mpg - are smaller cars better?

construct06

what is the biggest influence on mpg fuel economy.

is it a small engine/car?

my subaru forester does 30 mpg, its a 2.0 litre...

wud be interested in others mpg....

conneem-TT

I get an overal average of 36mpg from my 2.0 TFSI Audi TT which is quite good I think.

We had a toyota auris 1.4 thingy for a while when changing another car and it seemed to drink petrol.
I think it was the lack of power and the fact it had to work hard to maintain a 100km/hr cruising speed.

Andrewf20

I reckon having a diesel vs petrol with all else equal is probably the biggest cog in the machine when it comes to looking for better mpgs, but there are so many other factors - driving style, wind resistance, tyre to road friction, speed, gearing, revs, engine efficiency, engine size...

In my experience (not a hugh amount tbh!), the current motor (2.5l) is more effecient than my old Fiesta (1.25l) at high speeds, but lousy on mpgs around slow moving traffic. So to answer your question in the thread title - yes and no depending on what driving conditions you face.

JHMEG

Small cars with small engines will obviously be the most economical. My mother's Jazz 1.2 does about 60mpg on a long journey. My 2.0 Accord Coupe (heavy car) managed about 32mpg on same journey.

Guy:Incognito

JHMEG wrote: »

Small cars with small engines will obviously be the most economical. My mother's Jazz 1.2 does about 60mpg on a long journey. My 2.0 Accord Coupe (heavy car) managed about 32mpg on same journey.

The current 2.2 diesel accord is qouted as doing 53mpg gallon so not a huge difference to the jazz ,I could certainly write off 8 mpg to have the extra comfort.:)

BostonB

I reckon theres no point worrying about mpg unless you take all the other costs into consideration. Tax, insurance, depreciation etc. In which case a small car will work out cheaper. Assuming the age of the car is the same.

unkel

BostonB wrote: »

I reckon theres no point worrying about mpg unless you take all the other costs into consideration

QFT!

what_car

construct06 wrote: »

what is the biggest influence on mpg fuel economy.

is it a small engine/car?

my subaru forester does 30 mpg, its a 2.0 litre...

wud be interested in others mpg....

factors would be power to weight ratio,

the corolla D4D 1.4 does 50+ mpg. quite good..

my 2.0 auto petrol does about 40mpg on motorway and 22-25mpg round town. combined its 30-32mpg over the full tank.
i think the way oil prices are going, that big cars will drop like a stone in value and smaller more economical cars are they way forward......

bazz26

Might depend on how heavy your right foot is too.

congo_90

unfortunatly i can't quote mpg accurately. My almera doing 100km/h achieves at best 6.6L/100KM. Around 50+ mpg
It's a 1.5 2006

Elessar

It's impossible to compare different cars MPG because everybody drives differently and has different journey lengths. My BMW 320Ci gets 22-24 MPG (according to the computer) but I drive only about 10 minutes to work and back each day, twice, in suburban traffic. Someone using the motorway would get much higher MPG. I could easily see a moderately powered car beating a small hatchback in the right conditions.

E92

Any of those cars with a small engine for the size and weight of the car like a 1.6 Passat or BMW 316i(you know the ones where they bring in an under engined car specially for we Irish cause of VRT) would be less efficient in reality than a larger engine, because those small engnies are often only offered and/or are only popular here,so the car wouldn't be designed with them in mind.

And any car thats underpowered will not be terribly economical in Motorway driving either.

LOTTOWINNER

what_car wrote: »

factors would be power to weight ratio,

the corolla D4D 1.4 does 50+ mpg. quite good..

my 2.0 auto petrol does about 40mpg on motorway and 22-25mpg round town. combined its 30-32mpg over the full tank.
i think the way oil prices are going, that big cars will drop like a stone in value and smaller more economical cars are they way forward......

I'm not being smart, but how can you seperate your motorway mpg from your town driving mpg, I fill my car up to the neck (so I'm not depending on the fuel gauge) zero the trip recorder and when the tank hits reserve, I refill, record the mileage and the amount of fuel that it took to refill it. This way I get an average mpg for that tank, but I couldn't seperate urban and motor mpg.

Wossack

LOTTOWINNER wrote: »

I'm not being smart, but how can you seperate your motorway mpg from your town driving mpg, I fill my car up to the neck (so I'm not depending on the fuel gauge) zero the trip recorder and when the tank hits reserve, I refill, record the mileage and the amount of fuel that it took to refill it. This way I get an average mpg for that tank, but I couldn't seperate urban and motor mpg.

alot of cars have a current mpg display inside them (along with average speed, top speed, distance till empty etc) I presume, its just a matter of looking at this display while on the motorway/in town to determine said mpg.

LOTTOWINNER

My car does have this facility, but to eliminate any errors, I prefer my method.

fletch

LOTTOWINNER wrote: »

My car does have this facility, but to eliminate any errors, I prefer my method.

My car does have this facility and I find it pretty accurate, (to within 2mpg over every fill). My computer generally reads about 50mpg after 400 miles and when I do my calculations(brim to brim), it works out at 48mpg (which I'm pretty happy with )

It BeeMee

Wossack wrote: »

alot of cars have a current mpg display inside them (along with average speed, top speed, distance till empty etc) I presume, its just a matter of looking at this display while on the motorway/in town to determine said mpg.

Those things usually aren't 100% accurate. However, as a guide they're quite useful, and can help change your driving style a bit.

For instance it's possible to press the accelator a little bit more: your mpg will drop BUT there will be no noticable increase in speed. Conversely, you may find it's possible to lift your foot a bit, improve mpg yet not lose speed.

I always have my dash set to show "current mpg" for this reason.

fletch

Yeh they really slow you down too. I find myself feathering the throttle the whole time, each week it's like a challenge to better my previous mpg figure...sad I know!

JHMEG

Stekelly wrote: »

The current 2.2 diesel accord is qouted as doing 53mpg gallon so not a huge difference to the jazz ,I could certainly write off 8 mpg to have the extra comfort.:)

Yeah, but then there's the smell, and even the Honda diesel rattles.