Another "Recommend a change of car" thread

Eoin

Hi folks,

After looking at the MPG thread, I wasn't totally surprised to see that my car's MPG is not the best at all. I am getting about 360 miles from a full tank of about 60 litres. I think this works out as about 28 MPG, and this is with a good bit of motorway driving as well . I only average around 12K miles per year.

I would like to improve my fuel economy, but preferably not by getting a smaller or slower car. I currently drive a 1.6 Alfa 156. Can anyone recommend any 2nd hand cars (preferably saloons) that have as good performance but are more fuel efficient?

Something like the 320D springs to mind - about 49MPG, but I very much doubt it is within my budget (around €18K maximum).

thanks in advance,

Eoin

PauloMN

Search Carzone is the best thing to do. If you only do 12k miles per year, it might not make huge financial sense to switch to a diesel - you have to weigh up the costs of buying it in the first place against the savings in fuel.

Maybe stick with petrol but change to something Japanese? Mazda 6 1.8 litre may be worth looking at, or a Honda Accord. Or if you like the Alfa, you could wait until the newer 1.9 JTD cars get cheaper - supposed to be a fantastic engine (150bhp) and economical as well.

Look at your driving style also, try to drive more smoothly, brake less, anticipate the situation ahead sooner. All helps as the result is less acceleration, braking, gearchanging and revving. I've done this more over the last couple of years (probably just getting old!) but it helps, and makes for more relaxed driving. Make sure you are not driving in too high a gear also, straining the engine in too low revs will drink petrol.

There's a new Golf coming to these shores soon, was reading about it recently. Golf GT - it's a twin turbo'ed 1.4. Supposed to be quick (170bhp) and economical at the same time. No doubt it will be dear, but could be an answer too - in a few years second hand...

Lex Luthor

eoin_s wrote:

Hi folks,

After looking at the MPG thread, I wasn't totally surprised to see that my car's MPG is not the best at all. I am getting about 360 miles from a full tank of about 60 litres. I think this works out as about 28 MPG, and this is with a good bit of motorway driving as well . I only average around 12K miles per year.

I would like to improve my fuel economy, but preferably not by getting a smaller or slower car. I currently drive a 1.6 Alfa 156. Can anyone recommend any 2nd hand cars (preferably saloons) that have as good performance but are more fuel efficient?

Something like the 320D springs to mind - about 49MPG, but I very much doubt it is within my budget (around €18K maximum).

thanks in advance,

Eoin

28mpg from a 1.6 156 mainly motorway driving. You must have it to the floor all the time?
I'm getting 29mpg from the 1.8 and not motorway driving.

The 1.6 Alfa has 120bhp so it shouldn't be hard to find something with similar performance. The MPG thread should be a good source for an idea for starters.

A Focus or Mondeo TDCi could be within budget.

BrianD3

28mpg from a 1.6 156 mainly motorway driving. You must have it to the floor all the time?
I'm getting 29mpg from the 1.8 and not motorway driving

Motorway driving can use a lot of petrol. I only get 36 mpg on a motorway driving steadily right at the speed limit. Whereas on roads with a 100 km/h limit I get 43-44 mpg and on 80 km/h roads I can get almost 50 mpg. Car is a 1.6 Laguna. I think this relative lack of economy on motorways is more apparent on smaller engine cars.

ds20prefecture

The best I got from my 2.0 156 around town was 22mpg. On motorways I could get 35 on an easy throttle, but what's the point in having an Alfa? It's certainly not economy.

Eoin

BrianD3 wrote:

Motorway driving can use a lot of petrol. I only get 36 mpg on a motorway driving steadily right at the speed limit. Whereas on roads with a 100 km/h limit I get 43-44 mpg and on 80 km/h roads I can get almost 50 mpg. Car is a 1.6 Laguna. I think this relative lack of economy on motorways is more apparent on smaller engine cars.

I think that's the case alright - I don't drive the car hard at all, only time the car sees over 3k revs is doing 120kph on the motorway...

ds20prefecture wrote:

The best I got from my 2.0 156 around town was 22mpg. On motorways I could get 35 on an easy throttle, but what's the point in having an Alfa? It's certainly not economy.

I know, but it is getting hard to justify it when I am getting quite poor mileage. Guess I'll have to do the sums and see if it is worthwhile changing or not.

Lex Luthor

ds20prefecture wrote:

The best I got from my 2.0 156 around town was 22mpg. On motorways I could get 35 on an easy throttle, but what's the point in having an Alfa? It's certainly not economy.

I agree. The 156 could definitley do with a 6th gear for the motorway....I find at the speed limit the revs are about 800 more than most cars I've had previously.
My old 2.0 Vectra used to sit at 3,200rpm in 5th gear @ 90mph.

RobAMerc

Lex Luthor wrote:

I agree. The 156 could definitley do with a 6th gear for the motorway....I find at the speed limit the revs are about 800 more than most cars I've had previously.
My old 2.0 Vectra used to sit at 3,200rpm in 5th gear @ 90mph.

The Alfa is geared like that so you don't have to change down to overtake all the time.
To be honest I think the 1.6 Alfa is probably not that fuel effecient because (from the experience of the one I drove) it is totally underpowered and you probably need to goose it most of the time just to keep up with the traffic.

Eoin

RobAMerc wrote:

To be honest I think the 1.6 Alfa is probably not that fuel effecient because (from the experience of the one I drove) it is totally underpowered and you probably need to goose it most of the time just to keep up with the traffic.

Don't really want to go too much more into it as it will just turn into the usual Alfa thread, but I certainly wouldn't class it as a sluggish car; it is very comfortable at 120KMH but obviously very thirsty.

RobAMerc

I certainly didn't mean to come across as anti Alfa, I love them, but thats my opinion of the 1.6 and why it may be a bit heavy on the sauce.

pbergin

RobAMerc wrote:

I certainly didn't mean to come across as anti Alfa, I love them, but thats my opinion of the 1.6 and why it may be a bit heavy on the sauce.

Id agree with you there, I had a 2.0L 156, I loved it and I dont remembe exact mpg but I was getting well into the 30s on the motorway. The 1.6 is too small for the 156 and has to be pushed to get it moving, that was the reason I bought the 2.0, I even found the 1.8 a little underpowered when I test drove it. The only problem I had with the 2.0 was trade in value, most garages said the smaller engines sell quicker dur to tax\insurance and therefore offered me sfa for mine, and it was absoutely mint with full service history.
As someone else said, the jtd is supposed to be cracking and you would deffo pick up one for your money.

Eoin

pbergin wrote:

Id agree with you there, I had a 2.0L 156, I loved it and I dont remembe exact mpg but I was getting well into the 30s on the motorway. The 1.6 is too small for the 156 and has to be pushed to get it moving, that was the reason I bought the 2.0, I even found the 1.8 a little underpowered when I test drove it. The only problem I had with the 2.0 was trade in value, most garages said the smaller engines sell quicker dur to tax\insurance and therefore offered me sfa for mine, and it was absoutely mint with full service history.
As someone else said, the jtd is supposed to be cracking and you would deffo pick up one for your money.

They are just within budget, but they are still at the price range where depreciation is going to be a killer. Already lost too much on my current Alfa to go through all that again

Eoin

It looks like the 320D is an option after all - the reviews all seem very good (and 49MPG is not to be sneezed at either!)

Anyone any thoughts on the car?

thanks,

Eoin

Lex Luthor

eoin_s wrote:

It looks like the 320D is an option after all - the reviews all seem very good (and 49MPG is not to be sneezed at either!)

Anyone any thoughts on the car?

thanks,

Eoin

Know a guy in work had one...turbo needing major work done at 60k...not sure if its a one off though.