The real mpg. From the USA

[act2617]

The government has been keeping a secret about automobiles under wraps for the past 30 years. What's the secret? Your car is not getting the gas mileage promised on the showroom sticker. The actual mpg could be as much as 50% lower. Say what?

Consumer Reports' David Champion reported, "People are going into showrooms, they're looking at that sticker that says miles per gallon and they're saying, 'Oh it get goods miles per gallon, but in reality, they're being cheated."

Automotive manufacturers put cars through a simulated city course. Next the highway -- a real highway. For the third test, they take the car out on a 150-mile day trip throughout Connecticut. All the while, a special miles per gallon meter is ticking away. Their results? Many numbers you see on those stickers are off way off -- one as much as 50 percent.

Consumer Reports did their own real-life tests and came up with very different mpg results. For example: Honda claims its hybrid Civic sedan gets 48 mpg in the city. Consumer Reports found it only gets 26 mpg -- a 46 percent difference. Read the news report for test results on other cars.

The EPA has said a change is coming in time for the 2008 models, but admits there is no perfect test.





http://www.wesh.com/news/9141621/det...subid=10100244

[charles_wif_xf]

Those "official" fuel consumption figures I tend to take with a grain of salt. There are prime examples of stock BA's for one, where one will exhibit figures of 14L/100km in combo driving and some can pull 10L/100km.

[brenx]

Thing is it'll very for every driver.

BA I6's are odd. My dads gets 14/15L/100km yet his boss used one temporarily that saw 11L/100km. Now my dad would almost kill to get that type of milage.

I'm not doing to bad in my Astina 1.8l. I put a sports exhaust on and dropped it from 9.9L/100km ->8.9L/100km.

My EL's getting 15L/100km which isn't too bad really considering it's engine is 2.2lt larger than the Astina. Lowest I've every got from the EL is 13.5L/100km

If anyone's interested in working theirs out? Click below

http://www.accommodationz.co.nz/economycalculator.html

[Steffo]

Have you seen the outrageous figures the US EPA posts? I don't know how they test their cars, but according to them, a 7-litre V8 Corvette Z06 is more economical then some small, 2.5 V6 engined cars... until you test them in the real world and, well, yeah.

[seano14]

Originally Posted by brenx

My EL's getting 15L/100km which isn't too bad really considering it's engine is 2.2lt larger than the Astina. Lowest I've every got from the EL is 13.5L/100km

If anyone's interested in working theirs out? Click below

http://www.accommodationz.co.nz/economycalculator.html

useful link that one, i would have thought your EL would be alot better than 15L/100km.

my old LTD gets around 13L/100 and its one of the old leaded 4.1L crossflows! sure enough that site calculated 13.07L/100, 21MPG

[Bermo]

I find it varies alot on your driving style.
I usually average 10.3L/100Km in my BA, but I leant my car to a friend and it went up to 11.2L/100Km.
He wasn't hammering it though, he just takes off quicker from lights and puts the foot down to go up hills.

All comes down to driving style.

[turboute]

One of my bosses gets about 10L per 100 in his Slightly Modified CV8 Monaro...
So one of the other workmates bought himeself a SSZ Ute - the way he drives though he wont get anywhere near 10L/100

[EACRUISER]

Links very good.

Answer for my car is not so good.
Then again i didn't build it for fuel economy, i built it for fun :baby bott :baby bott

18L/per 100kms when cruising,
26.42L/per 100kms when driving a little bit more enthusiastic.
31.65L/per 100 when driving like a noob. :baby bott

She's a drinker, i can tell you that.

Then again what do i expect my Factory TripMeter is always saying 20-30 on the instantanious consumption meter cruising and goes close to 99 when i take off from the lights.

[chevypower]

i find the stickers good as far as comparing each vehicle to each other - real world economy might be different, but to be totally accurate, i could not compare another vehicle to mine in exactly the same way without owning it - so if they all use the same testing process, and we just use the figures for comparitive purposes only (which is what is usually indicated) - then they can be useful

[Smoked]

A car manufacturer lying to us to make a sale is not a new concept, its just getting more difficult for them to hide things.

[Deanodriver]

I reckon, as a general rule of thumb, the quoted city economy is close to what you'll get in day-to-day driving.

I know with my old Pintara, the economy was 8hwy/10.5city, and I used to get around 10.5 often. I'm getting 12ishL/100km from the Falcon as well.

[hoppo366]

I managed 220km on 22L 10L/100km average in my XF Stage 2 4.1 with EFI on the weekend. Freak occurance usually about 14L/100 highway and 20L/100 in the city. Hope it stays that way. 150k's of that was on the highway doing 110 with T5 and 2.92 gears

[vegabass]

Hmm I get awesome economy!

600 kms to a tank (best has been 682)
68L tank?
11.3 per 100 that’s will WOT and fun. Can inc a trip to willowbank!

The worse economy I ever get is
500km to a tank
13.6 per 100kms

[outback_ute]

Is anyone surprised road testers don't get the official economy figures, they are normally pushing the cars hard at least some of the time (if not most). Most people would not drive to maximise economy as evidenced by the figures above. Of course the manufacturers are going to give the best figures possible!

Originally Posted by act2617

The government has been keeping a secret about automobiles under wraps for the past 30 years. What's the secret? Your car is not getting the gas mileage promised on the showroom sticker. The actual mpg could be as much as 50% lower. Say what?

I suppose that might be a secret from some... How dare the government lie to us :

[LethalLeigh]

To get the figure listed on the sticker you might want to use the highest gear possible and turn those pesky things like the stereo and aircon off! Driving style is the biggest variable which is why I'm getting 450km out of a 35L fill in my Fiesta and some other drivers on the forum are getting 650km. Still, it's a damn sight cheaper to run than my Falcon and I enjoy it just as much.

[qwigybo]

my ef gets 11.7L/100km and i'm always giving it some poop
according to that calculator my ba xr6 ute used to get 15.2/100
which wouldn't suprise me it almost always displayed 99/100 whenever i would take off

[Mike Gayner]

So, what does this have to do with the government?

On a side note, when the hell is the USA going to get out of the stone age and go metric?

[[Tonko]]

im lucky to get 400km out of the EA... as for the XD....i dont want to know....