I'll put in my two penneth.........................
Stiloboy, I do not stick my head in the sand, you should take yours out of your bum!
Ok, my 1.6 has always returned between 23 and 28mpg, this was before all the modifications I made to it and it has remained stable even with all the changes. I average 26mpg under normal everyday driving conditions, if I boot it that goes down to 21/23mpg and if I'm Driving Miss Daisy I can actually get it up to about 28mpg!
I questioned the dealership about this when I took it for a service and they told me after they checked it out, that all is in order.
The Brava I owned before had the same engine and returned the same sort of consumption figures, so I am putting it down to this power unit, regardless of what anyone else says. You have to remember that this engine is long in the tooth, it dates back to 1990 when they used to stick them in Tipos, so it's never going to be a cutting edge, high performance, high economy unit, unlike the 1.2, is it???
I hope this answers all your questions and remember, if it's fuel economy you want, you should have purchased a Diesel, or (to keep SB happy) a fantastic six speed 1.2.
Thank you!