MPG Depending on Driving Styles

[JTaylor2005]

Hi all,

Has anyone ever taken note of their MPG using different driving styles? I seem to always get almost identical MPG whether I feel like I am driving super careful or driving in a much more fun manor. It seems strange and usually it wouldn't make sense...

The only thing I can think is that when revving the engine more freely rather than laboring at low revs it actually makes it more efficient?

Anyone else noticed this?

Cheers

[Magenta Sunset]

"The only thing I can think is that when revving the engine more freely rather than laboring at low revs it actually makes it more efficient?"

which is a generally recognized driving technique. (dropping a gear going uphill before the engine labours is a good idea in that respect)
also, keeping as high a gear as possible without laboring or juddering the engine/trans is another one.
skipping a gear changing up if say in an urban location is another.

[Toms306]

I've always found this as well, driving style doesn't make much difference at all. In fact, I seem to average ~55mpg on any diesel I've driven, thats 2.0 HDi 90/125/130/135, 2.0 TDi 140, 1.9 CDTi 150, 1.9 TDi 130/180, 1.6 TDCi 110/115/140... Even being mapped doesn't make any difference, the only time I notice a difference over a whole tankful is if I do a lot of stop start town traffic...and there's nothing you can do to make that efficient! I even have stop start on the current Focus but it doesn't save any noticeable fuel in traffic. I know it's meant for emissions reduction in urban areas rather than fuel economy though.

Petrols are a different matter though... Keep thrashing those and the MPG drops off quickly!

[JTaylor2005]

Yeah weirdly I almost always average 55mpg ish in the pug. I have a mixed back of tyres at the moment due to punctures etc.

Will be switching to the mew Bridgstone Turanzas soon all round. They have an A rated wet grip and B for mpg I believe. They say they are nice and quiet too which will be good. So far they have good reviews.

Will see if that makes much of a difference MPG wise. I'd like to crack the 60mpg over a tank target tbh!

---

Or Yokohama BluEarth Es ES32. They have great reviews and are rated quite a bit quieter as well.

[Piggy]

Ihmm....

Tbh... I'd say the biggest factor for MPG is driving style.

From my experience and seeing/watching others.

Of course a V8 supercharged range rover won't managed 50mpg no matter how you drive it.... But... Still

[Toms306]

Yeah weirdly I almost always average 55mpg ish in the pug. I have a mixed back of tyres at the moment due to punctures etc.

Will be switching to the mew Bridgstone Turanzas soon all round. They have an A rated wet grip and B for mpg I believe. They say they are nice and quiet too which will be good. So far they have good reviews.

Will see if that makes much of a difference MPG wise. I'd like to crack the 60mpg over a tank target tbh!

---

Or Yokohama BluEarth Es ES32. They have great reviews and are rated quite a bit quieter as well.

Tyres don't make a difference either... I run Dunlop Sport BluResponse, mainly for the A rated wet grip but was also hoping for an increase in MPG due to their B rating, which there wasn't compared to the F rated efficiency budgets that were on the car when I bought it lol.

[Magenta Sunset]

reduce weight carried (chuck the mrs out)

[Frosty]

I seem to get about 50mpg out of my HDi's. Both my daily stage 1 estate and my silver 'stage 3' estate. Though on the euro trip we did last week i worked out how much MPG i got throughout the trip etc and averaged pretty much 52MPG over the whole trip with a very mix of driving. From blasting it round the swiss mountain passes to cruising down the french motorways at 85mph and including 5 laps of the ring. But on the return trip home i was very impressed as i worked it out from the nurburgring back to mine which is about 500 miles i got 64MPG out of the car.

[Piggy]

Tyres do make a difference. More to do with level of grip and tyre pressure (tyre size too)

But driving style is the biggest factor... So how YOU drive means all the cars YOU own will be similar in % of efficiency.

---

(I never got less than 40mpg in the Racetractor when really hooning, Inc track time... But on a run I could get 65mpg. Same with 206. 45mpg average, ona run I can get 60mpg)

[Poodle]

Have a look at some of the eco-driving guides kicking around the Internet, you will probably be surprised at how much difference a change of driving style can make. In the conversations I've had with most people about eco-driving it usually turns out they don't actually know how to drive economically and where the biggest changes can be made.

Tyres do make a significant difference, but you need to buy the right ones and bear in mind tyres which are better for mpg generally won't be as good for outright grip and handling. I find the ps3s a good mix of both as they've got a fairly smooth tread pattern and are pretty light, but still keep that mid-corner grip.

[JTaylor2005]

The half throttle rev higher technique is clearly the best. 61.5mpg over the last whole tank and I wasnt even hanging around. Just driving smooth.

[Welshy_Pete]

I've just got 900 miles on my 306 hdi stage 1 from full tank 60 litres of diesel to empty.

So 60L fuel tank and 900 miles what does that come to in mpg?

Thanks

[Mighty306]

4.55 litres in a UK gallon.  60 / 4.55 = 13.19 gallons. 900 / 13.19 = 68.2 mpg!!  That's comparable with claims for very modern engines which often don't come anywhere close to claimed mpg!!!!

[Welshy_Pete]

4.55 litres in a UK gallon.  60 / 4.55 = 13.19 gallons. 900 / 13.19 = 68.2 mpg!!  That's comparable with claims for very modern engines which often don't come anywhere close to claimed mpg!!!!

That's amazing what these old cars can do. I reset the mileage counter I filled my car 3 weeks ago 60 litres and just done 900 miles on the mileage clock.

[Mighty306]

I can get a whole 36mpg out of the xsi on a long run if I don't cane it! Not so good in town, but then again don't do much town driving. Claimed for combined is 31mpg, which is about right.

Again, in recent years manufacturers claims have become wildly different from reality. Makes a joke out of the VED system, which is supposed to be based on CO2 emissions.

[JTaylor2005]

4.55 litres in a UK gallon.  60 / 4.55 = 13.19 gallons. 900 / 13.19 = 68.2 mpg!!  That's comparable with claims for very modern engines which often don't come anywhere close to claimed mpg!!!!

That's amazing what these old cars can do. I reset the mileage counter I filled my car 3 weeks ago 60 litres and just done 900 miles on the mileage clock.

What kind of driving was that? Motoway driving I see more but my driving is 30% country lanes 30% a roads 30% motorway 10% town.

I've done a run before where I did a huge motorway drive and brimmed up before and after and it came in at 69mpg as well so it's easily possible!

[Welshy_Pete]

4.55 litres in a UK gallon.  60 / 4.55 = 13.19 gallons. 900 / 13.19 = 68.2 mpg!!  That's comparable with claims for very modern engines which often don't come anywhere close to claimed mpg!!!!

That's amazing what these old cars can do. I reset the mileage counter I filled my car 3 weeks ago 60 litres and just done 900 miles on the mileage clock.

What kind of driving was that? Motoway driving I see more but my driving is 30% country lanes 30% a roads 30% motorway 10% town.

I've done a run before where I did a huge motorway drive and brimmed up before and after and it came in at 69mpg as well so it's easily possible!

The roads I use are 60% 60mph roads, 40% 30mph, 40mph and 50mph.

[Toms306]

What speed are you doing to get 70mpg?

My 1.6TDCi can't even manage 60mpg on cruise at 70mph, it does better in town and b roads!

[JTaylor2005]

It was a 150 mile or so round trip on motorways and a roads doing 70-75 on motorway and 50-60 on A roads.

[Toms306]

Ah, fair enough, I don't do that many miles in one go lol. I have dropped from 75/80 down to 70 for dual carriageways on cruise control though. But so far that doesn't seem to have improved the mpg either, been trying this for 3 months now lol.

[Poodle]

Cruise control is awful for mpg.

[pug306driver]

Very recent trip to south east, varied driving from 70 ( and a bit faster especially in mid wales ), 50, local speed limits and car fully loaded with 2 people and camping ( not glamping !! ) gear from north wales to Guildford area, 58.4mpg on shell ordinary diesel.

Pleased with economy but car did not like hills much, particulary the hill outside Gloucester to the switch back traffic light controlled junction to cirencester.

engine oil was changed before journey, the 10-40 home bargains viscol brand, but will change fuel filter as out of time 2 weeks ago, when it should have been changed.

We did about 100 local south east miles as well which are included in the mpg figure.   No air con but windows open and gentle driving.

[cpikey316_]

Believable! I got nearly 50mpg out of a 1.8 petrol doing a motorway cruise (58mph behind a lorry)

saying that, I can easily achieve 50mpg in my civic (1.8 petrol also!) at 70 with air con on if I do a non urban run.

[Toms306]

Cruise control is awful for mpg.

In theory yeah...in practice it doesn't make any difference having rerrofitted cruise to a few of my cars and keeping spreadsheets of the MPG across each tank both before and after lol.

Interestingly I now have a 2.0 CR TDI 140...fully working air con unlike the Focus and obviously more power and cubic capacity than the DV6...and so far averaging 55-60mpg just like every other turbo diesel I've had!

The main issue for me is the frequency of short drives though. On the daily mpg readout I can easily achieve 70mpg on an hour's round trip. But on the short runs to Tesco it's more like 50mpg. I know the readout isn't 100% hence working out the tank with the brim test but I'm not filling up every day just to test that lol.

I still don't see how driving style changes anything, I spend most of my time stuck behind other people, forcing me to use higher revs in a lower gear and having to keep slowing down and accelerating because they can't keep a constant speed or see non existent hazards, it's more efficient to overtake them and stick the cruise on where possible. The Orwell bridge winds me up no end, people seem to forget to accelerate on the up hill side, meaning I have to drop from 60 to 40 as it's frowned upon to ram them, then they wake up and boot it, so the rest of us have to waste a load of fuel accelerating from half way up the hill. When it's clear I just leave the cruise on at 60, don't even touch the throttle before the hill and still lose far less mpg than being stuck behind other people. Other people are the problem here...I get much more mpg going out on evening drives than day time drives...I don't even drive in rush hour!

[Ruan]

Out of interest - is that with the latest software update, or without??

[pug306driver]

Yeah, its amazing how many people just cannot drive, unable to "read the road" or the speed limit signs, slowing down and applying the brakes for every corner. Could be the road have so improved here in north wales, the roads around haselmere are like old welsh roads complete with pot holes !

The signs are always obscured by the shrubbery, job for someone there.............

we kept off the m4 and other motorways, the A roads, A30 etc, nice and wide and flowing and empty !!!

[Poodle]

Leave more room to the car in front and you can manage it by lifting off rather than braking.

[pug306driver]

Quite, I always leave a relatively large " safety zone" between me and the car in front, which helps to improve brake pad and disc wear etc., but, it can lead to a moron behind you assuming its a gap from him/here to nip into !!

This happened once on the bike as well, 2 up so a longer than normal safety zone, only for a moron in a vw golf to nip into and cut us up or hit head on the car that had come around the corner that I had seen thru the gap between the fence/bank and the car in front of us.

He raised his left arm as if to say sorry.

A few miles later we came across him at some traffic lights, I came along side on the n/s and looked who was in the passenger seat, his kid. The window came down and the driver said "if you have a problem with my driving lets go to a police station ! ", "the one over there ? " I said.

So I did and he followed. His reg number was quoted on the cop shop answerphone so he  was buggered.

Turns out he meant the cop shop some 3 miles away where he was stationed !!!

He said he was a biker !!!?

It took the sargeant to make him apologise, advanced drivers eh!

Had it been a choice between a head on and taking 2 bikers out, what do you think would have been his reaction ??

Probably take the bikers out and drive off!