Why doesn't our Chevrolet Aveo return its quoted mpg figures?

I am writing to you regards the 1.2 Chevrolet Aveo LT we have just bought. We acquired it on 25 March and have now done 3000 miles but just don't seem to be getting anywhere near the 60.1mpg combined that was advertised. We are only getting 45mpg. We did not expect to get 60.1mpg but we did expect to get at least 50mpg. We bought the car because of the high mpg as I will be retiring soon and we wanted to be able to just go off for the day and not worry about the fuel but that looks like it isn’t going to happen.

Asked on 27 July 2013 by JP, West Auckland

Answered by Honest John
The average fuel economy of the Chevrolet Aveo 1.2 achieved by real drivers in real conditions is 46.5mpg. See: www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/chevrolet/aveo-2008

Do not be misled by the ECDC Lab Test figure as that is only carried out to extrapolate the CO2 output of the engine on the basis of which the car (and the manufacturer) are taxed. The only place to find what sort of economy real drivers of 2,500 cars are achieving in real life is: www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg. Anyone thinking of buying a car should check there before they buy.
Similar questions
My wife and I have a young and growing family. Our 2009 Audi A3 Hatchback 1.9 TDI is now creaking at the seams and we're looking for a secondhand practical vehicle. It needs to be capable of carrying up...
Your real mpg lists at www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg make very interesting reading. I note that the real mpg values for the 2003 Avensis and the 2009 Avensis are almost the same (1.8 engine), yet the later...
The current brochure does not list an Octavia 1.4 TSI DSG, but the Skoda on-line configurator allows you to configure one. The CO2 emissions are lower than was posted at the launch of the car. They are...
Related models
Nice looking hatchback. Good value for money. Decent handling. Good legroom in the back. Reasonable bootspace. Diesel has stop/start.