"Family car" fuel economy?

[9D280]

Originally Posted by mick

A pal of mine has a 2.0 L D passat reckons its great on fuel roughly 500 miles a tank full up 5 persons on board.

How big is the tank????

Originally Posted by HUMBER P4VWL

I'd avoid ford. Just no durability.

Errr two Fiestas to 160 & 130K respectively, current Focus to 186K.... I guess you got a Friday car!

Originally Posted by matt h

Agree with HP again!!! Aaaagh for very good real mpg vehicles Go German..

Mondeo... that'll be the one built in Cologne and half designed in Germany, half in Britain ????

Originally Posted by JamesF

This might be a useful resource (the Telegraph Motoring agony uncle's "Real MPG" database): Real MPGs | Honest John

Cheers, my poking of Google somehow didn't find that.

[mick]

Originally Posted by 9D280

How big is the tank???? Errr two Fiestas to 160 & 130K respectively, current Focus to 186K.... I guess you got a Friday car! Mondeo... that'll be the one built in Cologne and half designed in Germany, half in Britain ???? Cheers, my poking of Google somehow didn't find that.

Duno I can only dream of such figures unless he is telling porkies I get 350 m out of 75 L in the Defender

[spartacus]

Little bit unfair on the Fords. We have Ford Focus pool cars at work and they're great work horses. The diesel TDCi models are frugal (easily 55mpg), comfortable on long drives, plenty torque, but lack refinement.

If you were looking for an estate, then the VW Passat has to be in the short-list. It's bigger than an Audi A4, has excellent residual value, decent diesel engines with smooth power delivery and enough toys to keep you interested.

I know this isn't in the mix but the Volvo V50 eDrive (up to 2012) is a fantastic car. If you opt for the SE Lux level it comes with leather interior (most comfortable seats I've ever tried), start stop technology, frugal 1.6 diesel engine (should do 65mpg, but is quoted to do 78mpg), £0 road tax, electric sunroof, Sat Nav, LED running lights, folding mirrors, usual safety kit, etc. 2011 examples with 30k miles in region of £14k.

[Glow]

I just offloaded my 2011 Fiesta 1.4 tdci with 23k miles, by far the worst car I have owned. Fuel economy was around 44mpg combined, but the worst bit was it leaked. The footwell was an inch deep of a morning, and despite it being under warranty, Ford said that it was only covered for 1 year against leaks.

Google it, it's very common apparently. I wouldn't touch another Ford.

[Dhf]

Originally Posted by mick

I wouldn't bother my lad Jonny is driving an old clio £1700 to insure 3 rd party

I was shocked recently at the price of insurance the youth face, my 18yro Daughter passed her test back in January, the cheapest insurace she could find was with those offering the black box option, with more discount if she took the motorway speed awareness course, which she took and passed the other day, so the 11 plate 998cc Suzuki Alto she's been driving round since early Feb has gone from just over 1k pa to under 800 pa, plus she can get a 100 squid discount if the black box shows good driving stats. the car and insurance all registered in her name too. It says in the book the Suzuki should do 75mpg motorway or 52mpg around town.

[Deekus]

BMW 320d touring.
177 bhp
58 mpg recorded today with roof box on motorways!!
49 mpg local
.........enough said

[9D280]

Originally Posted by spartacus

If you were looking for an estate, then the VW Passat has to be in the short-list. It's bigger than an Audi A4, has excellent residual value, decent diesel engines with smooth power delivery and enough toys to keep you interested.

It is and I am, but compared to the Mondeos they are like hens' teeth round here.

As a general comment there are lots of frugal 1.6 Diesel versions of cars out there. Thing is it also has to drag my rib around, hence looking at the 2-ish L Diesel arena.

[Barrowboy]

Originally Posted by A1an

Nae busses or taxis, we have a train station a mile away though, two trains a day!

....but you've got rib heaven on your doorstep!

[Peter_C]

Originally Posted by Deekus

BMW 320d touring.
177 bhp
58 mpg recorded today with roof box on motorways!!
49 mpg local
.........enough said

Is that USA MPG or some made up MPG? That is far better than either of our Prius' get, including our 2013 Prius, and a vehicle that does not have nearly the aerodynamics, and low vehicle weight.

Here in the USA the Prius is the clear winner in MPG and most importantly...reliability. As much as I like German cars, they just can't compete.

[two stroke mick]

I have had the pleasure of two ford mondeos a 1993 and a 2001 modeks. both petrol both very good. I have heard of a lot of problems with the rwd one though, stick with the fwd models

no one where i live would touch a rwd mondeo

[Deekus]

depends on your driving style also my friend

[Barrowboy]

Originally Posted by Deekus

depends on your driving style also my friend

Talking of which, am I the only one who seems to find myself following far too many people these days who appear to be wholly concerned with fuel economy, are religiously glued to the infernal SATnav and therefore completely oblivious to anyone else on the road or anything else going on around them?

[HUMBER P4VWL]

Ford bashing - My downer on them is that whilst they drive well and some of the engines are good, their durability based on numbers left on the road and the experiences anyone i know has had, is poor.

Everyone i know who has had them is in the garage each year with all sorts of little things once they are 5 years old or more, which when you add labour can be a big drain on finances. Wishbones, ecu's, water pumps, cv joints etc

(Vauxhall are no better)

VW 2004-2009ish do have less solid interiors, though they drove beautifully, the interior build materials were improved after this though on the golf mk6 for example.

There's a reason VW are more expensive new and when they are older. It's not badge snobbery either, as that doesn't stand the test of time on second hand prices. This is proved by certain poorly made models in some brands, look at the ML mercs compared to the X5s for example that were built around 2004. Similar new, but not once they prove to be unreliable.

You pays your money you take your chance one out of warranty and all cars can be a dog, but its best to pick a good breed and get the right chances of it behaving!

[GordyP]

Just recently got rid of an 09 Shogun which averaged about 19mpg, was costing a fortune to run. Changed to an A4 estate, it's the 170hp 2.0 TDI, I'm now getting 47mpg and that's driving it reasonably quickly.

[matt h]

I do find that Mass produced cheap cars like Ford Vauxhall Citroen Renault are just nasty.. I got given a modego as a co car, it was like driving a plank of wood..I Had to destroy it to unsure its total demise... It Japanese and German that sadly make the more desirable car

My old Man loves his shitroens.. always buys new.. every 3-4 years,, this latest one..C4 loads of probs. wont go into those but, the sat nav is so ill thought out its unuseable. the MPG for the latest petrol engine coupled to an autobox is terrible,, cannot average even 30 mpg!!

[mick]

Originally Posted by Dhf

I was shocked recently at the price of insurance the youth face, my 18yro Daughter passed her test back in January, the cheapest insurace she could find was with those offering the black box option, with more discount if she took the motorway speed awareness course, which she took and passed the other day, so the 11 plate 998cc Suzuki Alto she's been driving round since early Feb has gone from just over 1k pa to under 800 pa, plus she can get a 100 squid discount if the black box shows good driving stats. the car and insurance all registered in her name too. It says in the book the Suzuki should do 75mpg motorway or 52mpg around town.

Think it depends on the age of the car as well Jonnys belong to my mother it's an S reg and was a freebie

[mick]

Originally Posted by HUMBER P4VWL

Ford bashing - My downer on them is that whilst they drive well and some of the engines are good, their durability based on numbers left on the road and the experiences anyone i know has had, is poor. Everyone i know who has had them is in the garage each year with all sorts of little things once they are 5 years old or more, which when you add labour can be a big drain on finances. Wishbones, ecu's, water pumps, cv joints etc (Vauxhall are no better) VW 2004-2009ish do have less solid interiors, though they drove beautifully, the interior build materials were improved after this though on the golf mk6 for example. There's a reason VW are more expensive new and when they are older. It's not badge snobbery either, as that doesn't stand the test of time on second hand prices. This is proved by certain poorly made models in some brands, look at the ML mercs compared to the X5s for example that were built around 2004. Similar new, but not once they prove to be unreliable. You pays your money you take your chance one out of warranty and all cars can be a dog, but its best to pick a good breed and get the right chances of it behaving!

Makes a change from land rover bashing then

[A1an]

Just to add something else into the mix.... Ever thought about the toyota Rav4?

The missus has a 58 plate, great MPG, looking at 47.6 combined, its one of those cars that we are actually getting MORE than the book.

It's 4wd too so its great for launching.

[Jizm]

Originally Posted by Deekus

BMW 320d touring. 177 bhp 58 mpg recorded today with roof box on motorways!! 49 mpg local .........enough said

Cracking cars just watch those swirl valves.....

[Perroboy]

Only one option for me! Skoda superb estate 170bhp 50mpg. 4X4 .A 2011 can be had in top spec for £11-12K. Huge capacity and better reviews than passats etc.