I'm encouraged by your mileage figures ! I've just completed the first 1000 miles on my new TA 4x4 and it's only just crept over 40mpg!

Goudrons said:

I wonder how many TA owners (both Panda and 500) have had previous experiences with 2 cylinder engines?

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Does Morgan 3-Wheeler count? Not quite the same, but a 2-litre V-Twin is a similarly charismatic engine that I also love to bits.... Not quite as ecomonic mind...!

Panda 4x4 TA Antarctica said:

Yep - I bought my 2CV for £150.

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So you bought a posh one then!

Mine was £50 in 1989.

Among many Fiats I had two rear-engined - ie real - 500s years ago. The second one I fitted with a flat twin BMW engine - from the BMW 700 coupé - looked like a small Triumph Herald Coupé. Beautiful engine - full of roller and ball bearings and you could rev the nuts off it. I tweaked it with twin Amal carbs, standard output was 46 hp compared with 18 from the Fiat engine. With suspension and braking mods it was a real Mini Cooper eater, which was great fun in those days.

Fiat Lux said:

I'm encouraged by your mileage figures ! I've just completed the first 1000 miles on my new TA 4x4 and it's only just crept over 40mpg!

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I see you live in or near London so 40mpg might be about right? My new TA 4x4 petrol (400 miles only so far) has just reached 42.7mpg after bottoming out at 42.3mpg. I live in semi-rural Lancashire.

ambient white said:

I see you live in or near London so 40mpg might be about right? My new TA 4x4 petrol (400 miles only so far) has just reached 42.7mpg after bottoming out at 42.3mpg. I live in semi-rural Lancashire.

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I've had a fair few motorway miles tho and a lot of those at 50 mph through the extensive M1 roadworks on the econ setting!

Fiat Lux said:

I've had a fair few motorway miles tho and a lot of those at 50 mph through the extensive M1 roadworks on the econ setting!

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My Cross TA is just coming up for it's 9000 mile service. Since purchase (I bought a demonstrator with 700 miles on the clock) I've averaged 50.2 mpg (trip computer) and the last 2000 miles have averaged 52.5 mpg. My day to day driving is a 25 mile commute from rural Norfolk to the edge of Norwich with no traffic to contend with. Other journeys have included 3x to the Peak District, once to Manchester, once to North Wales and once to South Wales.

My average speed over those 8000 or so miles is just under 40 mph. I rarely exceed 70 mph. I think those figures tell the story of the TA engine. Long journeys at steady speeds, often between 50 and 60 mph, result in excellent economy. Short journeys, traffic (especially given the low first gear), and high speeds have a very large effect on the TA economy.

PaulD said:

My Cross TA is just coming up for it's 9000 mile service. Since purchase (I bought a demonstrator with 700 miles on the clock) I've averaged 50.2 mpg (trip computer) and the last 2000 miles have averaged 52.5 mpg. My day to day driving is a 25 mile commute from rural Norfolk to the edge of Norwich with no traffic to contend with. Other journeys have included 3x to the Peak District, once to Manchester, once to North Wales and once to South Wales.

My average speed over those 8000 or so miles is just under 40 mph. I rarely exceed 70 mph. I think those figures tell the story of the TA engine. Long journeys at steady speeds, often between 50 and 60 mph, result in excellent economy. Short journeys, traffic (especially given the low first gear), and high speeds have a very large effect on the TA economy.

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Interesting mpg figures, which I've never approached in similar driving country. I don't think the low first gear affects economy as it's used for a tiny percentage of any journey, especially if you're relatively traffic-free.

Wow. Over 50 mpg! While it's dangerous to extrapolate from anecdotal evidence, your experience casts doubt on my theory that the Cross's wider tyres are what wrecks its fuel economy.

My average over the first 2k miles is now 40.3 mpg - mainly consisting of fairly smooth & gentle solo driving around rural Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and north Suffolk, with occasional (speed-legal) trips along the A14/A11. I managed to top 47 on one tankful, but that involved a not-to-be-repeated experiment of driving like a complete granny - including Eco mode and bare-footed caressing of the accelerator. To date, there's no sign of the economy improving as I put the miles on it. My old petrol DS3 (1.6 turbo, 155hp) was significantly more economical, even when driven spiritedly. Fiat must have obtained its official fuel consumption figures for the TA by getting a sparrow to breathe on the accelerator.

52.5mpg is great, but it's still way short of the 67.3mpg quoted by Fiat. Not sure what they were on when they dreamed up those figures. Fiat are being sued by an Italian consumer group over the issue of inflated fuel economy figures, but weirdly enough because of the 1.2, not the twin! http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f5595d7a-bcea-11e4-9902-00144feab7de.html#axzz3ejrHQJ5t

That said, I'm still tempted to enquire about a twin air when it's time to trade in my wife's 1.2. We don't do that many miles in it anyway, so it's more about performance than economy. We'd never recoup the extra outlay needed for a twin.

Ballet-pumps help massively with getting good economy figures! The TwinAir CAN return very good mpg, but you have to work for it. I find the temptation of blasting off up a B-road at pace for a minute or two can undo many careful miles, it's just how you use it...
If you want consistently high economy, the diesel is undoubtedly a better bet, but I just prefer the braaaarpy soundtrack and urgency of the petrol. Horses for courses!