So since there seems to be very little threads on the ecomotive, thought id just share my views after doing a couple of hundred miles in the past few days ;
MPG - Motorways etc averages about 65-70 depending on what speed i do, if i stick to just under 70 then its about 72mpg, if its nearer 80 then its about 66mpg. Obviously depends how hilly the roads are etc.
Normal driving - Town driving im getting about 50-60mpg, stop start seems to be its biggest downfall - or atleast my biggest downfall as im probably using 2nd gear for slightly too long which affects it quite badly.
Mixed - Average over 3 days is 65mpg and it's probably saved me about £50 in the last few days, and i still have fuel left!
Driving it - So it took quite a lot of getting used to, the strange gear ratio etc was a pain to start as my immediate reaction after using the ibiza was 1,2,3,4 and maybe 5th gear pretty sharpish, where as now its 1,2 wait for a bit 3 wait till about 35-40mph for 4 then only at really about 60 is 5th even needed where as before the ibiza would be quite happy in 5th at 35/40.
It's pretty noisey in 1st from outside, but almost no engine noise inside, no loud road noise either and it's pretty smooth to drive. Doesn't handle quite as well as the ibiza for corners at speed, but nothing majorly bad about it. Really comfortable for longer drives too, nice giant footrest compared to the ibiza that normal sized feet can actually fit in instead of pixie sized feet, helps loads, and i find i get alot less leg pain from long journeys.
The trip computer advises you when you should change up or down a gear as well, which made it loads easier to get used to the gear ratios as well.
Features - So it came with the USB port and the Aux in, USB port is awesome for an external HDD or usb memory stick, really easy to navigate all the menus on the radio and change folders or tracks with the full track name displayed. Only bad side is you have to shelve out a lot of money to connect the iphone properly to it (iphone dock is £85, cable is £45) But it's not too drastic as the external HDD can hold 500gb of music instead of 16gb so its not necessarily a bad thing.
Communications system is awesome now i've sorted it all out (had a few teething problems with the bluetooth and the iphone, but its all sorted now) Being able to call recent contacts / anyone in your phonebook within a few seconds is pretty awesome, the call quality is crystal clear (i had the motorolla hands free kit, and it was pretty patchy) It also has caller id display etc, so its pretty good for that.
Trip computer - Standard trip computer really, with fuel remaining / average mpg / distance travelled etc along with a "set maximum speed limit" which warns you if you go over a certain speed - Quite good considering the speedo is pretty weird with 30 and 70 quite hard to tell where they are from the first few days.
All in all it's pretty good so far, nothing to complain about, and it's a nice drive, cheap and shouldn't cost a packet to run. The glove box is pointless though, i think you could fit about 3 dvd cases in it and thats about it! Insurance on it is super cheap (group 6) and the NCAP etc for it is really good, pillar airbags and airbags on the seats / roof at the back i believe.
EDIT : Just because i did a 8 mile journey into town -
MPG - Motorways etc averages about 65-70 depending on what speed i do, if i stick to just under 70 then its about 72mpg, if its nearer 80 then its about 66mpg. Obviously depends how hilly the roads are etc.
Normal driving - Town driving im getting about 50-60mpg, stop start seems to be its biggest downfall - or atleast my biggest downfall as im probably using 2nd gear for slightly too long which affects it quite badly.
Mixed - Average over 3 days is 65mpg and it's probably saved me about £50 in the last few days, and i still have fuel left!
Driving it - So it took quite a lot of getting used to, the strange gear ratio etc was a pain to start as my immediate reaction after using the ibiza was 1,2,3,4 and maybe 5th gear pretty sharpish, where as now its 1,2 wait for a bit 3 wait till about 35-40mph for 4 then only at really about 60 is 5th even needed where as before the ibiza would be quite happy in 5th at 35/40.
It's pretty noisey in 1st from outside, but almost no engine noise inside, no loud road noise either and it's pretty smooth to drive. Doesn't handle quite as well as the ibiza for corners at speed, but nothing majorly bad about it. Really comfortable for longer drives too, nice giant footrest compared to the ibiza that normal sized feet can actually fit in instead of pixie sized feet, helps loads, and i find i get alot less leg pain from long journeys.
The trip computer advises you when you should change up or down a gear as well, which made it loads easier to get used to the gear ratios as well.
Features - So it came with the USB port and the Aux in, USB port is awesome for an external HDD or usb memory stick, really easy to navigate all the menus on the radio and change folders or tracks with the full track name displayed. Only bad side is you have to shelve out a lot of money to connect the iphone properly to it (iphone dock is £85, cable is £45) But it's not too drastic as the external HDD can hold 500gb of music instead of 16gb so its not necessarily a bad thing.
Communications system is awesome now i've sorted it all out (had a few teething problems with the bluetooth and the iphone, but its all sorted now) Being able to call recent contacts / anyone in your phonebook within a few seconds is pretty awesome, the call quality is crystal clear (i had the motorolla hands free kit, and it was pretty patchy) It also has caller id display etc, so its pretty good for that.
Trip computer - Standard trip computer really, with fuel remaining / average mpg / distance travelled etc along with a "set maximum speed limit" which warns you if you go over a certain speed - Quite good considering the speedo is pretty weird with 30 and 70 quite hard to tell where they are from the first few days.
All in all it's pretty good so far, nothing to complain about, and it's a nice drive, cheap and shouldn't cost a packet to run. The glove box is pointless though, i think you could fit about 3 dvd cases in it and thats about it! Insurance on it is super cheap (group 6) and the NCAP etc for it is really good, pillar airbags and airbags on the seats / roof at the back i believe.
EDIT : Just because i did a 8 mile journey into town -
It was not brought for economy though 
