Just spent the last 4 days doing 800 miles in a Vauxhall Astra....

[robnut]

As ive mentioned before i drive a brand new 1.6sxi sportshatch and the economy is dire. If i sit at 60 on the mway and drive like a absolute saint, no unneeded braking etc i can manage 46mpg, as soon as i cruise at 70 it drops to 36ish, after a few journeys it levels out at 33mpg every time.
If i get spirited and take the b road home ive seen it on 24avg. Really wish i chose something else (its a mobility car) but least it looks nice

 

[Stelly]

Well all you Astra lovers out there, we are doing an new ECO engine so nah, and the new Astra (GCV) is quite the car

Stelly

 

[Scania]

Nice review of a crap car.

Really tempted to just go for a drive and see what the absoloute best I can muster out it

Its really anal, but you need to reset your trip counter, fill your car up, making a note of how many litres you put in, subtract the fill amount from the tanks capacity (in the handbnook somewhere usually) and then make a note of the mileage when you fill it again, repeating this over a month or so of your "usual" driving is the only accurate way of getting a realistic MPG figure that fits with the cars regular use.

I got 39MPG from my 728i once on a similar drive just after I'd bought it so I know where your coming from. It was over 400miles, but I found the effort was ultimately a pointless waste of time, as I had to drive "out of my usual style" to achieve this figure. Unless you drive like a total Granny all the time - something I know I don't! - such an ultimate MPG drive is pointless as it does not really tell you anything.

 

[Skiddley]

I manage 31mpg in the Porka at 80-100 on the m/way...and that's a 3.2!

 

[[TW]Fox]

I got 39MPG from my 728i once on a similar drive just after I'd bought it so I know where your coming from. It was over 400miles, but I found the effort was ultimately a pointless waste of time, as I had to drive "out of my usual style" to achieve this figure.

It really isnt that hard on a long trip - just set the cruise to 70 and you get great fuel economy. Most people dont think you can do this as they drive on Motorways at 9000000000mph getting 12mpg so they get to their destination 7 minutes quicker.

 

[Jonnycoupe]

I forgot another point - the indicator stalks are ridiculous. They don't click into position. You nudge them and then you're supposed to tap or light touch them to cancel the indicator but you end up indicating in the opposite direction instead....

Nudge them and they indicate 3 times before stopping.

 

[Demon]

Nudge them and they indicate 3 times before stopping.

The logic is so easy, but I can see the case that if you don't make the slightest effort to realise they aren't normal mechanical indicator stalks and treat them as 'normal' stalks that people get frustrated and call them 'crap'..

Nice review of a crap car.

It's hardly 'crap' though is it.. although I grant you it is all relative, but go and drive a 1.4 Focus LX/Megane 1.4 authentic/ Civic 1.4 DSi, and you will find that all are 'crap'... The only point really being made is that underpowered midrange family cars are all 'crap'..
unless you are eluding that jumping into a Focus 1.6 LX from a 1.6 Elite Astra is like stepping into a ferrari 430 by comparison?

 

[Prophet]

I forgot another point - the indicator stalks are ridiculous. They don't click into position. You nudge them and then you're supposed to tap or light touch them to cancel the indicator but you end up indicating in the opposite direction instead....

lmao - You nudge them in the direction you're indicating to cancel. I've driven a few new Vauxhalls and love the indicators.

Would have loved to see you getting annoyed trying to cancel the indicators and ranting about them when its your fail and not the cars

 

[Jez]

It really isnt that hard on a long trip - just set the cruise to 70 and you get great fuel economy. Most people dont think you can do this as they drive on Motorways at 9000000000mph getting 12mpg so they get to their destination 7 minutes quicker.

You'll probably find the cruise saps a bit too, mine seems to eat around 2MPG for whatever reason over simply controlling the throttle manually.

 

[Jonnycoupe]

Human will happily go up hills at 65 and down at 75. The computer aiming for 70mph ALL the time doesn't always benefit economy.

 

[MarkDavis]

lmao - You nudge them in the direction you're indicating to cancel. I've driven a few new Vauxhalls and love the indicators.

Would have loved to see you getting annoyed trying to cancel the indicators and ranting about them when its your fail and not the cars

Well, you learn something new every day!

Would try it again but the car's gone back into the company hire pool and I won't be asking for one again

 

[geuben]

I have no sympathy for you, I did 800miles in a P reg Vectra 2ltr Diesel with 15 car batteries and a bike in the boot, needless to say it was slooooow and not a pleasant ride.

 

[TripleT]

yes it would, if you had 6 gears you can cruise along at 70 at about 2/2.5k revs as opposed to 3k/3.5k revs in a normal 5 geared car

That's really not true. They don't tend to stick a 6th on for motorway driving, the difference between 5th and 6th is usually no more than 3rd or 4th. It's not some magical gear that drops the revs to 2k at 80mph.

Look at the GTi6 and the Xsara VTS. Same engine, one has 6 gears 1 has 5 gear. 80mph in the GTi6 is still 4k revs, the other gears are just closer really.

And 33mpg from that Astra is terrible!

 

[Prophet]

Well, you learn something new every day!

Would try it again but the car's gone back into the company hire pool and I won't be asking for one again

The only reason I know is because I had an early 2.2DTI Vecta C on loan for a few days. It took me until day two to figure out that it was me failing and not the indicators lol

 

[MarkDavis]

That's really not true. They don't tend to stick a 6th on for motorway driving, the difference between 5th and 6th is usually no more than 3rd or 4th. It's not some magical gear that drops the revs to 2k at 80mph.

Look at the GTi6 and the Xsara VTS. Same engine, one has 6 gears 1 has 5 gear. 80mph in the GTi6 is still 4k revs, the other gears are just closer really.

Its doesn't have to drop the revs to 2k. Any reduction is revs is going to be an improvement in economy.

The GTi6 isn't the best example of the fuel economy principle because they didn't include 6th for economy, but to have closer ratios for the other five gears. It wouldn't make sense to have 6th as an overdrive gear because there'd be a huge gap between 5th and 6th. And besides, the GTi6 is designed for performance not economical motorway cruising.

In the two cars that i've tried with 6 gears - a Civic and an A4 - slotting them into 6th on the motorway definitely improves economy.

 

[csmager]

Its really anal, but you need to reset your trip counter, fill your car up, making a note of how many litres you put in, subtract the fill amount from the tanks capacity (in the handbnook somewhere usually) and then make a note of the mileage when you fill it again, repeating this over a month or so of your "usual" driving is the only accurate way of getting a realistic MPG figure that fits with the cars regular use.

I don't see how the tank's capacity is relevant. Just reset the counter, brim it, drive it, brim it again and divide the figure on the dashboard by the figure on the pump. Voila.

 

[Demon]

I don't see how the tank's capacity is relevant. Just reset the counter, brim it, drive it, brim it again and divide the figure on the dashboard by the figure on the pump. Voila.

When you have old 'barges' that have humungous fuel tanks, perhaps the 'brim it' is too expensive a prospect for it's owner..

 

[jamoor]

I had one of these, I think it was the SRI/sport/whatever with a 1.6 engine, I got 37mpg out of it over 200 mway and 50 mixed miles, I was thrashing it and driving at around 1 lepton.

It was a pretty bad car though and couldn't live with it.