Hopefully the new EU mpg (and emissions?) testing regime, which supposedly is more real-world driving-based, and does not allow "cheats" such as semi-slick tyres and turning all in-car electrical devices (heaters/AC, ICE) off to "save" fuel, will go some way to making these figures actually useful.

Only time will tell as to how realistic these new tests are - they can't come soon enough - in my view many car with "new" technology aren't anywhere near as good on mpg and emissions as their test figures state.

I would rather trust a manufacturer who, in addition to the current EU tests (before the new one comes in) gives their own figures for "real world" driving - its not as though they wouldn't have done such testing in the development phase of their cars anyway, and would show a high degree of honesty (many have currently no problem in advertising the high "artificial" figures to get sales), which I believe would be rewarded with additional sales and a higher degree of repeat business (which would save them on marketing costs substantially) - winners all around!

Yeah that's the silly thing. The carmakers are forced to put their cars through these tests, they're also forced to publish the results and now they're being forced to tell their customers they're not worth a damn.

Just seen an ad in the Sunday Times for the Mitsibishi Mirage with the claim: "a petrol that gets over 65mpg".

This actually implies that this figure is obtainable. Will the ASA intervene?