1985-1998 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
Recent posts gave wildly differing highway mileages for turbo cars so thought I'd chip in as well.
Yesterday I brimmed my tank with Optimax and took a trip up from Bath to a village near Leicester, mostly on motorways plus some "A" roads and country roads. Where I could, I cruised at 80 (rather slower past the cameras on the M42 round Birmingham) and some traffic was heavy. I used cruise control when I could, but that was perhaps 5% of the time.
Overall average speed was 61 mph over 284 miles and I used 9.61 Imperial gallons, which is (I think!) 11.52 US gallons. This gives me a fuel consumption of 29.55 mpg Imperial or 24.65 US.
Nothing like as good as some of you report - however, for my 2.3 fpt automatic Saab's own claims, showing Imperial/US figures, are 16.0/13.3 urban, 34.4/28.7 extra-urban and 24.1/20.1 combined.
The link shows how these EC tests are carried out - for instance, extra-urban figures are based on a 4.3 mile course, mixed driving with an average speed of 39 mph/maximum 75 mph.
My EDU claimed 32.2 mpg which is a typical over-read (I allow 10% in my head). And watching the readouts suggested that the wind made about 5% difference between the drive out (heading roughly north-east) and back (south-west).
Readings from one trip will never be accurate, of course. Over the year, I normally reckon on 25 mpg Imperial (21 US) so I'm pretty close to Saab's 'Combined' figure. And in town, once again I usually get 16(13.35) - remember it's an automatic.
But there is one thing that brings down the mileage so that you can pretty well watch the needle fall. You've guessed it - acceleration + turbo = binge drinking.
1997 2.3 fpt Anniversary automatic, 91,000 miles, engine standard, Bridgestone S-03s at 36 psi.
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