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General Low MPG Fiat Punto Grande 2006 1.2 Active

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General Low MPG Fiat Punto Grande 2006 1.2 Active

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darkdrifter10

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Hi guys, as it says in the title I have a fiat punto grande 2006 1.2 active and bought the car in late July. Ever since i bought it its done around 30-33 mpg regularly and has never gone above that limit. Just wondering what could cause such a low fuel consumption and what kind of remedies are worth pursuing.
 
I think he means high fuel consumption! The 1.2 is a very small lethargic engine to pull a reasonably sized car. It has to work harder and in my opinion is too small for the car, does your car have AC as well? My GP is totally gutless and I would estimate that 35mpg is tops! Late 20's is more realistic. Do you do a lot of city driving?
 
digger58 said:
I think he means high fuel consumption! The 1.2 is a very small lethargic engine to pull a reasonably sized car. It has to work harder and in my opinion is too small for the car, does your car have AC as well? My GP is totally gutless and I would estimate that 35mpg is tops! Late 20's is more realistic. Do you do a lot of city driving?
Click to expand...

Ah right fair play, my punto doesn't have AC and pretty much all my driving is on 'city' style roads i.e generally 30 mph roads. But even then, my mate has a 2 litre bmw 3 series 2003 and has a better mpg rate than me ;) pure slap in the face. Seems like a bit of false advertising if its a common thing amongst punto owners, i mean a 49 to 33 discrepancy is quite large all things considered
 
Look at power to weight ratio not just cc! That is the stupidity of some tax regimes, especially here in Ireland, You can have a 2ltr just ticking over to power a family car but another with a strangled 1.2 is having to work flat out to do the same job! My wife has a C5 diesel that is considerably less to tax and is just 1560cc yet produces 110HP, it regularly returns 45MPG in town driving, I got to Greece with it on less than 3 tanks!
 
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I have a Grande 1.4 8v, and it's using more fuel atm, due to longer warm up times, but on a longer run, I tend to get 45-50mpg, slightly less on shorter journies.
 
"Snails" comes from the shapes of the turbo casing, not from my driving style. :)
 
puntofan01 said:
I have a Grande 1.4 8v, and it's using more fuel atm, due to longer warm up times, but on a longer run, I tend to get 45-50mpg, slightly less on shorter journies.
Click to expand...

Do you drive in a higher gear than normal? I heard keeping revs low with a high gear you tend to save fuel.

I don't know what I get in my 1.2, I'm forever in stop start traffic around Watford. :bang: my fuelly hasn't been updated in a long time.
 
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I have 38 mpg with normal driving(for my taste)in town but it's a 1.3 multijet 90hp diesel! Sometimes I get 33mpg!
 
I get high 40's from my 2006 1.2. I struggle to get worse in normal driving.


It does come down to around 40mpg on the motorway.


When was it last serviced? Are the hoses under the airbox in good condition?​
 
I think you're probably a victim of the EU drive cycle! As has been said, the "official" figures are very unrepresentative of "real" driving conditions. they are a combined figure or urban and open road driving. If you never get any open road driving, they'll be significantly worse. If your mate's BMW a petrol or diesel? If it's a petrol, I'd be a bit sceptical. If it's a diesel, then yes, I could see it returning that sort of figure.

My daughter's 1.2 shows about 42MPG on the trip computer, but it's actually nearer 40 to the gallon and she lives in a rural area and drives, well, erm, "like a girl", really!

A change of spark plugs won't ever do any harm. Also make sure your air filter has been changed in the last (say) 30,000 miles. If you spend lots of time in traffic idling, that's a real killer. As has been said, drive as if you were driving in socks (i.e. don't press any of the pedals too hard) and don't rev it - change up as soon as you can. Run your tyre pressures towards the higher end of the recommended range (even though you're not fully-laden). One of the best tips I was ever given for economy driving, is to imagine that the BRAKE pedal is the one that uses the fuel! Sounds completely counter-intuitive, I know, but it really works!
 
Lambie said:
Do you drive in a higher gear than normal? I heard keeping revs low with a high gear you tend to save fuel.

I don't know what I get in my 1.2, I'm forever in stop start traffic around Watford. :bang: my fuelly hasn't been updated in a long time.
Click to expand...

I do spend most of my time in 5th tbh: I find it's quite happy cruising at 30mph in 5th, and if I don't need maximum acceleration, I tend to leave it in 5th when I increase my speed.
 
My 1.4 8v got 45.4 mpg from Dundee to Edinburgh and back to Aberdeen mostly sitting about 70 mph with some stop start traffic. Commuting in traffic gets around 41.5, average over last 3000 ish miles is 43.2. to get less than 40mpg over a tank I have to try quite hard!

Cheers
Ben
 
DGPunto said:
I get high 40's from my 2006 1.2. I struggle to get worse in normal driving.


It does come down to around 40mpg on the motorway.


When was it last serviced? Are the hoses under the airbox in good condition?​
Click to expand...

That kind of consumption is a dream to me right now:rolleyes:. Was last serviced in July and the hoses are in a condition as decent as can be for a car of its age.
 
Avocet said:
I think you're probably a victim of the EU drive cycle! As has been said, the "official" figures are very unrepresentative of "real" driving conditions. they are a combined figure or urban and open road driving. If you never get any open road driving, they'll be significantly worse. If your mate's BMW a petrol or diesel? If it's a petrol, I'd be a bit sceptical. If it's a diesel, then yes, I could see it returning that sort of figure.

My daughter's 1.2 shows about 42MPG on the trip computer, but it's actually nearer 40 to the gallon and she lives in a rural area and drives, well, erm, "like a girl", really!

A change of spark plugs won't ever do any harm. Also make sure your air filter has been changed in the last (say) 30,000 miles. If you spend lots of time in traffic idling, that's a real killer. As has been said, drive as if you were driving in socks (i.e. don't press any of the pedals too hard) and don't rev it - change up as soon as you can. Run your tyre pressures towards the higher end of the recommended range (even though you're not fully-laden). One of the best tips I was ever given for economy driving, is to imagine that the BRAKE pedal is the one that uses the fuel! Sounds completely counter-intuitive, I know, but it really works!
Click to expand...

His bmw is a petrol and definitely gets around 35 mpg on city roads, I've been in his car extensively and have been on trips around the UK to know how much petrol he puts in for however many miles we do. Id like to think I'm an economical driver so I'm a bit apprehensive about whether its my driving which is the problem or something in the car itself:D . especially since the service was done fairly recently and the mpg didn't change much as a result.
 
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