I needed to visit a client 35 miles away this morning and being somewhat bored, it provided the opportunity for an experiment.

My Mini Cooper Clubman 1.6 is averaging 42.7 mpg from my daily commute of 88 miles - a mix of urban crawl and stop-start at either end with some 60-70 mph A1 running in between.

I filled the tank before leaving for my client visit and reset the computer. Joining the A1 I settled behind a large car transporter, maintaining the '2 second distance' rule. On the return journey I hooked-up behind a another large truck.

Average speed was c. 57-58 mph and the mpg average for the round-trip was 54.1 mpg.

Strangely satisfying. OK my journey took marginally longer, but I'm certain there's no meaningful human activity that could've been accomplished in the time I would have saved by driving faster.

If my patience can be maintained I'm going to attempt a 54 mpg average for the rest of the week. If I can, that'll mean a c. 25% improvement in MPG, with associated saving in fuel cost.

The money I save can then be put towards getting a life.

 

Or respraying the nose of the car

 

How accurate is the gauge though? Is it calcuating how much fuel you are using or predicting it based on current driving style etc.?

Only way to properly check your consumption is to fill up reset mileometer, do your journeys then fill up again. divide mileage driven by the fuel (litres/4.54) to get your mpg.

 

The computer would appear to be reasonably accurate as a tank of fuel is giving me c. 340 miles. The computer is saying 42.7 mpg for the usual driving style and a fill-up is usually 8 or so gallons.

Not particularly scientific, but the relative increase in the MPG on the computer is the interesting bit.

 

Hate to say it but

Car found to be more fuel efficient at circa 56 mph shocker

Today an S2ki motoring enthusiast found that the mpg figures released by car manufacturers are usually at approx 56mph for the best figures for a reason.

 

Kelk,

I'm pretty sure that the 56mph efficiency number is an urban myth, which started when Audi began advertising the 100 on the basis of its low drag co-efficient.

The only reason "56" was quoted is that it's the same as 90Km/h, and was a translation from the Euro advert.

I'd bet you'd get better economy at 40 than you would at 50, drag being the factor here.

Happy to be proved wrong though

 

Thanks for pointing out the obvious... but I did consider the fact my speed whilst being 'towed' was a little less than my usual average!

The surprising aspect (to me at least) was the relatively huge difference.

 

Tailgating helps economy too.

Have you never heard the expression, Fifty's thrifty but the ton's more fun!

 

 

For every positive effect etc etc....
The negative effect of this is the bloke in front who was previously getting 40mpg cant understant why he now only gets 30mpg.