Hi can anyone help me, we own a brand new Micra 1.2 (basic model) which is drinking fuel like there is no tomorrow, we have only had it 2 weeks and its already drank £60 worth of fuel to do just over 400 miles, will this improve as the engine "runs" in ?
Fuel economy should be excellent on those.
Work out the mpg.
Should improve though.
One check would be to pop to any MOT garage and ask them to have a quick read of the exhaust emmissions. That will determine if anything wrong before you go back to Nissan.
I would guess that it is doing just over 30mpg. which would be terrible on a motorway but short runs to school or the shops in town, perhaps not so bad. How does it compare with what it is supposed to do. Is it petrol or diesel?
I've just reached for my calculator. Taking 'just over 400' as 410, and the price of fuel as 135p per litre, that comes out at 42mpg.
If most of your driving has been under urban conditions, that's probably quite good. (The manufacturer's figure for urban driving is 46.3mpg but most drivers find that their actual mpg is at least 10% to 15% below the manufacturer's figure).
Chris - i suppose when you put it like that it doesnt sound so bad, however we had a basic Fiesta 1.25 Style before and could run that around all week for £20 so its come as a bit of a shock with the Micra !
"BRAND NEW MICRA" wait for a few months then check again, I think you will find that the engine will have settled down a bit and your MPG should be better.
In answer to you question, yes, you should see the mpg improve as the engine free's up. It's also possible that the oil put in the engine from new is not necessarily the lowest friction type in order to assist running in. See what happens after the first recommended oil change.
sounds about right for a petrol vehicle, as said really depends on type of driving. Unfortunately too many people see figures for diesels at between 60-75mpg and compare against these.