I have noticed I have been spending more on fuel lately, but just worked out the latest figure, 34mpg. Now I do all town driving but it seems a bit on the low side to me?

Have been a lot of road works in sarf Manchester though so it may be a combination of that. The car seems to be running perfectly but it still seems to be too low?

The car has done just over 5000 miles now. On an old banger I would be checking the plugs and air filter at this stage, but surely its too new?

Even when the head gasket was shot, I was getting 30mpg out of my Corsa.

I have been driving like an Italian lately, so may be that is it?

It is a 2010 1.1 Active btw.

Just put the figures into an MPG (UK) calculator and it is coming up with 32mpg .

Allowing for slight differences, I think 33mpg is the realistic figure. I was stuck in a lot of traffic last week, a 4 mile journey took me 40 minutes, so I think that must have had a major effect. I've also been using ASDA stuff.

Filled up with Shell today, so I will monitor how much MPG I get. Has been raining a lot lately, and I've also had to use the rear demister a few times, so it could actually just be start of the winter weather effect.

32-34mpg for the 1.1 seems poor. That said, when I had the Seicento Sporting I averaged 36mpg, thrashing it evrywhere. The 500 1.4 Sport and Panda 100hp both do 35mpg on averae for the same routine - town and fast bypass.

I'd have though the new Panda 1.1 would be better. We hired a Panda 1.2 in Spain a few weeks back. That was used robustly up and down hills and still averaged 47mpg, which I found quite astonishing. Well, til I got back in the 100hp at home and the grin came back.

Maybe it's the FIAT fave of brakes binding - I have an almost religious routine of getting out the car after a journey and touching each wheel. 27 years of Italian cars means you do that and never use the handbrake.

Thanks I will check the temperature of the wheels when I use it in a bit, its pouring down now though, so probably not the best time. The handbrake lever has always been very stiff, so I would not be surprised if a fault was there.

If it is binding then shouldn't they really replace the shoes since a manufacturing fault would have worn them down?

Not tested the wheels yet, but I have noticed the hand brake lever doesn't go down fully. When I release it, the button is not fully out, and if I put weight on the lever it then fully goes down.

So I am guessing the fault is with the handbrake mechanism. Phoned the dealer and they said to bring in this afternoon, no good as I am working, and the entire point of having a new car is stop wasted days due to faults. So I will take in tomorrow, re-plumbing the bathroom will have to wait yet again

Well, other than the hot wheels (if it's handbrake it'll be rear wheels), you should feel the car dragging a bit. Usually noticable when slowly creeping to a stop without the brakes. The car usually stops sooner than expected if brakes are binding.

Just jack up the back end (use the jack from the car if you don't have one) and try spinning the wheels - then you'll know for sure.

Beyond that, try removing the wardrobe that must be on the roof and the family of hogs taking up space in the rear - they will kill your fuel consumption.

Have no off road parking so jacking up is always a farse. I will just let the dealer have a look tomorrow. The is still under warranty so it seems the best bet. Haven't noticed any dragging though. No roof rack and nothing in the boot.

Now it might just be that I have been getting stuck in traffic more etc. Just going out a minute so will check the brakes then.

Done 4 miles in it, the left drum (near the exhaust) feels cold, and the right one feels luke worm. There is a difference in temperature. The hand brake lever also has a good inch of play in it when its released is this normal for a FIAT?

The car itself feels very nippy and not like there is any drag, so I am a bit confused. I filled it to half yesterday, done 25 miles in it and it is now an inch away from the half marker which is where it should be. So it might have just been a bad fill up with lots of journeys being stuck in traffic contributing.

Got another 15-20 miles to do today, so I will keep an eye on it, the dealer said just turn up with it and no need to book so I decide tonight if I need to go.

By inch I meant 1cm . Done 30 miles since the fill up now, and still 1cm away from half. I am starting to think that my car doesn't agree with ASDA fuel, as I filled up with Shell yesterday and it seems to have made a big difference to MPG, but of course the needle might suddenly drop. I know by this evening if there is a problem or not.

JD82 said:

Done 4 miles in it, the left drum (near the exhaust) feels cold, and the right one feels luke worm. There is a difference in temperature.

Click to expand...

To make a big hit on the MPG with dragging brakes those drums would be hot. Like 'arrgh my fingers!' hot.

They are not, just luke worm at best, and as I said it doesn't feel like breaks dragging.

I am wondering if this is all down to a journey I made last week. Stuck mostly in traffic, rain was coming down like only Morrissey knows, wipers on full, rear demister on, front fans on full and Rock Radio on full blast. Took me 40 minutes to do 4 miles, so I am guessing this would have had a major hit on MPG.

Assuming fuel costs 136.9p per litre and you put £18 in, how many miles would people expect to get out of their Panda assuming it is town driving? I am currently getting just 100.

I've just worked out are 1.1 Active (non Eco) mpg on the last tank.
From a full tank, 241 miles until the light came on, refilled with 28 litres.
Equals 39.13 mpg.

I consider it fairly(ish) good, as the car never left central London, just commuting back and forth in normal (chronic to anyone living in the sticks) traffic and frickin' speed bumps everywhere!

I serviced it recently, but as it started to pi.., rain, I skipped the plugs, so they're to go in at the weekend, and the back box it ever so slightly starting to blow.
So once these are sorted, hopefully see a bit of a small improvement.

Checked the tyre preasures, as I've not done it for a month and they were down a bit but only by 2-3 PSI, might make a bit of difference.

I may have done a lot of very short journeys too last week, the nature of my work means that 1-2 mile short journeys can be common and this must also have an effect.

In sort as longs as I am getting above 38 I am happy, as my target is always the 30mpg I got out of shot Corsa engine.

The Panda fuel guage is a bit non-linear. It drops dramatically after a fill-up but slows towards empty. Make a note of your trip odometer reading and how much fuel you put in.

Glad I've a diesel. A tank of Tescos finest will get me 475 or so miles down the road. Average of just over 60mpg over the last year of driving...

I fill my tank each time, drive til the light comes on for a bit & then fill up again. I get on average 290 mile sper tank. This is with an average trip of 2.5 miles, at an average speed of 14mph (according to the trip computer).

Also according to the trip pc, I get an average of 43mpg.

This is a May 2011 Dynamic.

The last fill up was at Shell, still too soon done just under 60 miles since the fill up on Monday all in stop start hell. I got stuck in the same road works (Oxford Road, Manchester to be exact) today as last week, and I think this is having an effect but not 10mpg.

After completing a 6 mile journey I felt the rear drums again, again the right one felt warmer, but it wasn't exactly hot just warm.

Put 13.2 litres in at last fill up, and the gauge was exactly in the middle when I filled it up (it had been on the warning lamp for the previous 3 miles) it is now half way between half and the white notch before the red. I need to get 50 miles to the warning lamp or there is a problem.

Edit I am calculating this from brim to brim, the computers which my car doesn't have are often said to over estimate the figures.

how can you be calculating it brim to brim when you only put 13.2 litres in??

I am not, I simply fill up so the gauge is in the middle, wait till the light comes on, then work out how many litres I have used to do x amount of miles hence my MPG.

Either way the 13.2 litres I put in is only giving me apx 100 miles.

My method will be out by 2-3mpg but no way can it be out by as much as 10mpg.