Cheating the test

[OliverGT]

For the Peugeot 1.6 HDI the official figures are most definitely achievable even in real world driving.

In 2010 Peugeot ran a competition in Ireland "How low can you go", where 117mpg was achieved on the road and then for the tie breaker run at a race track, Mondello Park, 91 mpg was achieved.

I reckon I could get 80mpg in real world everyday driving with a 1.6HDI.

Official figures my current car are:

Peugeot 206 1.1 petrol
Urban 34.4
Extra Urban 55.4
Combined 45.6

And I am getting real world 51mpg so 10% more than the Combined figure which is the one that is normally used.

What MPG - Peugeot MPG Comparison Page - Peugeot Fuel Economy Page - Find the MPG of new and used Cars, Audi MPG, BMW MPG, VW MPG, Toyota MPG, Merc MPG, Ford MPG

Oliver.

[Draigflag]

The percentage difference has increased significantly in the last decade or so. I think I read the real world V's official figures in 2001 were just 10% out, whereas these days it's 25-35%. It's cars with fuel saving tech like stop start, cylinder deactivation etc that get worse real world figures than those cars without in the lab tests.

[benlovesgoddess]

I'm gonna bet that the 117 mpg figure and the race track weren't real world journeys, but special runs to achieve those figures.
Stick our Honda at the top of a pass, and I reckon I'll easily have 117 mpg by the valley bottom!
Real world has to include normal traffic, normal speeds, surely?

[OliverGT]

The 117mpg was done on real roads with real traffic, but obviously trying to achieve best mpg. Distance was about 30 miles if I remember correctly, there was a minimum of 20 miles in the rules of the competition. This was an out and back journey from the car dealer, so no one way down hill fancy stuff.

The race track is obviously not real world and the track is quite tight with some definite elevation changes, so was quite a difficult challenge to get optimum mpg.

Oliver.

[Draigflag]

I can believe the figures, the participants of the annual MPG marathon get crazy high figures, over 100, and let's not forget about the team who achieved over 100 MPG in a Honda diesel over 8000 miles last year too, probably the longest most thorough hypermiling journey ever officially recorded?

It's always Peugeot that seem to top the tables, I remember a couple in an old 307 HDI did a 3000 mile journey in the UK and averaged 126 MPG, this was a few years back. It's a credit to Peugeot, and they have the lowest C02 emissions of any car manufacturer in Europe, who needs hybrids eh?

[benlovesgoddess]

In the i20, with no traffic, i could dawdle and roll on a 15 mile back road downhill to the sea and have up to about 115 mpg show on the Scanguage.
This was only possible at night, or on a rare daylight occasion if no traffic was behind me or coming towards me on the single track half.
I have driven over 20 miles from the moors, up and down the vale of pickering and home in the Prius with over 120 mpg showing on the computer. Neither Scanguage nor computer can be trusted for anything other than rough comparison, but the Prius was driven up and down slopes and in traffic.
Having owned dozens of diesels and covered up to half a million miles in them, i'd expect now to get better like for like mileage with a hybrid!

[benlovesgoddess]

As for a 20 mile run, yeah, as above that could be massaged - but i'd worry such a small amount of a fill up has a larger chance of a skewed result by a pump clicking off sooner or later than normal.
I'd be interested to see the details of the 3,000 mile 307 journey, if the car had been modded.
Of the 2 Citroen ZX diesels i had (both 1.9 non turbo, 1 a 5 door hatch, the other an estate), the hatch returned low 70s, the estate mid 50s.
The list difference for the bodystyles was only a couple of mpg.
i guessed the hatch had been eco tuned or summat.

[OliverGT]

This is the couple who have a lot of hypermiling records:

FUELAcademy - Fuel Economy Specialists | World Record Fuel Efficiency Drivers

They averaged 126 mpg in a 2009 Peugeot 308 hdi driven around the UK.

They drove a 2008 model around Australia but only managed 90 mpg though.

One of the things that helps with these long distance drives is the fact that everything gets warmed up to a good operating temperature, engine, gearbox, wheel bearings etc, this can take 15-20 miles if not further and will have an impact on the overall MPG

I'm tempted to get an older 308 hdi and hypermile it, see what is possible, my old 206 hdi managed 73 mpg with a best of 81 mpg, so I would think 75-80 mpg should be achievable quite easily.

Oliver.

[benlovesgoddess]

Thanks - some impressive stats! Hoped to be able to expand the record - see the route, speeds, times of day, whether the cars had been extensively tuned and worked on for their records, weight reduction etc...
They look like professional celebrity eco drivers, so I bet they have a formula to prep a regular car prior to setting a record.

[benlovesgoddess]

I am sure with the right car a 75-80 mpg hypermiling real world figure is achievable. My best ZX, an M reg 5 door hatch returned these sample figures:
80 mpg at a constant 56 mph (£18 to drive 300 miles to kent!)
72 mpg extra urban
65 mpg half extra urban/half pizza delivery
55 mpg pure pizza delivery
I only have these limited results as i ran it nearly exclusively on heating oil, with only several pump brim to brim full tanks to get accurate figures.
These were all done years before i discovered the Scanguage, which gave me a 10% improvement in economy.