Poor fuel consumption

[JordanK16]

Hi there. This is my first post with my first car so apologies if I'm a little vague with my information

I recently bought my first car - An 04 Clio Authentique 1.2. I was advised by my friend with the same car that he put approximately £20 per week of fuel and he drives every day. I bought the car on a Friday and put £20 in. Of course I was very excited about driving and I drove a lot so I had to put another £20 in. I calmed down a lot after that and never drove as much but I still had to put more petrol back in on the Friday. The reason I am concerned is the bars of fuel (of which there is 9) one of them ran out after a small drive of only 7 miles.

I'm not sure if what I'm putting in fuel wise is normal for this car or if there is any concerns that I should be worried about. The MPG for the car should be 47 but it's no where near that amount.

The car isn't due an MOT until May 2015 but it hasn't been serviced since August 2012. Am i just being paranoid because its my first car or is there something wrong with it? Would a service be able solve any problems that may arise?

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[Nik]

Welcome to the forum, JordanK16!

 

[robhoops]

Hi there. This is my first post with my first car so apologies if I'm a little vague with my information

I recently bought my first car - An 04 Clio Authentique 1.2. I was advised by my friend with the same car that he put approximately £20 per week of fuel and he drives every day. I bought the car on a Friday and put £20 in. Of course I was very excited about driving and I drove a lot so I had to put another £20 in. I calmed down a lot after that and never drove as much but I still had to put more petrol back in on the Friday. The reason I am concerned is the bars of fuel (of which there is 9) one of them ran out after a small drive of only 7 miles.

I'm not sure if what I'm putting in fuel wise is normal for this car or if there is any concerns that I should be worried about. The MPG for the car should be 47 but it's no where near that amount.

The car isn't due an MOT until May 2015 but it hasn't been serviced since August 2012. Am i just being paranoid because its my first car or is there something wrong with it? Would a service be able solve any problems that may arise?

Thanks in advance for your help

Welcome, sounds silly but make sure tyre pressures are pumped up and not flat... it can also depend where you are driving.. as you are driving a 1.2 clio, you will find it to be best on 40 to 50 roads, in town being a small wngine shouldnt be too much of a problem but a lot of start/stop traffic can be the cause... the same as motorways, being a 1.2, it might be using more power to keep up to speed if not then you can start looking into fuel filters air filters and even what sort of things are on inside the car, aircon, heated windscreen etc...

And to be honest with you, with how fuel prices are now, £20 might not be enough, I used to run about £20 a week, then I was finding £25, then I b8ught my clio and its now between £30 and £35 a week

 

[Owen92]

Fill your tank to the top. Reset your trip computer. Drive till fuel light comes on and then refill your fuel tank. See how many litres you have used and what your milage your trip computer says. Stick this information into google and you will get your actual MPG figure. When you've got that, come back to this thread and we'll be able to give you some better advice.

 

[Daniel]

Not been serviced since 2012?!

For the sake of £50, change the oil, the spark plugs and the air filter at least.

Then go from there.

 

[Goodj]

Fill your tank to the top. Reset your trip computer. Drive till fuel light comes on and then refill your fuel tank. See how many litres you have used and what your milage your trip computer says. Stick this information into google and you will get your actual MPG figure. When you've got that, come back to this thread and we'll be able to give you some better advice.

This

Not been serviced since 2012?!

For the sake of £50, change the oil, the spark plugs and the air filter at least.

Then go from there.

And this
you'll never make manufacturer-quoted MPGs.....ever.

 

[CoryColeWilkins]

Iv'e never understood why people use time to calculate and compare how good something is on fuel.
Being told "I put £20 in it a week" is useless information.

 

[hdsn555]

I put £40 a week in..

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

I put 150 a week in. God knows why, my dad only puts 40 quid a month in

 

[BGEarles]

Heavy right foot maybe?

 

[coverman]

I cannot believe that someone suggested putting miles covered and litres consumed into Google in order to calculate mpg. Did they not go to primary school? If a 9 year old couldn't work this out then the school attended would need to be put into special measures immediately.

 

[Darren S]

There's a lot of speculation and plain guesswork in this - and as such, it's difficult to give accurate advice.

First off however - get it serviced!!! I know it's probably money you would rather spend elsewhere - but putting aside a wedge to get my car serviced would be a much higher priority than a mileage comparison with my mate and his car.

Driving conditions, tyre pressures, slightly binding brakes, slipping clutches, choked air filters - you name it. All could individually (or combined) hinder your MPG value.

For the record and my experience, the RS engines are ridiculously similar in fuel consumption. When me and my mate did a road trip to Scotland, we filled the tanks to the brim and set off - me in my 182 and him in his Ph1 172. With both our fuel lights coming on just north of Glencoe (pretty much 300 miles in total) - we filled them right to the top again. The cost difference? A mere 14p more expensive in the 172.

D.

 

[Owen92]

I cannot believe that someone suggested putting miles covered and litres consumed into Google in order to calculate mpg. Did they not go to primary school? If a 9 year old couldn't work this out then the school attended would need to be put into special measures immediately.

Don't worry. I went to primary school. Along with secondary school and college to do an advanced apprenticeship. Not that any of this matters in this thread.
The reason I said to use a mpg calculator was because as a technician, I know it's best to give the person looking for advice the easiest way to come to an answer.

Also anyone that has left school in the past 10 years probably hasn't had to convert litres to gallons because schools teach the metric system.

 

[coverman]

To roughly convert litres to gallons multiply using the 2 times table then divide using the 9 times table. Accuracy sufficient for mpg calculation under non-controlled conditions

 

[Andyy]

Just multiply number of litres by 0.22 to get gallons mate!

 

[coverman]

I know that, but for poor saps who have to ask about mpg without being able to think how to calculate it themselves primary school arithmetic is probably all they can handle. Dealing with decimals, ooh how difficult is that. I had a guy come for interview once who claimed to have a GCSE in Maths; when asked what 10% of £100 was he asked for a calculator and wondered why I instantly showed him the door!