hi thanks for reply,the fuel light was on when i put in the petrol so guess its better than i thought,i used to have a diesel people carrier before so maybe im comparing the 2 cars to much.

Many people complain of poor fuel consumption and yet this is almost always down to their own misconception and highly optimistic valuation of what they think it should be. The increased price of fuel doesn't help because you get less fuel for your money. There is no simple screw to turn which will adjust your car's fuel economy. Unless you have a very obvious fuel leak or a fault which would almost certainly mean the engine is running poorly, how many miles per gallon you get depends entirely on how you drive, the type of journeys you do, the weight you are carrying, the weather conditions and the quality of service and maintenance your car receives.....

It does sound quite normal, these engines ideally should be running on 5w30 oil. When I did run my Zetec on 5w40 it did use a little more fuel than when it was running on the 5w30.

I have the same engine in a mazda 6

I get around 30mpg around town, 38-40mpg on the motorway; it's a 4-speed auto