Best motorway mpg diesel

lfp · 02-11-2013 9:06am #1

Looks like my daily commute will be going from 20kms a day to 250kms a day...... I need advice on the best mpg diesel to try and reduce costs. 10k ish budget. A bit of comfort and space would be nice, but excellent mpg and low road tax (08 or newer) is the main priority.... I've checked a good few posts but none seem to suggest pure best mpg cars. The general stuff online is hard to navigate is it seems pretty biased.

Good majority of driving will be motorway.

Mar4ix · 02-11-2013 9:15am

passat 1.9 tdi and you wont go wrong..... make sure it has all extras

.. many of them on sale is plain like a brick. ...

could be one of french diesel cars , they also good on diesel, but electronic faults is pretty common problem .

visual · 02-11-2013 9:20am

Look for a 6 speed diesel they are more effective at 120kph plus than their 5 speed version.

Hard to beat some of the renaults for mpg but their reputation for reliability is questionable.

You need to deside if you want a little light diesel car for pure mpg or want something with a bit more space and comfort thats more economical than the petrol version.

lfp · 02-11-2013 9:22am

visual wrote: »

Look for a 6 speed diesel they are more effective at 120kph plus than their 5 speed version.

Hard to beat some of the renaults for mpg but their reputation for reliability is questionable.

You need to deside if you want a little light diesel car for pure mpg or want something with a bit more space and comfort thats more economical than the petrol version.

One more factor. I have a civic hybrid, which gets over 50mpg on cruise control motorway driving. Is it worth slightly trading up based on the car I have already?

Henry Ford III · 02-11-2013 9:38am

lfp wrote: »

One more factor. I have a civic hybrid, which gets over 50mpg on cruise control motorway driving. Is it worth slightly trading up based on the car I have already?

Probably not.

visual · 02-11-2013 1:04pm

From my view point you can match and better the 50mpg but the real gain will be in luxury and comfort

afatbollix · 02-11-2013 1:12pm

Honda civic 2.2d A friend does a 180miles commute each day and gets about 70ish MPG on the motorway.

Ded_Zebra · 02-11-2013 1:47pm

afatbollix wrote: »

Honda civic 2.2d A friend does a 180miles commute each day and gets about 70ish MPG on the motorway.

I call lies on this. Honda only claim 67mpg on that car and there is no chance your friend is beating that. I would also be amazed if they even matched that.

MuppetCheck · 02-11-2013 1:49pm

Ded_Zebra wrote: »

I call lies on this. Honda only claim 67mpg on that car and there is no chance your friend is beating that. I would also be amazed if they even matched that.

I bet this is a case of believing the instantaneous readout while going down a hill:D

Ded_Zebra · 02-11-2013 1:50pm

MuppetCheck wrote: »

I bet this is a case of believing the instantaneous readout while going down a hill:D

With a tail wind

Just want to make sure the OP realizes these aren't realistic figures and buys one because of them :eek:

TestTransmission · 02-11-2013 1:55pm

Ded_Zebra wrote: »

With a tail wind

Just want to make sure the OP realizes these aren't realistic figures and buys one because of them :eek:

I think I manage 58mpg with motorway cruising, I don't keep a real god tab on it cause I just know it's a lot lot better than the s2000 was

CiniO · 02-11-2013 1:56pm

afatbollix wrote: »

Honda civic 2.2d A friend does a 180miles commute each day and gets about 70ish MPG on the motorway.

He must be cruising at about 75 - 80km/h on 6th gear to achieve this (wrecking DMF by doing so). And always go with the wind.

Cee-Jay-Cee · 02-11-2013 2:02pm

afatbollix wrote: »

Honda civic 2.2d A friend does a 180miles commute each day and gets about 70ish MPG on the motorway.

That's what he's telling you. If he were to calculate it accurately then it's probably closer to 50mpg. The honda 2.2 Diesel engine is far far from being an efficient economical engine, it's a good engine but a bit in the crude unrefined side.

DuckSlice · 02-11-2013 2:13pm

Don't say to yourself you have to get a 08 onwards. The difference in price between a 07 to 08 road tax, is probably what you would save over 3/4 years of owning the car in some cases. Cheap tax cars are overpriced.

Lex Luthor · 02-11-2013 2:19pm

ford focus 1.6tdci
had a megane 1.5dci as a rental last summer for a couple weeks....returned good mpg aswell.

650Ginge · 02-11-2013 3:36pm

afatbollix wrote: »

Honda civic 2.2d A friend does a 180miles commute each day and gets about 70ish MPG on the motorway.

I call bull poo on your mate. That's not happening in a million years, so you mate is telling porkies or he failed leaving cert maths. 50 would be doing well. Average on spritmonitor is 43mpg.

OP You will probably not find another car that will in real life be better than the civic. Certainly not when you factor in any cost to change, high tax and insurance.

Bigus · 02-11-2013 4:21pm

Stick with the civic hybrid

Also put low rolling resistance tyres on it when tyres are due for a change.

LPG on the civic would be the cheapest way to commute , even better than the best diesel.

lfp · 02-11-2013 4:45pm

Great responses folks. One of the reasons I put up the post was the fact I knew the manufacturer mpg figures are totally unrealistic, so I wanted real life examples. The lpg option was unexpected though. What are the costs? Risks? Any impact on insurance?

visual · 02-11-2013 4:54pm

Ah lads when other spoofers claim unrealistic mpg everyone says nothing.

I guess its true mpg is mid to high 50's

67mpg is very good for official figures.

visual · 02-11-2013 5:00pm

Bigus wrote: »

Stick with the civic hybrid

Also put low rolling resistance tyres on it when tyres are due for a change.

LPG on the civic would be the cheapest way to commute , even better than the best diesel.

Lpg isn't plug and play on all cars
Many a car comes to early demise after LPG been fitted.

lfp · 02-11-2013 5:20pm

visual wrote: »

Lpg isn't plug and play on all cars
Many a car comes to early demise after LPG been fitted.

After a quick google it seems the civic hybrid can be converted. What's the reality of this option though? Assuming a proper job is done is there still an increased wear and tare on the engine? Besides availability of service stations with lpg are there any other major negatives I should be aware of? Is it the case the car can still run on petrol after the conversion...

Bigus · 05-11-2013 9:28pm

visual wrote: »

Lpg isn't plug and play on all cars
Many a car comes to early demise after LPG been fitted.

Links pls.

See thread on here re Lexus done a year ago, oil comes out clear when changed.

Modern LPG is multi point injector ECU controlled , miles away from what we had in the past, including minimal power loss.

MadYaker · 05-11-2013 9:32pm

Hardly worth it for a hybrid civic???

Bpmull · 05-11-2013 9:38pm

If looking at vag stuff Octavia's golf etc the 1.6tdi would be better than the 1.9tdi. My parents have a 1.9tdi and a 1.6tdi octavia and there is a substantial mpg difference. Whether you would get a 1.6tdi for 10k is another thing. If your going to passat size the 1.6tdi may be slightly underpowered but it's fine in the octavia golf that kind of size.

Mycroft H · 05-11-2013 9:42pm

MuppetCheck wrote: »

I bet this is a case of believing the instantaneous readout while going down a hill:D

The instantaneous shoots up to 99.9mpg on the C5 down a hill. Fantastic

Mycroft H · 05-11-2013 9:46pm

I do a 200m commute two days a week. It would crack me up doing it more than that. I'd go for a big diesel accord or Saab or a newish C5 with a 6sp box. And something with cruise control. I couldn't live without it on long motorway drags.

sonyvision · 05-11-2013 9:51pm

have a 1.5 diesel megane 90 BHP, 6 Speed my tip computer will ready 3.7 liter per 100Km,

1500Km to a tank and 200 euro tax a year.

cant go to far wrong

2010 btw

Bpmull · 05-11-2013 9:51pm

BX 19 wrote: »

I do a 200m commute two days a week. It would crack me up doing it more than that. I'd go for a big diesel accord or Saab or a newish C5 with a 6sp box. And something with cruise control. I couldn't live without it on long motorway drags.

Definitely agree with you on the cruise control. It's literally the feature I'd love to have the most on the focus. It's so handy and I miss it but its a huge job in the focus where as a lot of vag stuff it's only a matter of changing the stalk and abit of computer work.

Bpmull · 05-11-2013 9:53pm

sonyvision wrote: »

have a 1.5 diesel megane 90 BHP, 6 Speed my tip computer will ready 3.7 liter per 100Km,

1500Km to a tank and 200 euro tax a year.

cant go to far wrong

2010 btw

So it's a 110bhp then. The 110bhp were 6 speed and 90bhp were 5 speed on the new model anyway. 1500km is fair going to a tank it would be hard to beat.

sonyvision · 05-11-2013 10:00pm

oh yeah sorry its that 1,

great car do 40,000 a year in it have mine over a year and never had a problem with it

scwazrh · 05-11-2013 10:19pm

I use a 08 passat 2ltr tdi 140and get average of 51 mpg while on motorways and it drops to about 38ish when on town.that would be normal driving not crawling at 60mph.Sometimes have an 06 e320cdi that averages about 35mpg on motorway driving.if I was buying a car for fuel economy in th 10k budget I would go for a well maintained passat.

Best motorway mpg diesel

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