very thirsty ph1 172

[Spongebob 172]

been reading quite a few mpg threads and ive come to the conclusion that i have a very thirsty car...i only seem to be getting roughly 28mpg..i dont spank the car and dont change gear above 3k..it does need a service and im wondering if this is the cause for it to have poor mpg returns...most people on here seem to be getting at least 35mpg so im seriously concerned that something is wrong with my car....any advice guys on what could be the problem

 

[StevieP]

what sort of journeys do you drive? i do a lot of town driving and don't really rag the engine much because my engine doesn't get warm enough to do so before i get to my destination, i average about 26mpg at the moment! I haven't really been on a long drive (10miles or greater) for bloody ages.

 

[Addz]

might be worth changing the lambda sensor(s) and giving it a good service

 

[Spongebob 172]

maybe thats the reason then..i only town drive and hardly ever hit the motorways and my daily trip to work and back is no more than 15miles a day

 

[quattro44]

Brake caliper(s) sticking on?

Mine did just that - replaced the nearside front caliper and my mpg went from 31mpg back up to 42mpg. But that was me making sure it was fixed.

Average around 37mpg.

 

[SkidMarx]

Blowing exhausts also ruin your MPG.

 

[Fletcher]

maybe thats the reason then..i only town drive and hardly ever hit the motorways and my daily trip to work and back is no more than 15miles a day

Maybe, although i'd still get it serviced asap.

 

[micallef1990]

i only get 28mpg mate in my 1.6 thats mainly only town driving

 

[Jun]

I'm thinking that something is wrong my car too after reading some of those threads. I'm hovering around the 32mpg area and that's driving it sensibly.

 

[Alex_X93]

28mpg in traffic is normal try to reset on a motorway, possibly a new air filter.

 

[AlexS]

I only get 32-33mpg out of my phase 1 with only a slightly longer trip, a good service should sort her out.

 

[Pep]

First port of call would be pre cat lambda mate, mine was playing up and only managing 27mpg on a run or pottering about.

Changed it and now it's up to 35mpg.

Ballache of a job though, if you arent handy and patient with cars pay someone else to do it.

Bosch Lambda from GSF was 60quid when i bought mine last month, with cliosport discount.

 

[Tom|Nbk]

Isn't 32MPG actually quite good for our engines?

I managed around 35MPG average earlier but that was some seriously slow driving. I'm getting around 32-33 at the moment.

 

[Andyman]

38mpg is classed as average according to Renault with these.

Unless its very heavy constant city traffic, anything low 30's or under and my guess would be a problem.

I can sit at a constant 90 on a modded engine and it never dip below mid 30's. My average is book figure all in all.

As already mentioned, check for Lambda's, brakes and blowing exhaust. Maybe take it to a RR'd for the AFR to be checked.

 

[Tom|Nbk]

38!

Wow I didn't think it was that good. Mine is mainly mixed town/a road driving so I'm not too fussed with 33MPG atm.

 

[maynard]

i think service first of all and ask for a diagnostic test, should show any faults that are hidden, ie lambda sensor. as said above gsf for the part if needed matey.

 

[Alex_X93]

Driving with to much throttle when cold will drink fuel and lower mpg so expect below 28mpg on cold starts short journeys (auto choke) I have about 26. sumit at moment from driving local quickly to garage etc.
I had average 45mpg rise to 60+mpg after half filled the tank and reset trip on motorway yesterday, when I hit town traffic had combined of 35-36mpg hope this helps.

 

[shovon]

I have a ph1 172 too and have similar low mpg. I do wonder if some people exagerate their mpg on here.

Admittedly, I do a lot of short journeys but 28 mpg is my average.

By the way, how would I go about checking if I've got a sticking brake caliper, as I was wondering about this? Could I take the wheel off and try rotating the hub and see if it rotates freely when the car is out of gear?

 

[Blarno]

Are you going off what the trip computer tells you, or working out the real MPG on a brim-to-brim basis?

Trip computers are notoriously innacurate on most cars. My trip tells me I'm averaging 35.8, but I can almost guarantee it's worse than that.

 

[shiyan]

My car seems to have gotten more thirsty since my trackday so I've been sort of wondering some of the same things

been in for the 80000km service so I'll see...

 

[MikeyK18]

maybe thats the reason then..i only town drive and hardly ever hit the motorways and my daily trip to work and back is no more than 15miles a day

same for me with town driving, motorway driving gets rougly 38-40mpg

 

[Munson]

I average around 28mpg myself at the moment. Although I don't drive around watching the petrol guage trying to get the mpg as high as possible. The guys who reckon they get around 40mpg must live and work at each end of an empty motorway.

 

[Russ_16v]

the past 30,000 miles in my ph1 i have averaged 35.6 mpg, drive around 50 mph and i can average around 43 pmg ish, avarage driving to and from work (which is 11 miles, a roads wit hone 30 mpg village to go through) has recently been doing 40 which is pretty good

i think the key is not slowling down, then speeding back up,make your driving flow and the mpg will be better

 

[Vish]

I wouldn't have thought too far off Ivan. See what its like after the service and then decide about the lambda. Wouldn't the lambda issues show up on an MOT when they do the gas test? When was it last MOT'd and what were lambda figures like?

I get 30-33mpg across a tank but I'm either in slow traffic or in enough space to use my lead foot.