[locoboy]

Guys,
I have had my car for 10 days now (156 SW 2.0 Jts) and on my 1st quarter of a tank (from full) i was shoing i had covered 105miles.

On my second quater of a tank ( its now on half full) i have only managed to rack up another 60 miles!

My car gets used for only relatively short journeys of 8 miles each way,I noticed that the temp does not get up top normal of 80deg (for the last week in sub zero temps) until i am a good 5-6 miles into my short 8 mile journey.

Is this likely to be the cause of my extremely poor mpg? - ie running on rich mixture until its up to normal operating temps?

I drive it like an old fart too, it rarely gets above 3K rpm on the way to or from work.

I could live with the 105miles per quarter of a tank but i cant live with 60!

Any ideas suggestions?
Thanks

 

[mikeyjae]

The temprature will affect your mileage but not as bad as your saying i wouldnt have thought. What i have noticed with my tank is the top half will do well over 200 mile, then the last quarter just seems to go empty very quickly, so id say my 1.8 156 has a top heavy fuel tank. What year is your car? Id assume it would have the same tank as mine. Also mine sits around 80 degrees in this weather and im getting above 400 mile a tank.

 

[Chocoboy]

i'm very happy with the fuel consuption of my 1.8 156, i used to have a Focus ST170 and some weeks it was costing me around £40 just to get to work and back (10 miles each way) put £20 in my 156 this week and did the whole week and still got some left over, so no complaints from me

 

[locoboy]

I hope the second half doesnt dissapear quicker than the 1st half!

Mine is a late 2002 with the facelift interior but not the facelift exterior.

I will probably fill it up tonight and see what i have achieved in real term MPG.

I picked the car up from Devon 10 days ado and on the run back got a measured 34 mpg but 90% of that was dual carriage way or motorway.

I have not been on a motorway since that journey so it has been doing my kind of everyday driving.

 

[yorky]

I wouldnt worry about it too much. i have a 54 plate 2.0 jts and yes it does go quick on the gauge from the 3rd quarter through to 1st quater. But i am returning 34mpg on a motorway and about 25mpg on short stop start journeys. I had the same confusion as you and dont take any notice of the trip computer!. Fill her up and do a more accurate calculation.

 

[James Junior]

My fuel gauge definitely does this - last forever down to the halfway mark then seems to empty very quickly!

 

[mikeyjae]

Best thing you can do is brim it with petrol, run it till your petrol light comes on and see if you get late 300 miles or early 400s.

 

[Neston_Vasey]

As above brim it, find out how much you have put in, divide it by 4.54 to work out gallons. now use the covered mileage to work out MPG.

Mine can tell me one minute I have 500+ miles in the tank, then suddenly tell me it's only 100+ miles, the 'live MPG figures range from 5 MPG to 141+ MPG......rule of thumb don't let the fuel gauge / computer lead you to think that the readings are real, I have and always will brim it, calculate real figures, it's the only true way, and is 100% not gauged (A means of estimating or evaluating).

I'm getting 30 MPG on mixed driving on my 2002 2.0 JTS. I also find that it takes a while to warm up, apparently this is typical for a JTS, but don't quote me on that.

 

[chris983]

I normally stick 40-50 quid in only and seem to get a better return compared to when I fill it to max.