than me.
(BTW if I was getting 27 then I would be tempted to drive it straight into the river.;-))

 

[lunalupi]

My 27 tank was with my car fully loaded with Uni stuff for half of it, so that took alot of fuel. (You should have seen some of the faces as I overtook people in an Arosa, piled with stuff and a bike hanging off the back! hehehe)

My mum has an MG 1.8 which gets better fuel economy than me! But hers has just had a new engine, which helps, plus it doesn't need so many revs to get moving. You have to remember that your mates 2.0 can probably pull away with just a few revs, you need to push the 1.0 up in order to get going

 

[sssstew]

I'm just a little upset that my mate with his 2.0l gti get better fuel economy than me.
(BTW if I was getting 27 then I would be tempted to drive it straight into the river.;-))

but this is like lupi was saying his engine will be alot less stressed, he will only need to press a little to get up a certain incline where as your lower power engine might need full throttle. Also you say he has a new golf gti, its a new engine so has many many more improvements and technology to help fuel efficiency.

 

[TDI_luver]

My Missus has a 1.0 mpi arosa with about 45K on the clock, also in Ireland. Daily commute of about 2 x 15 miles runs over a combination of A and B roads and 1-2 miles heavy town driving. Averages 44-46 mpg at best on Esso, Shell or Statoil petrol. Engine in perfect tune, lovingly cared for, full synthetic oil etc. Continental Eco3 tyres fully inflated.
You cannot get 50 mpg out of a 1 litre Arosa ! They are underpowered and gearing is too low and close. brillinant in town for that reason, but cruising at 3500 - 4000 RPM in 5th gear will never give good MPG.
Engine is like a motorbike - you need to rev it hard and it goes like stink, but poor low down torque mixed with low gearing means its screaming a lot of the time.
Great fun though - its like driving a racing kart with a roof !!