General Panda Multijet Fuel Figures

[DraigFlag87]

Was just wondering if anybody gets anywhere near the claimed MPG's of thier panda diesels?

I must say, i bought a 57 plate brand new in Feb with 8 miles on it and it has been exceptionaly good on fuel, my best is 74 MPG and my worst is around 57 MPG. I was shocked, i never expected to get that good mileage, especialy on a new tight engine. I don't think it burns any oil either like some people claim.

 

[doctorchris]

Two points.
1. Official figures are obtained on a rolling road with no air resistance so are rarely matched in real motoring.
2. If your Panda has a computer that gives you fuel consumption readings, these are always optimistic. Mine seems to be consistently 3mpg optimistic.

 

[ScoobyChris]

2. If your Panda has a computer that gives you fuel consumption readings, these are always optimistic

Interestingly the one on my Panda is never consistently out and sometimes is optimistic, other times is pessimistic and sometimes is spot on, at least compared to my fill-to-fill calculations. I suspect that's more a reflection on my fill-to-fill calculations than the OBC

Chris

 

[ian grant]

Mines done just over 1000 miles now (08 plate) and its averaged about 64 mpg according to the OBC.

I do drive quite steadily though, and if the mpg improve even further as the engine loosens up (as some say it will) I'll be delighted.

No oil used as yet either as far as I can see.

 

[trackdayqueen]

Had mine 9 months. Average around 55-57. I never ever seem to get into the 60s.

Have not used a drop of oil.

 

[doctorchris]

Re oil consumption, it seems from posts here that the 1.3 MJ does not burn oil (even though it's an "oil burner"), whereas the various petrol engines sometimes do.

 

[richardllew]

There are many reasons why it is difficult to match the official test consumption, but the main ones are the exceedingly slow acceleration rates, low speed, and starting from room temperature.

However to correct doctorchris, the official fuel consumption tests do include air resistance.
The air and rolling resistance of the car is measured before the rolling road test by getting the vehicle up to speed and monitoring the deceleration rate against speed when coasting to a stop.
Knowing the mass of the car, and the deceleration rate, as force = mass x acceleration, the combined air and rolling resistance against speed can be found and programmed into the rolling road.
So basically as the rolling road goes faster the programmed resistance will mimic the increasing air resistance.

I am planning on doing the coasting test myself to prove that the air resistance goes up as the square of the speed ie 20% increase in speed gives 44% increase in resistance force. However I am waiting for a pal of mine to loan me his GPS. If anybody fancies doing the coasting test themselves I would be interested in the figures.

 

[DraigFlag87]

hi thanks for reply, i do alot of coasting here in Wales due to lots of mountains! it is possible to coast 6 miles in neutral down one famous slope! Of course you have to go up the hill to come down it so one cancels the other out i'm sure. The instant fuel consumption reads about 120 MPG when coasting!

 

[Gingosporting]

Mine does 50 - 55 MPG on my 50 mile daily commute.

JON

 

[trackdayqueen]

hi thanks for reply, i do alot of coasting here in Wales due to lots of mountains! it is possible to coast 6 miles in neutral down one famous slope! Of course you have to go up the hill to come down it so one cancels the other out i'm sure. The instant fuel consumption reads about 120 MPG when coasting!

The thing is though if you stick it in a high gear and roll down then you use no fuel at all compared to the fuel used idling if you had it in neutral. I know people coast, but I never feel fully in control of the car in that situation so never do it.

 

[doctorchris]

However to correct doctorchris, the official fuel consumption tests do include air resistance.

Ah but, Richard, we have denser air up here in Sunderland that they fail to allow for in their calculation.

 

[DraigFlag87]

I'm not sure about that, the hill i am refering to, you can get up to 80 MPH in neutral and the revs are between 1000 - 1500 RPM at idle. However revs are obviously alot higher if i was in 5th gear doing 80 MPH between 3000 and 4000 RPM i think, don't usualy go that fast!

 

[KozmoNaut]

Ah, but if you're coasting in gear the ECU cuts off fuel completely. The engine is turning due to the inertia of the car, effectively giving you unlimited mileage as long as you're going down hill.

 

[HP]

Is it offset by the engine slowing you down though? You'll have to accelerate more to get back up the other side...

 

[ScoobyChris]

Is it offset by the engine slowing you down though? You'll have to accelerate more to get back up the other side...

I think basically rather than the engine driving the wheels, the wheels are driving the engine so there's actually very little if any slowing down and the car can actually accelerate, depending on hill, gear, etc.

But you're right, there's always a cost associated with going up hill and it may actually be more economical to plan ahead and spend a bit of fuel going down the hill to build sufficient speed to reduce the amount of acceleration for the uphill stretch, while still arriving at the top of the hill at the same speed in each case.

Chris

 

[Fiat Lux]

hi thanks for reply, i do alot of coasting here in Wales due to lots of mountains! it is possible to coast 6 miles in neutral down one famous slope! Of course you have to go up the hill to come down it so one cancels the other out i'm sure. The instant fuel consumption reads about 120 MPG when coasting!

I've done less than a 100 miles on my MJ but coming back down the A41 from Aylesbury ( Perrys - great service for the record ) I noticed that down hill, fifth gear, foot off the gas the instant consumption consistently showed 141.2 . I was supposing that might be some sort of theoretical maximum within the computer?

 

[DraigFlag87]

yes me too, exact same figure 141.2 MPG on the instant consumption although i find this very inaccurate, it jumps from 11 MPG to 115 MPG so it takes a bit of guesswork. Actually, i was downhill in neutral when it read 141.2 so maybe coasting or fifth gearing it uses just as much fuel!

The trip consumption is the best one and is very accurate indeed.

 

[BJ20]

yes me too, exact same figure 141.2 MPG on the instant consumption although i find this very inaccurate, it jumps from 11 MPG to 115 MPG so it takes a bit of guesswork. Actually, i was downhill in neutral when it read 141.2 so maybe coasting or fifth gearing it uses just as much fuel!

The trip consumption is the best one and is very accurate indeed.

Hi all,

Have to agree that the only way to be really sure about MPG or as they say nowadays, Litres per 100Kms, is to record the mileage from fill up to fill up.

If its any help, I keep the last three record slips for fill ups ( I use a Fuel Card so get record slips) and they show the following figures:

61.59 MPG
58.60
63.66

This gives an average of 61.28 MPG for my Jan 05 MJ with almost 85,000 miles or 135788 Kms on it.

Other than when I am pushing it up the motorway and enjoying myself on the B road to and from work, I drive it at a steady pace - smoothness being the key.

The figure of 58.60 was pulling a trailer for about 120 miles round trip so it bit into the MPG a bit.

I was in the big smoke for three days this week gone by so I expect my MPG will be in the mid 50s ( I push it up the motorway then crawl about the city).

I will be filling it up today so will know what the actual MPG for the city run will be.

All in all, not bad fuel figures for the little MJ with some attitude.

Drive safely,

BJ20

 

[joe1962]

Done 43K in my Mjet trip computer showing about 60mpg though when I checked it brim to brim over a number of fills it was 5% optomistic I run mostly on fast A roads now which hammers the mpg I was getting 65+ on bimbley slow roads littered with retired folk wearing hats. Driving at night lights on seems to affect it by 2-3mpg. Anyone got any info on good fuel or remapping ? any info would be appreciated.

 

[trackdayqueen]

yes me too, exact same figure 141.2 MPG on the instant consumption although i find this very inaccurate, it jumps from 11 MPG to 115 MPG so it takes a bit of guesswork. Actually, i was downhill in neutral when it read 141.2 so maybe coasting or fifth gearing it uses just as much fuel!

The trip consumption is the best one and is very accurate indeed.

It's because when you lift off the throttle you aren't using any fuel. The display at this point is fairly meaningless. It can only give meaningful readings when you have at least some throttle.