210miles to a tank

[Sebastian]

i'm doin' 450-500 km with about 50 L of petrol. that's normal driving in dublin .

did manage to drive 300 km with a tank ..

[d_dan]

do ye recon changing the fuel filter will help?

[stevec]

Ive done a good few trips Dublin - Shannon - Dublin.

Round trip is about 440km and I would still have a wee bit left after a fill.

A lot of that was on 'good' roads / m'way which are economical to drive on. The back roads from Bird Hill to Shannon are a different story though - plenty of mivec needed to make any decent progress.

[stevec]

Wait untill your fuel light comes on - put in 50litres of fuel and zero the odometer - then come back on here with the mileage figure the next time the fuel light comes on - we'll be able to get a more accurate idea of your fuel economy figures.

More accurate way is to fill her up to the brim and zero the trip, drive for a few days and then see how many litres it takes to re-fill.

I find the light will come on at different times depending on driving. I suppose it depends on how the juice is sloshing around in the tank.

[d_dan]

As above do ye recon a new fuel filter would help much?

[Muad_dib77]

I don't see how Dan..

[stevec]

Wouldn't think the filter would cause bad mpg. If anything it might cause starvation and use less - I'm no expert though.

The biggest enonomy factors with cars like the FTO are car weight (the amount of useless crap that accumulates) and left foot weight - i.e. how you drive.

If you suspect a problem, do as I suggested above twice.
First driving normally, don't think about it.
Second, drive like a granny for a day and see how much difference it makes.

[d_dan]

iv about 1/8th of a thank left... so ill fill up set the thing to 0 and drive 60 the whole way!
is granny driving changing at 500rpm? or is it at 2000?

[Myfeckin FTO]

iv about 1/8th of a thank left... so ill fill up set the thing to 0 and drive 60 the whole way!
is granny driving changing at 500rpm? or is it at 2000?

just drive normally - i.e. under 5500rpm - the more you use the Mivec (after 5500rpm) the more your economy will suffer. (Though of course the Mivec was designed to be used. )

Stop thinking that the fuel guage is an indication of economy - the FTO fuel guage is a very inaccurate way to measure economy.

Use Steves suggestion to calculate your economy - brim your fuel tank - zero the odometer and the next time you need fuel - top up the tank again - take note of the amount of litres needed to refill and take note of your mileage. Then for instance if you do 400km on 50litres your ecomony will be 8km per litre or 23mpg.

Heres another handy ecomony conversion tool - http://www.euronet.nl/users/grantm/frans/fuel.html

[stevec]

What I meant was use less gas pedal when you accelerate. Try not to go more than half way to the floor, don't go over 2-3k. Definitely stay out of mivec range.

On an open road, this probably won't make a hugh difference. Its when you take off from lights or speed up after a 50k zone in a town that the temptation is there to put the foot down.

Don't forget, you'll use more fuel at 2000revs with the foot planted while accelerating than you will cruising at 3000revs.

As I said, I'm no expert and could be talking complete s**te, It's just my take on how it all works.

[sinlessgunner]

I worked out my MPG and on my weekly journey from Longford to Dublin and back again plus a good bit of weekend driving I drive about 250 miles and spend about 50euro per week. Works out at 26-29 mpg. This is quite good for a MIVEC I reckon.Driving through the town is rediculous though.....U just watch the needle drop!!

[mcgon1979]

I get about 400km each fill. I usually refill before the fuel light is on, and put in 45ish litres (50euro), so there is always room for a few more litres. I reckon I'd get 450km from 100% full tank to fuel light. mixed driving style but mostly tame.

CJ, your VR4 sounds like a thirsty beast! Then again, I doubt you have been tipping around much, more like sending her on. The first 2 weeks of onwning any new car always seem highly uneconomical.

[Myfeckin FTO]

My last FTO Manual GPX consistently bettered 30mpg and I don't exactly drive miss daisy.

I imagine a lot to do with this was reducing the load on the engine - e.g. removing air con unit and reducing weight of approx 100kgs. Plus you also get a performance benefit - I had a 0-60 figure of 6.4 secs which is considerably quicker than standard.

Some ideas to loose weight (some may seem a little extreme):

Remove spare wheel and tools - carry a can of tyre weld instead.
Remove all unneccessary junk from car - you'll be amazed what a box of this weights.
If you don't need the rear seats - then remove them - they just bolt out.
Remove air con unit - this should somewhere around 40-50kgs plus will also remove some engine load.
Remove unneccesary shielding in engine bay and under car (plastic and metal).
Avoid heavy ICE systems and subwoofers etc


Other ideas to increase economy :
Decat + Free flowing exhaust
Iridium plugs
Check tyre pressure - 32 front / 29 rear.
Use higher RON fuel - FTO's like Maxol E5.

[Wildhound]

Wait untill your fuel light comes on

My fuel light doesn't seem to work. I've had the needle on 'E' and no light. I was too worried about pushing it any further to see if, somehow, it comes on after that.

Hell I don't even know where the light is.

[mcgon1979]

Wait untill your fuel light comes on

My fuel light doesn't seem to work. I've had the needle on 'E' and no light. I was too worried about pushing it any further to see if, somehow, it comes on after that.

Hell I don't even know where the light is.

LOL. I thought it was only me. I have driven 25km on E. And I mean the needle was ON E! could not go anymore to the left. and no light. I have seen it come on once though ages ago.

[Myfeckin FTO]

Wait untill your fuel light comes on

My fuel light doesn't seem to work. I've had the needle on 'E' and no light. I was too worried about pushing it any further to see if, somehow, it comes on after that.

Hell I don't even know where the light is.

LOL. I thought it was only me. I have driven 25km on E. And I mean the needle was ON E! could not go anymore to the left. and no light. I have seen it come on once though ages ago.

It does come on - you just have to be brave. Carry a 5litre tank of fuel in the boot and see how far you can push before the FTO starts to stutter.

[stevec]

LOL. I thought it was only me. I have driven 25km on E. And I mean the needle was ON E! could not go anymore to the left. and no light. I have seen it come on once though ages ago.

Needle in mine goes past E before the light comes on!

[Marie]

Same ere my light comes on very late!
Just be brave, and drive in a nice area

[mcgon1979]

LOL... be brave folks... carry fuel in the boot and do laps of dolphin barns until you run out of fuel. you can do it!

[sinlessgunner]

My fuel light is on more often than it isn't ha!

[d_dan]

Same ere my light comes on very late!
Just be brave, and drive in a nice area

Easy for you to say...
You've got boobs

[CJ]

Careful now!

[Muad_dib77]

Back on topic..

My fuel gauge needle is way way beyond "e" when the light comes on... the needle thing actually isn't very accurate at all... but apparently the light is..

If you drive with your backseat out and the music off you'll quite easily be able to hear petrol sloshing about in the tank... if the sloshy sound stops you're in trouble..

[misterbishi]

Car is doing 210miles to a thank or 340km to the thank is that good or bad?

Im getting 100KMper 10/11L on average.. thats a bit of bit of and town driving!

[d_dan]

i did a bit of granny driving (& after what martin said up in westward it makes scence)

iv about 60-70miles dont now and less than 1/4 of a thank!