Cheating the test

[Draigflag]

Came across this little gem of info about the NEDC cycle, the lab test used in Europe to obtain the official fuel and emission figures. Sheds a bit of light of why most cars don't get anything close to the official numbers (unless hypermiled!)

[Draigflag]

Sorry, forgot to post my source references, I came across this helpful information here:Why vehicles do not reach their clamied mpg figures

[LDB]

That's interesting. I don't think our error is 30% over here but I suspect 10-15% deduction wouldn't be unreasonable for most of our vehicles. I'm finding my Prius to be pretty accurate though.

[Draigflag]

Depending what you read, there's a bit of conflicting info out there. According to one consumer website with over 67,000 entries from people in the real world, the industry average is 86% so most cars only get 14% less than the claimed figures.

So the combined figure for my car with the 17" wheels is 78 mpg, and I'm getting 62 ish which is just over 20% less.

[OliverGT]

The combined figure for my 206 is 45.8, I'm currently at 53.3.

I'd be quite confident that I could beat the combined figure for any car.

My normal route to work does help though, it's 15 miles each way, speed limit is 50, there is hardly any traffic except for the last mile or so.

Draigflag, you know you can get 90+ in your car, it's just a case of repeating that on every trip �� I know it's not that easy.

[Draigflag]

It's the modern cars with all the eco tech, stop start, cylinder deactivation etc that seem to be the most exsadurated. Manufacturers know this stuff will work well in slow speed gentle lab tests, but often doesn't get used in real life.

Yes of course if we all hypermiled, we'd all be able to get more than the stated figures. But we all know that 99.9% of people on the road are either in a rush, want to get to where they're going, or simply don't care about saving fuel. I took an 80 odd mile trip tonight and managed just under 80 MPG, so it's not impossible, you just need the right roads, traffic conditions and have to be in the right mood!

[LDB]

Being from this side of the pond, we don't get Renault cars any more. Yes, I know I can google and I plan to, but I thought you might want to tell about your car and how you get 80mpg and how that compares to mpg over here and whatever else kind of car bragging we all like to do when we really like our ride.

[Draigflag]

Ha is that tongue in cheek or are you genuinely upset?

[LDB]

No No, not upset at all. I like to talk about my car and many of the car guys I know like to talk about their car. I thought it's just a car guy kind of thing to brag, as in talk about, our cars and I'm curious about yours since we don't get them over here. My cousin and I go to the auto show each year and I go to dealers and look sometimes so I know most of what we get but Renault, Peugeot, SAAB and several others aren't over here any more.

[Draigflag]

Ah good, it's hard to detect tone when reading from a screen. Some people take things personaly like a recent member who got banned, wanted to run me over in his big truck because I asked a question about why people change thier oil so often in the US...

Yes the car market in the USA is tiny, and as there's only one objective to fill, cheap fuel and no pollution based taxes, it's a pretty narrow one too that hasn't really changed for decades. Although you might not see the brands we get here directly, I've noticed since the big 3 were bailed out, a few Euro derived engines and associated technologies are making it there. A lot Fiat based stuff there now, did you also know that Nissan and Mercedes-Benz use Renault engines?