The "Whats wrong with this picture" thread

[londondan86]

I know brakes have been mentioned but I would jack up each corner and make sure each wheel turns freely.

[WiNgNuTz]

Are you on the right size tyres, the right gear box and is your speedo accurate (if you do a trip that google maps says is 100 miles does the trip computer show 100 miles)


I do think alot of your problem will be down to doing 6 mile drives so the car never properly warms up to become efficient. My mpg is pretty poor going to and from work as im running a 1200rpm cold idle cos of the veg when its warm the idle is 850rpm.

Have you ever actually worked out your MPG from brimmed to brimmed before. If you havent do you have the money to brim it then go for a long motorway drive at a constant speed, 70mph will be fine. (lap of the M25 maybe if your not planning on going anywhere) and fill it back up at the same pump of the same petrol station at about the same ambient temperature then see what your MPG is.

Last time i did a brimmed to brimmed tank (this time last month) it came out at 31.2mpg, covering 394 miles. Tbh, im beginning to wonder if it is just the combination of the cold weather, and the short trips, because as ive said, im seriously running low on places to look for a leak!

I know brakes have been mentioned but I would jack up each corner and make sure each wheel turns freely.

I might just do that, never hurts to check i suppose!

[306Puggy]

45 on the motorway is pants!! And motorway driving is dull no matter what speed you're doing, so I find holding a constant 65 (~60 on the satnav) pretty easy.

Well as I said, for high speed it is

[Seb_Ryan]

I find mine better at outside lane speeds on mway.. Once did a run to Scotland (440 miles) and a week of driving up there around town, got 580 odd miles out of tank, at 80/90 all the way

[kentiiboii]

I remember with my hdi before stage 1. Delivering takeaways which was all town driving I used to get 43mpg. That's constant stop starts each journey was 5 mile tops.

[Dum-Dum]

I find mine better at outside lane speeds on mway.. Once did a run to Scotland (440 miles) and a week of driving up there around town, got 580 odd miles out of tank, at 80/90 all the way

IIRC thats only about 45mpg mate. At 60mph Im getting 60mpg which is over 800miles to a tank.

There is no way a DT especially on a standard box is efficient at those sorts of speeds, thats gotta be about 3000-3500rpm and the wind resistance is huge

[Midnightclub]

Ouch! That is seriously bad! Not even kidding but i got 450 miles to a tank in the 6' when we came down to Ace.. and well, that's a 6'

[cwspellowe]

I find mine better at outside lane speeds on mway.. Once did a run to Scotland (440 miles) and a week of driving up there around town, got 580 odd miles out of tank, at 80/90 all the way

IIRC thats only about 45mpg mate. At 60mph Im getting 60mpg which is over 800miles to a tank.

There is no way a DT especially on a standard box is efficient at those sorts of speeds, thats gotta be about 3000-3500rpm and the wind resistance is huge

Strap on a bigger blower though...

Remember on an XUD, revs does not necessarily equal efficiency. I found the estate to be much more efficient at 70-80mph as it would sit at about 5-6psi, rather than at 60-65 where it would read no boost.

But tbh.. generally speaking, who gives a crap about the odd mpg? I've certainly never thought "oh, i should be getting an extra 2mpg out of this". In the OP's case, short journeys will almost definitely be contributing, cold weather too.

But anyone that tries to get a mere 2 or 3 mpg improvement really needs tp get out more. Over a full tank, that is a difference of about 25-30miles, which would cost an extra what, £3ish?

Are you REALLY that skint? If you drive a diesel, already much cheaper to run day to day mpg wise, and you penny pinch every last mpg out of it, should you really be running a car at all?

I miss GTI ownership. Yes MPG was crap but you know what? I really really enjoyed driving it.

[Toms306]

It's not wprth worrying about 2 or 3 mpg. But in my case for example, dropping from 65mpg to 50mpg costs an extra 2.5p pence mile, which means 300 miles a week costs an extra £7.50 every week, thats £30 a month. Or the same as adding an extra week onto the month!

In Steves case of only getting ~30mpg from his DT, that really is shit and he's using near double the fuel he should be!


When (if) I'm old enough and rich enough to afford a petrol thats what I'll get and not give a f*ck about mpg. But there aren't many people who buy diesels for reasons other than fuel economy!

[Pete]

I get 300 miles to £75 in the 406. Not worked out the MPG but you know what? I don't care the vans my mileage monster.

[Toms306]

That's about 24mpg from your v6 406 then.....not much less than Steve gets in his dt lol!

[Pete]

Just realised this is in the XUD section so my post had no relevance lol, tapatalk fail! But yeah if he's not getting much more thab 25mpg somethings broken!

[Tom]

Jack it up and spin the wheels

[RePT]

Good MPG:
1st gear, 1500rpm, shift.
2nd gear, 1500 rpm, shift.
3rd gear, 1500 rpm, shift.
5th gear, 2000 rpm, 50mph. win.

I drive under 2500rpm, just over 2000.
(Yeh those arctics overtake me on the motorway)

I find it makes a big difference to my MPG. my needle stays on the full side of the gauge for longer ;O

Ive gotten a good 300 miles off £50. the needle is at the same position of as yours ^.^, it was just above halfway when i filled £50 from reserve light.

[Ed Doe]

What Cwserious said.

Just thought I'd let you know I average about 33-35mpg in the 6 using it as a daily on a 17mile commute each way on some if the best back roads in the country. And anyone who says 'you're not trying hard enough' hasn't driven in this weather with Spec2s on!!

On a serious note though; my old DT never did more than about 45 mpg no matter how I drove it. As such I never bothered to modify my driving to get better mpg, and as a result I hugely enjoyed driving it.

[Toms306]

(Yeh those arctics overtake me on the motorway)

Thats so annoying!

Plus 50 takes ages to get anywhere! I used to sit at 60 as the lorries are limited 56mph (English ones anyway) so they didn't have to overtake me!

[Dum-Dum]

Good MPG:
1st gear, 1500rpm, shift.
2nd gear, 1500 rpm, shift.
3rd gear, 1500 rpm, shift.
5th gear, 2000 rpm, 50mph. win.

I drive under 2500rpm, just over 2000.
(Yeh those arctics overtake me on the motorway)

IMO if your shifting at 1500rpm youll be laboring the engine in the next gear. Better changing at 2000rpm. You need a HDi box if your gonna sit at 2k on the motorway as thats 60mph. Also I find its better to accelerate slightly harder to get up to a more economical speed than spending ages accelerating gently.

[Jonny81191]

IMO, economic driving isn't about going slowly.

It's all about how smoothly you drive. If you cruise an a road at a steady 60 mph, you'll get better mpg than driving slower and accelerating out of corners.

I look at it this way: go as fast as you reasonably can (up to a point, anything over 60-65 is going to start having the opposite effect), using the smallest amount of fuel possible to achieve that speed.

[Toms306]

IMO, economic driving isn't about going slowly.

It's all about how smoothly you drive. If you cruise an a road at a steady 60 mph, you'll get better mpg than driving slower and accelerating out of corners.

I look at it this way: go as fast as you reasonably can (up to a point, anything over 60-65 is going to start having the opposite effect), using the smallest amount of fuel possible to achieve that speed.

Totally agree with this. Anyone thats driven with me will know I don't drive slowly.....BUT I drive (most of the time) for mpg instead, just kind of a habit now, keeping a constant speed wherever possible. Driving too slowly has the opposite effect anyway, if you're hanging in a lower gear longer than necessary thats just wasting fuel. Which is why I like to keep in 5th....if that means overtaking the slow person infront then yes I will. It's not about getting any 'further', they usually catch up after a few miles at the next roundabout or whatever, but its about being able to keep my own speed which does save fuel in the long run.... Also if you go for an overtake, it's better to go slightly quicker than you were aiming for, then coast down (in 5th) to your desired speed, cuts the fuelling so gains the mpg you lost by overtaking.

[Jonny81191]

   

Not rubbing it in your face but this is carls just now and he has no care for mpgs

Just confirms somethings up..