Does this seem like a lot of fuel to get through?

[EvianBaby]

On the weekend I did a round trip of approx 260 miles and used almost an entire tank of petrol to do it.

It's fair to say I was possibly a little heavy footed for the first half but was doing less than 70mph most of the second half.

It just seems like a lot of fuel for that journey, even if I did put my foot down a bit for some of it. What do you think?

(car is a 1.6 Golf).

[jno]

it's the slow driving through towns that really chews up petrol. Most cars use least when doing 50-60ish, I think (I don't know about Golfs particularly).

I get 250-300 miles out of a tank of normal mixed driving; if it's mostly motorways it's more like 350+. This with a Peugeot, 1.4. So I'd say yes, that seems quite a lot, but it may be different with your car.

[EDDIE51]

How much is 'almost a full tank of fuel' ? Far too vague to give an answer.
From your question it seems you were averaging well over the speed limit.
At 80 mph a car will use over 40% more fuel per mile than at 60 mph.

[EvianBaby]

OK, when I started the bar on the fuel guage was just above the next one down from a full tank - does that make sense?

[andrew1707]

We have one car with a 45ltr fuel tank and another with an 80ltr.

Do you know how big the tank on your car is?

[EDDIE51]

Sorry still too vague , sounds like you used around 3/4 of a tank but how much does the tank hold ?
To check mpg fill the tank until the fuel pump stops pumping (full tank) check the milage reading then drive 200 miles or so and refill the tank until the fuel pump stops. Then see how many litres it took to refill and how many miles you have driven. You need to convert the litres to gallons as well (4.2 litres per gallon I think)

[puternut]

Just a guesstimate.

I looked online and found the Golf has a fuel tank which holds 55 litres. You say you havent used all the bars so lets say you've used 40 litres.

40 litres is about 8.8 gallons (assuming 1 gallon = 4.54609188 litres)

so 260 miles on 8.8 gal = 29.54 mpg

That does seem a bit low.........

Not sure if its still true but they used to say the ideal speed to 'cruise' at mpg wise is 56mph so less use of the right foot!!!!

[EvianBaby]

Er, no idea on the fuel tank. Doing a quick Google I think it's about 45ltrs.

Will have to wait until I get paid then treat it to a complete fill - don't do that very often :)

[EvianBaby]

56 mph on the M40???? Not a chance!! ;)

[EDDIE51]

If your tank is only 45 litres you have done around 35 to 40 mpg not bad at all for driving at over 70 most of the time.

[puternut]

Many other things to consider

Manual or automatic - driver alone or 3 passengers

And just because the other d1ckheads are doing 90 doesn't mean you have to too!

[EvianBaby]

Ok. Just feels like I used to get a lot more from it.

Looks like I need to do a bit of homework before I try and work it out properly.

[EDDIE51]

Make sure the tyres are up to the correct pressure , under inflated tyres can knock quite a bit off the milage per gallon, and make sure the engine is serviced correctly all adds up to better milage. Just start making a note of the mileometer reading every time you fill up and of how many litres you put in. My daughter does this , she has a small notebook in the car and she records the milage and number of liters at every fill up. Soon tells you if something is wrong.

[jno]

do you have a trip mileage recorder that you can reset every time you fill up? Then when you do, you can check how many miles since your last refill vs how many litres you've just put in your tank

[EvianBaby]

That's a good point.

Will try and remember to do that when I fill up from now on.

[TWR]

Evian, I think you may have under estimated how much fuel you had in the car, do do not get sod all now for a fiver, that car of mine costs as near to a £80 to fill up, as you may know a lot of things reduce MPH, Roof racks, Bike Racks, open windows, binding brakes & a poorly serviced car, I am not preaching but that's how thing are I'm afraid.

[Hopkirk]

My Astra 1.6 normally does about 400 miles from full to the red line - about 40 mpg.

You started at about 3/4 and did not far short of 300 miles.

Sounds about right, considering we are working on very vague measurements.

[jomifl]

To get the MPG claimed by the manufactureres you have to drive really carefully and you can't do it without lots of practice and anticipation. Use gentle acceleration, keep a constant speed, use brakes minimally. Oh, and don't go above 65 mph. Even that won't get you close.