25 replies to this topic

[beentheunseen]

Thanks for all the comments - the tyre pressures are all correct, and it's done nearly 2k miles so it should definitely have loosened up by now... Her driving style is pretty fuel economic from what I can tell, she's not really into heavy acceleration anyway lol...

[mini-geek]

that can be just the problem, labouring IE. keeping te revs low and changing gear early means the engine has to stick a bit more petrol in to make up for it.

let it rev!.............. infact its a fiat rev it like mad all the time stay in third on the motorway and everything!!

[Shifty]

tell your mum look at the floor, see that thing that looks like a foot, stop using it so much!

you will never get the book mpg fig unless you drive it like a saint, and belive me it's not that easy to do an eco drive!

as for complaing to fiat .......... good luck!

Complaining is a personal speciallity of mine, I love it when a big company says "No", red rag to a bull. "Colas/directline/currys" to name a few have all felt my wrath and lost.

I actually enjoy complaining and feel disapointed when they cave in early.

I'd have the sales manager from the dealership showing me how to drive the car so I can attain 45MPG urban. If an expert can't do it how could I?

Heh heh heh

[sonikk4]

Don't let them bully you into accepting the car is the way it is.

In the early 90's i bought a new Vauxhall Calibra when i was in the RAF in Germany. The car looked lovely in its pearlescent blue paintwork apart from when it was sunny then you could see lines through the paintwork and in places primer. (i bought it in the middle of winter) anyway i took on Vauxhall/Opel and demanded a full respray. It took nine months plus a little help from the RAF lawyers but i got what i wanted it just took a long time.

Persevere with it but use your consumer rights and if anything get onto WHICH as they maybe able to help. If not trading standards.

[Shifty]

Don't let them bully you into accepting the car is the way it is.

In the early 90's i bought a new Vauxhall Calibra when i was in the RAF in Germany. The car looked lovely in its pearlescent blue paintwork apart from when it was sunny then you could see lines through the paintwork and in places primer. (i bought it in the middle of winter) anyway i took on Vauxhall/Opel and demanded a full respray. It took nine months plus a little help from the RAF lawyers but i got what i wanted it just took a long time.

Persevere with it but use your consumer rights and if anything get onto WHICH as they maybe able to help. If not trading standards.

A man after my own heart, big companies EXPECT YOU TO GIVE UP!!! Therefore, DON'T!!!

Persistance pays off, and its a great feeling when you win.

[The_Mistro]

i got to say im with shifty on this one! keep on at them!

[mini-geek]

Don't let them bully you into accepting the car is the way it is.

In the early 90's i bought a new Vauxhall Calibra when i was in the RAF in Germany. The car looked lovely in its pearlescent blue paintwork apart from when it was sunny then you could see lines through the paintwork and in places primer. (i bought it in the middle of winter) anyway i took on Vauxhall/Opel and demanded a full respray. It took nine months plus a little help from the RAF lawyers but i got what i wanted it just took a long time.

Persevere with it but use your consumer rights and if anything get onto WHICH as they maybe able to help. If not trading standards.

That is a gennuine complaint. trust me it wouldn't take 9 months to sort nowadays

[Shifty]

It took me 4 months to get comet to accept a faulty TV back, that was after the Sharp engineer said there was nothing wrong with it!!

Well, he actually said the faults were within the manufacturing specification, utter crap!!

Stuff like this takes ages and is worth the wait.

[mk3 Cooper S]

Yes it is poor i agree, but the other thing you have to take into account is the drive cycles used to run the emissions tests which no manufacturer can sell a car without passing those tests. The mapping of the ECU etc is done to pass the emissions legislation, OEM's don't care if it relates to real life driving or not, they just care about passing the test!! Hence mpg can be *poop poop* every where outside the specified drive cycle!! They have even been known to programme the ECU to recognise when the vehicle is going through a cycle and then revert to a different MAP to pass the test! A number of manufacturers have been found out and had millions in fines to pay.

You sound like you know a bit but not all.
I too am in the industry and my opinion follows.

All cars are tested in controlled enviorments using the drive cycle that is required for the market that they are to be sold in i.e European (ECE1504 - 5) or simular etc.
All cars have to complete accurate coastdown tests and the roller loads are set accordingly also taking the vehicle weight into account.
The drive cycles simulate urban and extra urban driving and due to the road load and vehicle speed related wind speed this should be somewhat accurate of driving conditions or duty cycles.

Agreed the cars are mapped to give the best emmisions performance and published fuel consumpsion in the drive cycle areas and "cycle beating" is a thing of the past due to the fines that you mention.

Therefore you would expect a drop off in real world fuel consumption (possible due more to the winter ambient temperatures) but I think the figures stated are excessively bad and deserve further investigation to rule out a vehicle issue.
These could range from failed sensors (which should turn on the MIL or check engine light) to a fuel leak which possibly would not be picked up by the vehicle diagnostics and could pose more of a danger.

Therefore this should warrant investigation from the dealer and not just a fob off.

Thanks

[MiniAlex]

That's bad for a new fiat 500
My dad has a 09 plate 2.0 mondeo and the mpg on that stays about 58! It seams to run forever ...
It's a diesel yeah but he had a petrol one and that was the same.
My Mini does about 45.. perhaps your Mum should get a little Mini Haha

If it says that in the book, then it should do it really. Although they always say its how you drive. My mum had a saxo vtr and she could only get max mpg out of it, if she put her foot down hard all the time.
What engine size is it? I learnt to drive with Bsm in a 1.2 or 1.4 sport.. it seamed pretty nice car to drive but was quite annoying after a bit because I thought it wasn't very nippy, not that I wanted it to be for learning to drive in but... when I got onto the A500, I tried to put my foot down and it wouldn't go anywhere!!

I would love to get a Fiat 500 in the future though, I think they are nice looking cars. But I don't think I could drive one all day everyday, I wasn't much for the gearbox
It just depends on what type of car you have. I always thought a little engine was suposed to give out good mpg??

[mininuts]

30mpg for a 1.2 petrol does sound quite poor.

Another comparison:-

Used to have a 53reg Impreza WRX. Driven 'carefully', I could get 28-29mpg out of it.