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But if Adam?s mam fills up every second tank, then by my reckoning he?s not really getting 28mpg, but 56? Yeah?
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She won't be putting juice in it any more. We've just bought her a Fiesta for her birthday on Friday.
It was wrong from the start. The son never gets a car before his Mum. Never.
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Adam
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You?ll have to syphon her fuel out then
Don?t forget my birthday. 19th September.
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I've already thought of that Dave. Let's say I get in my car one morning and discover, not with a not altogether unsurprised look on my face that the petrol light is on.
Well - Plan Adam 23 Beta comes into play. I sneak inside the house and swap my car key and Mum's car keys around. That way, she'll open my car thinking it's hers and I'll drive hers seeing as it always has petrol in! All the rewards with no petrol taste in my mouth!
Genius!!!
And how can I forget your birthday. You're coming to a BR meet on it aren't you?
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Adam
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Is her Fiesta bei... er... gold?
I?ll come but will anybody else be there?
19th September.
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Actually, it's bright red!
I'll be there. I just need to know the date. What was it?
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Adam
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And on that date do you become Big Bad Old Dave? Or, (the one I prefer) Ol' Big Bad Dave.
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Adam
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I have never got less than 30 mpg from any car that I have owned and that includes two Alfas, one a 75 2.0 TS, the other a 164 with the same engine. I have never considered myself a driver who dawdles but all country roads have a max speed limit of 60 mph, and, whilst I never exceed this limit by a great deal, I always drive up to the limit if conditions allow. I am therefore puzzled by sub 30 mpg figures from cars of quite modesty power, especially modern cars which should have fuel efficient engines.
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It was the consensus back then that something was up with my car. There is no way I could get 30mpg now. No way.
I'm going to fill it again after next Tuesday and see what happens. The car seems to run fine so I don't know what could (if anything is) be up.
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Adam
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Having said that, y2k+4 has a 1.6 and is getting very nearly less than 30mpg.
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Adam
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It was the consensus back then that something was up with my car. There is no way I could get 30mpg now. No way. I'm going to fill it again after next Tuesday and see what happens. The car seems to run fine so I don't know what could (if anything is) be up. -- Adam
I think that what is up is your driving style. Less than 20 mpg sounds unbelievable.
When we had the two Alfas, speed could get a bit intoxicating, so they had to be driven with a bit of restraint. If they were thrashed, one would soon be driving at unsafe speeds, and they would have to been thrashed to get much below 30 mpg.
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I've read over this thread and I've probably come across as a loon. I'm not I can assure you. I'm usually pretty sedate it's just when I get on the odd country road that hasn't been reduced in limit that I go for it.
I'll concede my driving style will have resulted in my sub 20mpg but in no way could my driving be attributed to my 28mpg. You couldn't drive in a more frugal manner than I did that week.
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Adam
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Do you take the handbrake off?
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The hand....brake?
Handbrake???
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Adam
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Adam old chap, all country roads have a 60 mph speed limit. So this doesn't give you much room for going for it.
I like to drive quickly, but not as quick as I used to drive when I was young.
I do not know you, but from your early comments on this thread, it makes you sound a bit lairy. If I am wrong I am sorry, but when you have had a few prangs, you will slow down a bit.
By the way, I used to get nearly 30 mpg in my old long gone Sierra 2.3 petrol. Either you are toeing it much too much, or the Focus needs some attention.
I went to for a long run last week, and hitting the ton once or twice, I managed 48.7 mpg. I hasten to say on straight roads, and of coarse in a diesel.
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Quizman old boy,
Yes all country roads have limits of 60 - doesn't mean to say that 61 makes you unsafe but that's another matter.
One hundred miles an hour? That sounds awfully dangerous and dare I say it, lairy.
Please don't come down any roads near me.
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Adam
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If you chop the boot off, you'll be able to do a ton too! You see the saloon wasn't designed with aerodynamics in mind!
Sorry, can't ever resist having a dig.
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I quite agree old fruit,61 is fine in most cases.
I am sure you will agree that 100 on a quiet motorway is perfectly OK.
In fact you remind me of when I drove in the 1960's, I've made it to 57, just be carefull.
Let's call it a draw for now, shall we?
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Yes all country roads have limits of 60 .......
.........unless marked otherwise, which a lot are!
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L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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Hi, I've just worked out that I'm getting about 34.63 mpg in my 1.6 Focus.
Can you be more precise please?
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Yes, 34.6325 mpg
;-)
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Adski,
Thought of you today ----- talking to the local Traffic Police Commander (yes a man of judgement, imense driving skills and taste !) guess what car he had, a Focus with a boot !!!!!!.
PU
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What can I say PU? The man has taste!
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Adam
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its not a focus...but...my girlfriends rover 214 is currently doing about 28mpg well down from the high 30's when I drove it. She drives no less than 3000 revs in any given gear where I bounced it off the rev limiter when i had it so a little confused!! just had a full service and went through MOT first time and with the emmission test far less than the allowed limit!
Maybe something wrong with petrol to make us buy more!!!!!!
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When I had my nana's Focus 1.6 for a while I got 32 mpg, that was driving it reasonably enthusiastically as I was trying to blow the cobwebs out of it (she does less than 3K miles per year)
I was a little disappointed with 32mpg, but not overly considering the type of usage the car gets, I'd still hoped for 35mpg though.
I personally would be very reluctant to have a 1.8 Focus, in my expereience they offer realtively little increased power over the smoother 1.6. It's especially harsh when you realise that the slight increase in power has cost you the best part of 5mpg+.
To whoever said that they would take a Focus to the dealers if it got less than 30mpg, personally, if I had a 1.8 and it got anything much higher than 30mpg on day to day runs I would take it to the dealers to check someone hadn't swapped my engine for a 1.6. ;-)
Blue
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To get a reasonably accurate fuel consumption figure you really need to calculate it over a reasonably long period, say a month. That way you minimise the errors in the measurement of the petrol used. Calculating by the tankful is a waste of time. Calculating monthly will also show the effect on fuel consumption of the different seasons and the cars mileage to date.
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L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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<<.....if I hada 1.8 and it got anything much higher than 30mpg on day to day runs I would take it to the dealers to check someone hadn't swapped my engine for a 1.6. ;-)
In the 9 months that I have had my 2.0 petrol Focus the fuel consumption calculated monthly has varied from 35.5 mpg to 38.0 mpg. Over that time the overall average has been 37.0 mpg. And before you make any assumptions about my driving style just let me say that if I'd been happy with less power then I would have had a smaller engine. I admit that I don't drive like Adski claims though! ;-) I want MY car to last a reasonable length of time.
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L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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Given that ALL circumstances are the same, a larger engine should be slightly more economical than a smaller one as it would have to work less hard.
Incidentally, I noticed a while back in a main dealership that Ford's 1.8 TDi and later TDCI units all had exactly the same average fuel consumption figures in the Focus, yet power output ranged from 90 to 115bhp depending on the engine.
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To get less than 30 mpg over a long period in a 1.6 Focus driven on mixed roads suggests either something very wrong with the car or the driver.
I have only achieved less than 30 mpg overall in the last 20 years in a Jaguar XJ6 (15 towing:-( and a Lotus ELan S3 (which was tuned to around 130bhp and whose Webers gave big sucking noises when you accelerated:-)
madf
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Agreed, there is almost definitiely something wrong. I get 45-50mpg from my A3 2.0TDI even driving enthusiastically. Including country lanes, narrow and wide. And no that's not driving irresponsibly, it's all about looking over the low hedges on open moorland roads and so on. I've gotten 25mpg from an S4 Cabriolet and that's a 4.2v8. Even if you drive an S4 STUPIDLY HARD then the lowest I've gotten is 17.5mpg, and I don't think you could sustain driving a whole journey like that, it's not possible with current traffic conditions in the South East. RS6 gets a couple of MPG less, but at 17mpg that's irrelevant really! If your focus is drinking like an S4 Adam, then I'd hope to have it perform like one! Just out of interest... how long do your brake pads/discs and tyres last ;-)
Chris
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Not a Focus, but a 1.6 Zetec Escort - same basic engine but 10 years old so i guess less developed.
Best i have had was 39mpg which involved most of the tank used in 50-60mph flowing motorway traffic.
Worst i have had was 29mpg - All innercity heavy traffic with the exception of 100miles on a dead motorway at 100mph.
Usually somewhere between 33-37mpg, dependent on type of usage, and with a fairly spirited driving style.
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Oh and that produces a range of around 380 miles normally before i bottle it and fill up. I know you weren't the OP Adam but in your link to your own thread you mention 245 miles to a tank - both our cars with 55 litre tanks. Regardless of what other people are saying, 28mpg at best sounds terrible from just a slightly enlarged version of the engine in mine, and with 5 or more years extra development too.
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A mate used to have an S-Class 320 CDi which I drove to the south east on one occasion involving nearly 500 miles each way, plus local driving for a day and a half.
The average consumption over the three days was a fraction over 35mpg; that's in a car whose 0-60mph performance is only 0.6 seconds slower than that of the petrol equivalent.
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This is making me feel very very bad.
Tell you what I'll do. Next Tuesday, I'll fill the tank and work it out over a month like (I think) L'escargot recommends.
I hope something is wrong with it (in a way). I thought 28mpg was normal. Obviously less than 20 isn't.
Thanks (and sorry to y2k+4 for the slight diversion)
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Adam
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That's ok, Adam. It might give my mechanic a better clue what to look for...he suggested my problem might be a fuel delivery sensor...or possibly the ECU...
Here's hoping neither of us have to fork out for petrol (I'll admit the 33mpg was me driving it a little hard...but that 31mpg was worrying cause I was doing my 'conservative' driving...not quite Christian, but an improvement... ;-)
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I have the same engine in my 1.6 fiesta. Averages 39mpg (slightly smaller car I know) over the last 13k miles..yes I'm sad and record miles/usage.
I only use Shell or Texaco (Shell is cheapest here)
madf
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I've had an 03 2.0ltr zetec for 3 months now, over the 3,136 miles it has averaged 32.33 mpg.
Overall I think the car is a bit disappointing, strange gearing and an uncomfortable seat, don't think I'll be keeping it long.
Cheers
MPZ
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I've had an 03 2.0ltr zetec for 3 months now,........................>> and an uncomfortable seat, don't think I'll be keeping it long.
That'll be the dreaded bucket seats that are fitted to the Zetec. Aptly described, I think ~ to me they felt as if you were sitting on the rim of a bucket. That's why I went for a Ghia which has comfortable (well, for me anyway) seats.
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L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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<<.....if I had >> a 1.8 and it got anything much higher than 30mpg on >> day to day runs I would take it to the dealers >> to check someone hadn't swapped my engine for a 1.6.
Since Ive had my 1.8 Focus I have only cracked 30mpg once, and that was on my way to a funeral. Since then it has been in the high 20s, mostly running round town. I just hope i can get more than 30 this weekend, cos if I dont Ile have to fill up on the motorway to Devon - Aaargh
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My Mondeo 1.8 (same engine as Focus) has never cracked 30, averaging 27 over a mix of town/80mph...
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I'm amazed, I can get 27-28 in my 1982 2.8 V6 Auto Granada (a heavy car!) and I thought that was a bit thirsty...my other car, a 53 reg 2.0 dti Astra does about 52 and our 05 reg Micra dci does about 60. I love the V6 motor in the Granny but I'd be a bit miffed geting mid twenties out of a wheezy 4 cylinder motor though!
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I've got a 03 Focus 1.8. In June I measured my fuel economy when I went to Glastonbury.
There was two of us in the car and the boot was full with rear seats down (packed solid with camping kit and firewood), I still averaged 36.66mpg.
That was on a route made from roughly 50% duel carriageway/motorway and 50% A/B single carriageway. I was driving pretty sensibly though, but did have a reasonable amount of traffic on the road and plenty of weight to compensate.
Total miles = 320.4
Gallons of petrol used = 8.74
MPG = 36.66
Kev
PS. Yes, camping kit did include my wellies!!
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I love the V6 motor in the Granny but I'd be a bit miffed geting mid twenties out of a wheezy 4 cylinder motor though!
>>
I couldn't agree more. I thought manufacturers were supposed to be designing more fuel efficient engines these days too. It makes one wonder what the problem is, when one examines the kind of fuel consumption figures produced by BMW engines.
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SWMBO has a 99 Focus 1.6 which I use occasssionally (always seem to be the one who has to fill it up!!)
Mixture of town, short trips and longer 30-50mile trips on a and b roads with a bit of motorway. Very consistently gets 38 mpg.
Have newer Foci got the Duratech engine that is in the mark 3 mondeo? The duratech engine is a bit more frugal.
Must say the 1.6 focus is a great car
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Yes, 34.6325 mpg ;-)
Most petrol pumps only indicate to two places of decimals, and most odometers indicate to the nearest mile (with possibly the trip indicating to one place of decimals), so........! :-;
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L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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