MPG on My Car - Good or Bad?

Lemlin

Driving other half's '05 Peugeot 206 at the moment and trying to work out how good/hard it is on fuel.

Am I right in my calculations below?

50 euro worth of petrol = 450kms of travel.
450 kms of travel is 280 miles.
Petrol was 1.46 a litre when I bought it.
50 euro divided by 1.46 per litre = 34.24657534 litres bought
1 UK (Imperial) gallon = 4.54609188 liters
So 34.24657534 litres divided by 4.54609188 to convert into gallons = 7.533190319 gallons
Then 280 miles divided by 7.533190319 gallons = 37 miles to the gallon.
Or 60 kms to the gallon.

Is this a good result? Just wondering because I have a '99 car as well that I hardly drive and was thinking about scrappage for a Diesel.
What sort of mileage per gallon are newer diesel cars doing?

I spend an hour at least driving most days. A half hour to work and a half hour back. It's a distance of 40km each way so about 80km in total.
I will be moving house in three to four months though and my distance will be adding an extra 20km to my journey so will be travelling at least 120km a day.

Henry Ford III

Calcs. look ok. What engine is it? 1.1? 37mpg isn't great if it is.

Btw 450kmls for €50 fuel doesn't sound too scientific. Brim it, and refill it again for a more accuate result.

Leonard Hofstadter

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Calcs. look ok. What engine is it? 1.1? 37mpg isn't great if it is.

Btw 450kmls for €50 fuel doesn't sound too scientific. Brim it, and refill it again for a more accuate result.

+1.

Brim it, zero the trip, fill up and repeat. Then take not of how many litres needed and how many miles/km driven.

Anyway, spending €15k on a new car just to save maybe €20 a week in fuel is ridiculous to be quite frank about it.

Max Power1

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Calcs. look ok. What engine is it? 1.1? 37mpg isn't great if it is.
.

+1

I get about 39 mpg from an ancient pushrod 1.3 atm.

You'd imagine you should be bettering that in a newer lighter smaller car

Zubeneschamali

Max Power1 wrote: »

You'd imagine you should be bettering that in a newer lighter smaller car

New cars are not lighter and smaller, they are always bigger and heavier. A new Polo is bigger and heavier than the original Golf.

You have a Ka, right? It's probably 150 kg lighter than a 206.

Lemlin

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Calcs. look ok. What engine is it? 1.1? 37mpg isn't great if it is.

Btw 450kmls for €50 fuel doesn't sound too scientific. Brim it, and refill it again for a more accuate result.

It's 1.1.
I brought it straight to petrol station when fuel light went on. Put fifty in and counted exactly 449km until fuel light next went on.

As for spending 15k to save €20 a week on petrol, my question is what mileage new cars are doing so I can compare.

My own car is a '99 banger on its last legs (and boy do I meant that).

However, we generally only use one car so I'm wondering whether replacing the 206 is economical and what sort of MPG I'd get from a new vehicle.

For example, if I was even saving €40 a week on petrol by driving a new diesel, that's 2k a year plus cheaper tax and less servicing/problems (I'd hope as car is newer).

I'd plan to keep a new car for at least 5 years so that adds up to 10k saved over the 5 years on fuel alone.

I'm just wondering what sort of figure would I be saving?

langdang

This is about as unscientific as it gets, but I had a 2010 206+ (some kind of run out model I guess) on hire for a week. 1.1 engine and it really did need to be driven like a hire car, but an absolute miser on the juice despite getting revved out all week. Completely overshot when I was filling it before dropping it back.

Would be a very cheap second car, but road holding was crap.

Lemlin

Lemlin wrote: »

...........37 miles to the gallon.
..............
..............so will be travelling at least 120km a day.

Ok, when you move you'll be doing 120km/day so thats 600km for the Mon to Fri and let's add on another 150km for the weekend and whatnot. So 750km/week.

750km is 470 ish miles
37mpg so you'll need 58litres of petrol which at €1.50/litre is €87

Let's say you get a modern diesel that returns an average of 55mpg so you'll need 39 litres of diesel which at €1.43/litre is €55

So based on those crudish figures you might save €30/week on fuel which is €1500 a year. Now if you're not fussy what you drive an old but decent 1.4 petrol will do 37mpg or better and you'll get one for €2000, or an old but decent diesel could be gotten for €3000 (406, Avensis, Rover 75, Passat etc) and they should do over 45mpg (€68 a week to run) average no bother. You'll need to spend the guts of €10,000 to get a modern yoke that does 55mpg so it's really worth doing all your sums before deciding. I'd sooner throw €68/week into a €3000 car than €55/week into a €10,000 car)

Old diesels will be 1.9 or 2.0 usually so €600 ish road tax.

The likes of a 1.6 Focus would do 40mpg for you no bother I would think if the 206 is doing 37mpg. You'd get a decent 1.6 Focus for €3000.

Max Power1

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

New cars are not lighter and smaller, they are always bigger and heavier. A new Polo is bigger and heavier than the original Golf.

You have a Ka, right? It's probably 150 kg lighter than a 206.

I've a fiesta but its the same engine.

I meant that consumption figures get better (as ive seen anyway) the newer the engine. Perhaps i worded it incorrectly for what i meant to say.

thewintermute

I can't say if that's good MPG for a 206, but you've made me feel a whole lot better about the mileage I'm getting from my old '96 Merc E200 Estate.€50 gets me 250-260 miles, though that is 90% motorway and I'm light with the pedal. (remember to beep and wave when you're passing me doing 65mph on the M1)

Vegeta

I have a 00 corolla 1.4 vvti and it does 49-50 mpg average for a tank and cost 1500 euro.

Changing car for better fuel economy can be financially foolish at times, as RoverJames says, do your sums first.

kermitpwee

Vegeta wrote: »

I have a 00 corolla 1.4 vvti and it does 49-50 mpg average for a tank

Jesus I didnt think they were that light on juice mate. are you doing long runs all the time?

kermitpwee

RoverJames wrote: »

Ok, when you move you'll be doing 120km/day so thats 600km for the Mon to Fri and let's add on another 150km for the weekend and whatnot. So 750km/week.

750km is 470 ish miles
37mpg so you'll need 58litres of petrol which at €1.50/litre is €87

Let's say you get a modern diesel that returns an average of 55mpg so you'll need 39 litres of diesel which at €1.43/litre is €55

So based on those crudish figures you might save €30/week on fuel which is €1500 a year. Now if you're not fussy what you drive an old but decent 1.4 petrol will do 37mpg or better and you'll get one for €2000, or an old but decent diesel could be gotten for €3000 (406, Avensis, Rover 75, Passat etc) and they should do over 45mpg (€68 a week to run) average no bother. You'll need to spend the guts of €10,000 to get a modern yoke that does 55mpg so it's really worth doing all your sums before deciding. I'd sooner throw €68/week into a €3000 car than €55/week into a €10,000 car)

Old diesels will be 1.9 or 2.0 usually so €600 ish road tax.

The likes of a 1.6 Focus would do 40mpg for you no bother I would think if the 206 is doing 37mpg. You'd get a decent 1.6 Focus for €3000.

Also any savings in fuel economy will be countered by the huge depreciation any new car will face over the next 5 years. I wouldnt touch a modern diesel as i'm on a budget and dont want to be shelling out money on flywheels, injectors and so on. People think modern diesels are great. Here we go with the modern diesel

It pumps out more power then some petrols and can give a torquey drive(not in any small engined modern diesel I have driven) so its great! Question how do you think they did this? Old diesels were slow and noisy and reliable so what could have changed? Diesel fuel hasnt changed much. I'll tell you what has changed, the modern diesel is pumping diesel at enormous pressures compared to older ones and is governed by numerous electronic sensors and to make it quiet it has its dual mass flywheel malarky! I wouldnt be seen dead driving one. If you change every few years then fine you may not get caught but gold help us when they get into banger territory. Old diesels are crude and slow and simple and thats why I like them cos I can fix them and dont have to go to a dealer and give him 500 euro for a sensor before vat!

Vegeta

kermitpwee wrote: »

Jesus I didnt think they were that light on juice mate. are you doing long runs all the time?

Yeah it's steady state driving mostly between 80-100 km/h and doing the odd hypermiling trick to get a bit more. No lights or traffic usually

I was getting 55 mpg but that was taking it to extremes and NOT fun

langdang

Vegeta wrote: »

I was getting 55 mpg but that was taking it to extremes and NOT fun

I've had a spin with a hypermiling Corolla driver - "not fun" would be an understatement

reilig

Lemlin wrote: »

It's 1.1.
I brought it straight to petrol station when fuel light went on. Put fifty in and counted exactly 449km until fuel light next went on.

As for spending 15k to save €20 a week on petrol, my question is what mileage new cars are doing so I can compare.

My own car is a '99 banger on its last legs (and boy do I meant that).

However, we generally only use one car so I'm wondering whether replacing the 206 is economical and what sort of MPG I'd get from a new vehicle.

For example, if I was even saving €40 a week on petrol by driving a new diesel, that's 2k a year plus cheaper tax and less servicing/problems (I'd hope as car is newer).

I'd plan to keep a new car for at least 5 years so that adds up to 10k saved over the 5 years on fuel alone.

I'm just wondering what sort of figure would I be saving?

My 1.4 diesel Toyota Auris does 990km on €60 of diesel at current price (€1.40 per litre).

its €104 to tax.

It has 160,000 km on it over the last 3 years and the only part that I had to put into it was a set of rear brake pads at 100k. Local mechanic services it for €40 every 15,000km (He supplies the oil and I supply the air and oil filters)

Hope that gives you something to compare your own plans to.

reilig

reilig wrote: »

My 1.4 diesel Toyota Auris does 990km on €60 of diesel at current price (€1.40 per litre).

its €104 to tax.

It has 160,000 km on it over the last 3 years and the only part that I had to put into it was a set of rear brake pads at 100k. Local mechanic services it for €40 every 15,000km (He supplies the oil and I supply the air and oil filters)

Hope that gives you something to compare your own plans to.

Adding how much it was 3 years ago and how much it's worth now may be helpful too