Fuel efficiency of older diesel cars

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Tue 7 Oct 2008 03:34
Fuel efficiency of older diesel cars - franco
I was looking up the fuel efficiency for older diesel cars for city driving and on a site selling old LTI fairway taxis I came up with a figure of 25 - 30mpg in town for a 2.7 litre diesel. Now I don't know if this means stop and start traffic driving or driving at 30 MPH, but this is roughly the same as I get from my old Golf, which is a 1.3 litre petrol. I know that diesels are more efficient, but a 2.7 litre diesel doing as well as a 1.3 litre petrol in town does surprise me.

Can I assume that this kind of MPG for a 2.7 litre has something to do with the lighter weight of taxis relative to other cars or is this just an average MPG to be expected even from a big diesel engine in town. Would something like an Audi, or BMW diesel with the same engine size be doing much less than 25 - 30mpg in town?
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Tue 7 Oct 2008 23:35
Fuel efficiency of older diesel cars - Bromptonaut
Diesel consumption is much better than petrol in stop start and/or when cold - hence why almost all taxis are diesel.

Fifteen yrs ago I changed from a 1.6 petrol Cit BX to the 1.9 diesel. Fuel consumption on the 12 mile daily round commute went from upper twenties mpg to 40+.
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Tue 7 Oct 2008 23:51
Fuel efficiency of older diesel cars - mfarrow
www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk/search/vehicleDetails.as...1

The present 2.5l manual will do 28mpg around town, apparently, so those figures you've been quoted sound roughly correct.
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Wed 8 Oct 2008 03:04
Fuel efficiency of older diesel cars - franco
As it happens I seen one of the cabbies on youtube complaining about the TX4 not being too efficient with diesel, but that could be probs with just his car.

Thanks for the example on the 1.9. I suppose that size engine would be the safer bet. Normal 2.5 litre and above cars seem to be a few hundred kilos heavier than a London cab, so it would probably be a stretch to think I could get decent MPG from a big car for the type of driving I do, but if I thought there was a chance of buying a big diesel and paying roughly the same in fuel as I am now I would take a chance.
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