Diesel Economy - Best So Far

[Steve_75]

Had to drive down from Coventry to South Wales and back yesterday. Decided to drive fairly gently and see what economy I could get. On the run down, I did 65-70 mph on the motorways/ dual carriageways and 55-60 on most of the single carriageway A roads.

Managed 77.3mpg on the trip (which I've found is normally within a tenth or two when I fill up). Really impressed with this! It did peak at 81.2 mpg in the roadworks on the M50 but the hills on the A465 knocked it back a bit. This is the best I've got on any journey so far. Think it must be starting to loosen up a bit now - just coming up to 6,000 miles.

Did some driving round town to the shops and back and hospital and back while down there and it did one of its regular regens as well during these journeys so when I came to leave, I was down to a 70.8 mpg average showing.

On the way back, generally drove a bit quicker, plus had to have air con, lights and wipers on most of the way due to the rain. Finished with an average of 71.2mpg. Still happy with that.

Especially when you still get that diesel torque to pull you up the big hills or overtake slower traffic.

Has anyone else got much more than my 77 mpg and if so, what sort of journey was it on and how did you drive to get it?

[Cyker]

Nice!

I must admit, I'd take the computer with a small pinch of salt as it tends to over-estimate slightly; Most accurate is if you record miles done and how much fuel you put in!

That said, my Mk1 has seen similar figures when doing extensive motorway journeys; I generally get around low-60's for mostly urban driving, but a throwing in some motorway runs can get me into the 70's.

My best record was something like 800 miles out of the tank when I'd somehow been duped into being an airport taxi for a load of people in one particular week!

Never had that opportunity again mind, plus back then the car was new and I was a lot more cautious with it because, coming from a gutless 1.3L Fiesta, it was slightly scary to suddenly be in a car that pulled so hard!

Now I am an addicted abuser of diesel torque, esp. overtaking (So effortless! I'd like to see a petrol engine do that and only be £30 tax! :D), which has limited me to the mid/high-70's even when doing mostly motorway journeys. The massive amount of roadworks this past... decade?? doesn't help either!

Getting above the 70's is very hard as tiny little things start having a much bigger effect; Air filter, oil, tyre pressure, weight, temperature, wind etc. and you have to drive the Yaris as if it is NA and try to stay away from the turbo as much as possible because the car will suck down fuel like a drunken sailor when the boost starts rising! (But oh the torque! :D)

[Steve_75]

I've found my trip computer is pretty accurate when comparing to working it out manually. Usually no more than a few tenths of an mpg out.

I know what you mean about the torque and overtaking! Just have to watch how long I floor it for as there's been a few times I've looked down at the speedo as I finish the overtake and surprised myself how fast I'm going!

Mind you, if you think the Yaris is fast compared to your 1.3 Fiesta, you should try some of the bigger diesels. I had an 06 Mondeo with the 2.2 diesel a few years ago. It had a stupidly short 1st gear but once you got off the line, it was ridiculous how quickly it would gain speed. Would still do over 50mpg on a run as well.

I agree with trying to stay off boost to get the better mpg - although sometimes it seems to work just as well to accelerate fairly briskly up to speed as you can then get off the throttle earlier.

Surprises me how refined the 1.4 is as well. Definitely no louder than the 2.0D in the Verso I had previously.

[Cyker]

I know! My brother has a 2.0D4D Corolla which seems to have very similar gear ratios to my Yaris, and that thing has absolutely brutal torque; It feels like you could tow a house with it!

It's rather spoilt by the ridiculously heavy must-have-been-stolen-from-an-artic-lorry clutch tho' - I nearly did in my left knee driving that thing though epic London start-stop traffic! But it was great once we got onto some uncongested A-roads. It's so much more comfortable and quiet than me Yaris too! The doors alone feel more weighty than all my doors put together

I do find accelerating more briskly tends to get better mpg than granny-crawling too, although I just do that to get into 4th/5th ASAP and then back off out of the turbo zone so the engine's practically idling ;). The other nice thing is it'll coast for ages if I let go of the accelerator which is the only reason I can keep the mpgs up in town! (Leaving bigger gaps in traffic to buffer out the start-stop as much as possible really helps! It's a bit of an art tho' as if you leave it too big, some git will try and nip in and spoil it!)