Whats your MPG say?

There's nothing magic about keeping better fuel consumption and you can still enjoy the car and it's performance. Fit a set of New Spark Plugs and Leads and get the Tyres at the right pressure keeping them properly inflated all the time. Empty the boot so you're not carrying excess weight. Run on half tank petrol fill ups. 30 litres of fuel weighs about 45Kg. Fit a clean new air filter, Use the air con. sparingly - it cost's about 6% to run it but you need to keep the unit turning over to stop the pump seals drying out - 20 mins at a time once per day. Change the engine oil at 4 / 5000 mile intervals. Change the Transaxle Oil to the new spec "Honey" Coloured oil. In my V6 I drive long distances - 2/300 miles at between 70 / 90 mph and always get at between 31 and 34 mpg. I've tried using 98 Octane Petrol but I can't see any improvement so the extra cost isn't justified
 
One last thing that's often overlooked is the build up of dirt etc. in the Mass Airflow Sensor. The Cross Wires get coated in muck which can fool the ECU etc. When buying a new Air Cleaner Filter also buy a can of Forte Air Intake Cleaner. This is a spray can of degreasing agent which is sprayed into the Intake Pipe and directed to the Cross Wire Sensor. Under no circumstamces touch these wires and don't use any old can of spray on degreaser, most ordinary degrease sprays can also attack the plastic housings etc. A can of this stuff lasts for years. Just use everytime the air filter is changed
 
Outside air and engine temperature also plays a massive part in MPG and fuel comsumption.

I start work at 6am most days and have to travel 6 miles to work at about 5.45am when its pretty damn nippy. Driving as economically as I can (never going above 3000rpm and coasting as much as possible) the car still tells me I've used 12 miles worth of fuel to travel the 6 miles. Yet when I return from work later in the day when its much warmer, the same journey home in reverse with same amount of hills etc and worse traffic, the car says i've only used 2-3 miles worth of fuel!

Same can be said for letting the cars engine temp get upto a good level. The other night I dropped my dad back home at around midnight, again a journey of about 6 miles which takes about 10 minutes. Cougar tells me i've used 26 miles worth of fuel to get him home! I drop him off, car stays running and is now up to a good engine temp and I drive back same route and car tells me that return journey only used 3 miles worth of fuel!

At the end of the day, its all very well saying how good a MPG read out is when you're doing 35 in 5th gear on a warm day with a warm engine. Thats the MPG you CAN acheive, not what you do acheive. Only real way to know that is to just know how much fuel is in the car, drive a normal weeks worth of driving as you like to drive until you're out of fuel and divide how many miles you've done by gallons put in :)
 
Oli Wright said:
Outside air and engine temperature also plays a massive part in MPG and fuel comsumption.

I start work at 6am most days and have to travel 6 miles to work at about 5.45am when its pretty damn nippy. Driving as economically as I can (never going above 3000rpm and coasting as much as possible) the car still tells me I've used 12 miles worth of fuel to travel the 6 miles. Yet when I return from work later in the day when its much warmer, the same journey home in reverse with same amount of hills etc and worse traffic, the car says i've only used 2-3 miles worth of fuel!

Same can be said for letting the cars engine temp get upto a good level. The other night I dropped my dad back home at around midnight, again a journey of about 6 miles which takes about 10 minutes. Cougar tells me i've used 26 miles worth of fuel to get him home! I drop him off, car stays running and is now up to a good engine temp and I drive back same route and car tells me that return journey only used 3 miles worth of fuel!

At the end of the day, its all very well saying how good a MPG read out is when you're doing 35 in 5th gear on a warm day with a warm engine. Thats the MPG you CAN acheive, not what you do acheive. Only real way to know that is to just know how much fuel is in the car, drive a normal weeks worth of driving as you like to drive until you're out of fuel and divide how many miles you've done by gallons put in :)
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You drive home in reverse?! Isn't that a bit tiring on your neck? :LOL::devilish:
 
Still showing over 29.5mpg after the long drive back from Blackpool a couple of weeks back, haven't reset the display since refuelling (think i'm trying to kid myself that its all good) been using Shell V-power a lot of late, dunno if that helps?

Posted from my mobile
 
Managed to get it up to 28.9. Thats after a new air filter, tyre air check and oil change. I need to change the plugs and try and do a few more servicing bits to my car to hopefully increase it :)

'35.5mpg after a trip to Alton Towers yesterday. V6.''

how slow were you going lol!
 
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adamellisuk said:
'35.5mpg after a trip to Alton Towers yesterday. V6.''

how slow were you going lol!
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Speed limit all the way. Helped by a period of 50mph roadworks. My attitude to thrashing cars is do it all the time and it becomes the norm and you get no thrill from it, so I only get on the rev limiter every now and then when I crave the adrenaline - besides, I'd been on a 0-62mph in 2.2 seconds ride so a Cougar isn't going to compare for thrills haha.
 
Yeah about 30mpg which is stock for the Cougar which i'm really pleased with for a 10 year old with 118k on the clock :) That was driving as economically as I could for a week or so, coasting everywhere possible, never going above 3000rpm, but no long jounrey stuff, nothing further than 12 miles so really want a good long motorway drive to see what it can do over a long settled period :)
 
32 average day to day in my Zetec - that's only a 10 mile trip doing 30->50->30->50->Nat->30. I do thrash it a little bit now and again which makes a big difference. Long distance I have seen 44 easily enough, especially when 50 limits are imposed for vast stretches of the M25 and M1.

Friend of mine just bought an R8, he doesn't answer questions about mpg.
 
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