Are quoted mpg figures really accurate?

You often say manufacturers mpg figures are unreliable. When I bought my 2.0L petrol Ford Mondeo in 2003 the brochure gave the combined mpg as 35.3. The ongoing average mpg I get is 35.6. This seems about spot on.

Asked on 2 April 2012 by RM, Kenilworth

Answered by Honest John

That was then. Since around that time manufacturers have been squeezing ever better figures out of their cars in the EC tests in order to reduce their CO2-based tax, and the fact is very few drivers are able to get anywhere near the EC lab test figures in real life. This proves it literally thousands of times: www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg

Tags: fuel economy real mpg

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