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Old 9th May 2013, 20:59   #1
Frank Incensed
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Default Diesel Fuel Consumption Challenge - Free T4 Session - Help Others Reduce Fuel Bills

People familiar with my posts will already know that my diesel auto averages about 30 mpg. What I haven’t posted before is that I’ve recently contacted the sole previous owner who, (amazingly) four years after selling the car, still has complete records of the fuel he bought. In the four years from new he covered 79,000 miles and averaged 33.3 mpg.
He used the car mainly for long distances and the difference in our mpg averages is due to a combination of that and his annual mileage being twice mine. My mileage would still include a higher proportion of short journeys than his, even if I doubled it by doing more long journeys . So the average mpg of my car over 107,000 miles is approximately 32.4 mpg.

My car doesn’t want for maintenance. T4 sessions show that everything appears to be working as it should. And it’s not that I’m “heavy footed”. The only things that seem to have noticeably affected the mpg during my ownership of the car have been the length of the journey, the outside temperature and the failure of the MAF. Many a true word is spoken in jest but I have joked that the car must have learned to drink heavily at an early age and she has become a lightoilholic. Perhaps I should change her name from Doolittle to L o h an.

Now that an alternative has been found to the expensive replacement of the original thermostat, I think minds should be focused on why there seems to be such a large discrepancy between mpg achieved by diesel cars. Especially as some cars seem immune to faults which should have a detrimental affect on mpg.

I like to think that I’m prepared to put my money where my mouth is, so in the hope that Lindsay can be rehabilitated and for the benefit of mankind / 75 & ZT owners in general, I’m offering to pay for a T4 session for 2 cars.

What I hope eventually to achieve is the identification of something that differentiates a frugal engine from a thirsty one. I want to know why my car has only ever returned a best of 37 mpg on a brim to brim test when others can apparently achieve 50% more. I know I’m not alone here.

Conditions of Challenge

1) I will choose 2 cars from among any volunteers who can prove that their cars have achieved an average of more than 40 mpg (automatic) or 48 mpg (manual) over a distance of several thousand miles. This must be verifiable by the figures stored on the car’s trip computer. MOT figures and the average speed recorded by the IPK will be required too, as evidence that the mpg hasn’t been achieved through well above average use of the car over very long distances.

2) The T4 operators will be chosen by me

3) All the diagnostic figures relating to the performance of the engine will be recorded and made available to everyone

4) I will not pay for any expenses incurred in travelling to the T4 operator

5) Compulsive economy drivers need not apply. By this I mean; people who are so slow in moving off at junctions, nobody else gets through other than those prepared to jump a red light and; people who refuse to travel at more than 56 mph on a motorway. I want drivers who are “normal”.

Well, is there anybody out there who’s up for this? Anybody prepared to help?
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Old 9th May 2013, 21:17   #2
sworks
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My average speed indication always seems to read much lower than i think it should
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Old 9th May 2013, 21:23   #3
rich17865
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I wish I could be in this one, but with 2 trips to North West meets, and a couple of trips to the local Tesco, that is all the use my car gets in a month I very seldom use it for a trip to my parents in Bristol, or if I am ultra lucky, a holiday in the UK.

And I drive with a 160 remap lead foot!

Good luck!
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Old 9th May 2013, 21:57   #4
Frank Incensed
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sworks View Post
My average speed indication always seems to read much lower than i think it should
That's because it records idling time too. Hence, my average speed is about 18 mph over about 10,000 miles per annum. When I do a 500 mile round trip in 9 hours, it does nothing much to change the overall figure because of the hours spent driving round Manchester that can sometimes be at an average of less than 10 mph.
If someone does 5000 miles round town at an average of 10 mph and 5000 miles at a good long distance journey average of 50 mph, the overall average for the year will only be 30 mph. However, their perception is that doing a couple of longish journeys every month at motorway speeds should raise the average more than it does.
But it's not the short journeys which concern me. Bizarrely, my mpg for short journeys is little more than it says in the manual. It's the longer journeys at a more constant speed, where a diesel should excel. Some do. Mine doesn't. The owners manual figure is out of reach. Some owners claims even more so.
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Old 9th May 2013, 22:09   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Incensed View Post
Well, is there anybody out there who’s up for this?
I bet he will: http://forums.mg-rover.org/showthread.php?t=507727
I've given him a heads-up.

TC

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Old 9th May 2013, 22:19   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by T-Cut View Post
I bet he will: http://forums.mg-rover.org/showthread.php?t=507727
I've given him a heads-up.

TC
Thread on here too TC - http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/foru...d.php?t=145368
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Old 9th May 2013, 22:33   #7
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Default This Hadn't Gone Unnoticed, TC

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When I read this the other week, my mind was involuntarily substituting the word "tanker" for tank. Perhaps it was because he opened with the total mileage and my imagination wasn't capable of getting past what it knows I would require to cover such a distance.
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Old 9th May 2013, 22:52   #8
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I have only owned my 2003 auto diesel Tourer for a couple of weeks, so I cant be in your trial, but I would have thought that whilst normal driving, both on decent run & around towns a 40mpg+ average in one of these autos would be hard to achive.

In the 2 weeks that have owned mine, I have done a couple of reasonable 50 mile 70 mph runs & then about 350 miles in mixed traffic but mainly out of towns & am averaging 38 mpg.. This is about 6-8 mpg less than my manual saloon that has a disconected MAF
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Old 9th May 2013, 23:02   #9
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When I was checking brim to brim myCDT manual was averaging around 50mpg.
I do around 250 miles per week to work and back plus whatever else e.g. going to Nano this weekend,Weymouth next so should soon be able to clock up some meaninfull figures.
Maybe someone already has some.

Brian
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Old 9th May 2013, 23:10   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Incensed View Post
When I read this the other week, my mind was involuntarily substituting the word "tanker" for tank. Perhaps it was because he opened with the total mileage and my imagination wasn't capable of getting past what it knows I would require to cover such a distance.
must say cant see that mpg forsure
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