Is my car using way too much petrol?

iii Stevo iii

Have this car 5-6months and have always thought its going through petrol way too quickly.

02 Opel Corsa 1ltr, tyre pressue fine.

30 euros of petrol into tank on flashing red, approx 20litres
Drove from mullingar-maynooth- kildare-mullingar approx 170km
Car back on flashing red as I come into mullingar.

Does this seem right? Or is something drastically wrong?

AmberAmber

i would keep an eye on how much your paying for petrol , €1.50 is a nice bit , many places are 4 or 5 cent cheeper. i have a 1.6 BMW 1999 and i get the same milage out of it so i would expcet you at 1lt to get alot more . based on €80 tank fill and 400 to 450 miles to tank .
what year is your car , some one else more mech' minded might be better able to answer your question once they know the yr.
but we all have to realise it is how we drive uses petrol. town driving is heaver , lower gear slow driving will use petrol as far as i understand. where if your driving in 5th down the main road at 50/ 60 mph ( limits permitting ) its more econimical .

corkcomp

what speed were you going at and what gear? it doesnt sound totally off the wall TBH..

iii Stevo iii

iii Stevo iii wrote: »

..........
02 Opel Corsa 1ltr, tyre pressue fine.

30 euros of petrol into tank on flashing red, approx 20litres
Drove from mullingar-maynooth- kildare-mullingar approx 170km
Car back on flashing red as I come into mullingar.

Does this seem right? Or is something drastically wrong?

24mpg :eek:
that's fairly sh1t really.

166man

Yeah I got roughly 22 mpg which is really poor...

Grolschevik

For comparison: 00 1.25 Fiesta, Gorey to Strabane via Carrickmacross and back to Dublin via Armagh -- M11, M50, M1 and N2 on the way up etc.

Averaged 42mpg by my reckoning.

Lord Derpington

166man wrote: »

Yeah I got roughly 22 mpg which is really poor...

RoverJames is right its 24mpg LINK

That is shocking alright from a 1l car, I assume you drove M4 and M7 were you driving it on or taking it handy on the motorway?

bijapos

To be fair thats not the way to measure it accurately. You need to fill it up to the brim, drive it to near empty, fill it again and calculate. Repeat this a few times and you'll know for sure.

The sender in the car tank that signals the flashing light may not be 100% accurate.

Does the car smoke excessively, does the exhaust smell of petrol when the engine is running, is there ever a small of petrol when driving or when you come back to the car after its stood for a while or after you've put petrol in? Could be a leak somewhere.

Help2

iii Stevo iii wrote: »

approx 20litres
approx 170km

If your getting 170km from 20 litres thats about 24 mile per gallon..

Are you sure its not 170miles that you travelled? Because year 2002 cars have their odometer in miles, unless imported...?

170miles from 20 litres would be nearly 39 miles per gallon...much better...

According to this website the official average fuel consumption should be 50mpg or so... although you would expect it to be less than the claimed...http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/specs/summary.aspx?model=962&page=3

Maybe the car needs a service... when was it last service?? you should have oil & oil filter changes at least once a year or 10000miles... every other year for air filters, spark plugs etc.

Lord Derpington

According to the OP's destinations and a quick google maps, 170km would be fair enough.
Its giving 162km or 100miles for direct from town to town

maps

Help2

If your not in a hurry than 60mph is a very fuel efficient speed on the main roads!! the following taken from http://mpgforspeed.com/


"Speed Kills MPG

Unfortunately, it's true. Your car's gas mileage decreases once it gets past its optimal speed. For most cars, this is around 55-60 mph. This means that every time you go over this speed, you're essentially wasting gas and money - and creating unnecessary greenhouse gases.

You'd be surprised to learn that a slight decrease in your highway driving speed can significantly reduce your gas consumption, while only adding a few minutes to your travel time.

How much?

According to studies backed by the department of energy, the average car will be at its advertised MPG at 55 mph. But as the speed increases:

- 3% less efficient at 60 mph
- 8% less efficient at 65 mph
- 17% less efficient at 70 mph
- 23% less efficient at 75 mph
- 28% less efficient at 80 mph "

corkcomp

few interesting points raised there OP that I hadnt thought of. the only sure way is to fill the car to the top and then re-fill after X number of miles / KM... also the older corsa's have a static orange fuel warning light so im not sure what you mean by flashing red? Do you mean the guage went to red? if so its not an accurate way of measuring.. even using the warning light isnt accurate either as I've seen mine come on going up a hill and go off again for another 50KM

Help2

greenfly wrote: »

According to the OP's destinations and a quick google maps, 170km would be fair enough.
Its giving 162km or 100miles for direct from town to town

maps

Maybe the OP went via the m50 in both directions.. and did a bit of driving around both towns.. thatd be nearly 170miles

Atlantic Dawn

On the initial red light until empty there can be 5 to 10 litres in reserve, you need to fill it to the brim, do your drive and then refill, that will give you more accurate mpg.

Lord Derpington

doylerandrew wrote: »

Maybe the OP went via the m50 in both directions.. and did a bit of driving around both towns.. thatd be nearly 170miles

What do you mean in both directions, that would be an insane route to take!
If the OP drove down the M50 from Maynooth to Kildare that would be an extra 30km alone.

There is no point in it tbh and anyone with a sense of direction would drive the route shown in the google maps link

Help2

greenfly wrote: »

What do you mean in both directions, that would be an insane route to take!
If the OP drove down the M50 from Maynooth to Kildare that would be an extra 30km alone.

There is no point in it tbh and anyone with a sense of direction would drive the route shown in the google maps link

Yeah but maybe the OP has no sense of direction!! Some satnav systems take you arseways too.

_Conrad_

doylerandrew wrote: »

! Some satnav systems take you arseways too.

Had a genuine LOL there. thanks for that.



Anyway that fuel consumption does not sound great at all