Fuel consumption

[Oscar]

A couple of quick questions - I'm getting 45 mpg. Is this good, bad or indifferent? And how can I go about improving it?

O

[RichardW]

I did 85,000 miles across my 2 BX TDs and they returned a pretty consistent 45mpg.

I once thought I'd try driving gently, but this only resulted in about 47 mpg, so I didn't bother after that, just kept the foot down

[cavmad]

My 1.7 (n/a) used to do up to 65mpg if driven nicely but dropped to about 50-ish after a while and my 1.9 estate is returning about what yours is now so I`d suggest your`s is about right.
I would say thought that driving at 60 and 50 instead of 75 and 60 on the way to work (about 8 miles) made a huge difference, perhaps about 5-6 mpg at least.

[tom]

Depends on your driving style. A 100MPH average yields 33 but driving with restraint (Obeying speed limits on motorways for example) will see 54
from my estate, even allowing for the occasional use of aircon. Three things to check. Front brake set up, particularly handbrake cables, which if unbalanced cause the brakes to bind, costing a good 5MPG, air filter good and clean, Fuel filter in good fettle.

[DLM]

Would definitely check handbrakes as Tom says - particularly if you're in the habit of doing the self-adjust handbrake trick (Step on pedal, pull handbrake up, release, feel pedal drop a little, repeat...) if the brake cable adjustment is just a little bit off-centre you'll soon notice the difference (in a bad way).

45 mpg is about right for a 1.9D - seemed to get this on my old TGD almost regardless of driving type/style. A few MPG little more is obtainable with a TD, is my (inexact) impression after a year of TD ownership.

[ken newbold]

On last Saturdays outing to Leighton Buzzard in my19rd Mk1 with TD gearbox I covered 323 miles at 60mph on motorway. I was pleasantly suprised to find it only used 4.4gals, returning 73.4mpg. Good enough for me.

[Oscar]

Thanks gents for the tips. Appreciated.

Oscar