Petrol Usage

[char_baby]

Had the car for almost 3 years and it's only after speaking to my Mum how much I fill up a week on petrol that i've started to wonder about it.

So £40 of petrol will get me up to about 300 miles.
I do about 160 miles a week, 20 miles or so a day and the odd 30 mile a day twice a week (6 days in total). Bearing in mind my speed rarely goes over 60mph whilst driving to and from work.

So really, the petrol should last me over a week i'm thinking? But it doesn't, and i'm confused about it.
Its a bog standard 1.4 and my route is mostly country roads. Hitting 43-48mpg.

Are there any simple reasons for it to only last a week?

 

[vmark89]

Could be the fuel your using? I find that I get about 25-30 more miles from a tank of vpower in my DS3 some will say its a placebo but I've done it on the same route each time I filled it up on my couple of weeks off vs Morrison's or fuel save from shell..
Could be the fuel filter or air filter if its not been checked yet maybe they could be a bit dirty?

 

[Slimy]

I'm not sure I follow your maths? You're saying that £40 gets you 300 miles, you do 160 miles in a week but £40 of fuel isn't lasting a week?

So either you're doing more miles than you think you are, or the £40 isn't giving you 300 miles.

 

[char_baby]

So i normally fill up when it gets to 35miles left. I put in £40 it goes up to about 300-310miles. Apparently.

£40 will last me just under a week, which I think is pathetic considering it displays that my tank now has approx. 300 miles till empty.

My drive to and from work is 10 miles each way. 5 days a week, 2 of which are longer at about 20 miles each way. Then a Saturday which again is 10miles each way.

Hope that makes sense, I just use unleaded from Shell. I can't seem to think where else the miles go.

Unless my fuel display is way off?

 

[BobbyT]

£60 gives me ~310 miles. My MPG is really bad, I rarely find it getting into the 40's. I put V-Power in the last 2 times I filled up and I was getting ~350 miles from my tank. I normally use Shell Fuel-Save and I'm only a 1.4 sport too... I just filled up with the normal shell stuff just to see check how many miles it is giving me but it looks like I could be using V-Power from now on.

 

[GraemeB]

Hmm the only way to find out your true average mpg over a tank is to fill it to the brim, run the car for say 300 miles and fill it to the brim again. That tells you how many litres you have used for x miles and work it out from there.
TBH the miles to empty on my trip computer talks out of its erse most of the time.

 

[nightflight]

^ Yep, get fuelly.com on the go, I need to get back into the habit of recording all my fuel ups using the mobile site as soon as I've filled up.

 

[BobbyT]

I did that and it came back as 34.8

 

[bbewekim]

300 miles on £40 is very good, bare in mind £40 is something stupid like 30-32litres.

Used to run a 1.4 16v polo 9n sport and 350 miles to a tank on the motorway.

The trip computer is pretty rubbish to go off. I was driving a mk6 GTI the other week and the trip went up over the course of the 80 mile run suggesting that I would get more miles than when I set out... The fuel gauge however moved quite a bit.

 

[GraemeB]

£40 won't go far at 35 mpg. What are you paying for a litre at the moment? It's 137.9p here at the moment.
Don't know why they don't just call it £1.38...

 

[adambolus]

I used to put £50-55 a week in and that got me just over 300 miles around 330 average.

Can you tell I never wanted to work out my mpg

 

[Giz]

I used to think my 1.4 sport was thirsty all the time, petrol seemed to just disappear in it, since getting my FR it highlighted it more, im getting far more miles to the tank now than I was with the standard 1.4 engine.

 

[NetworkMan]

GraemeB has it right.

Fill the tank to the point where cut-off works first time and note the mileage.
When you next fill the tank (again to cut-off) note the mileage again and record the litres.

Multiply litres by 0.22 to get gallons then divide mileage by gallons to get mpg.

That will give you a rough idea but is subject to a little error since the tank may not be exactly filled to the same point each time. To get around that do it about three times (900-1000 miles) keeping a total of the mileage and litres bought. Add all the miles and all the litres again fillling to cut-off. Divide total miles by total gallons to get a more accurate mpg figure.

You only need to fill to cut-off before you start and on the last fill-up, not on the intermediate fill-ups.

It's easier to do than describe!!

 

[Nutkin]

its a petrol and you are getting 43mpg and complaining? I dont understand! if you wanted economy then diesel is the answer!

 

[Wimbledonian]

I've got an Altea with that base 1.4 engine which gets driven around town and averages 30 mpg. So I don't think the OP has a problem.

 

[watchboy]

Also ask the work shop to check on the air filter, if it is dirty and dusty, then more fuel will be burnt to give you the same performance. And also send it for a check up in your next service or soon, if there is any air leakage.

Ask them to check also, very unlikely to be the cause, the fuel filter too.

 

[adamb87]

I dont think you have any problem at all. Sounds decent enough to me

 

[jaybro187]

you lucky charlotte, as stated before i get 32 - 34mpg and i drive really steady. i have the same car as you and only get 280 ish miles for 70 quid

question is for me why any petrol stations can i only get 43litres in my car and not a drop more but at tesco i can get 60litres and keep going i check in case its leaking out but its not and then i useally get more miles but of course for a cost.

 

[jaybro187]

p.s the 1.4 ibiza petrol is the worse car ive owned for fuel. no power and drinks more than any car ive owned, clio turbo, st and vxr.

 

[GraemeB]

you lucky charlotte, as stated before i get 32 - 34mpg and i drive really steady. i have the same car as you and only get 280 ish miles for 70 quid

question is for me why any petrol stations can i only get 43litres in my car and not a drop more but at tesco i can get 60litres and keep going i check in case its leaking out but its not and then i useally get more miles but of course for a cost.

The tank in the Ibiza takes 45 litres so god knows how you are managing to get 60 litres+ into it from a Tesco pump!