I am a careful and experienced driver

You say that but it does not always equate to being an economical driver. My dad was careful and experienced but when he handed us his Micra when he stopped driving we immediately got 5 mpg more than he did in exactly the same usage.

And that brings me to another issue, you do not say how you use the car. Rush hour stop-sart traffic will eat more fuel than 50 mph rural drives.

I monitor my in use fuel consumption (Jazz 1.4CVT) and can have a 25% or more variation in fuel consumption easily over the same stretch of road depending upon a huge range of variables:

For example:

Drving with a cold engine - fuel consumption rises +35%

Drving uphill: +30% +

Drving uphill with cold engine: +50%++

Stop/start driving: +15%

Stop/start with cold engine +40%

Drving downhill with no throttle : consumption falls -50%+

Driving with gentle throttle opening -20%

And so on..

(the Jazz has a sensor which lights a warning sign when combustion is most efficient. It never lights going uphill or when engine is cold).

So there are huge variables in everyday driving... which are absent from the fuel consumption tests..

If you live in hilly country - forget the official figures...

Hilly country and traffic lights= terrible.

Petrol cars are far more susceptible to poor driving styles/conditions than diesel.

I aim to average overall the urban mpg.. if I drive carefully and have lots of long journeys..Otherwise? forget it.

Edited by madf on 08/10/2015 at 05:02