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[Welung666]

A couple of weeks ago I filled up to the brim with standard U/L. Reset trip counter and average consumption on MID. £62.50 @ 97.9/l makes it 63.8 litres or 14 gallon. I then drove normally (fairly steadily but the occasional chav beating sports mode moment) to and from work (4 miles each way) twice a day as I'm on split shifts plus local shopping and a good fast run up to Telford. Fuel light came on during the week so I drove it to near death (range was into single figures) before filling up again. A whole 221 miles! So by my calculations makes it an average of 15.78 miles per gallon. MID states 16mpg! How cr@p is that!   I've refilled this time with Super, £65.00 @ 99.9 per litre. 65 litres or 14.3 gallons. I'll see what this does this time but I'm seriously unimpressed. Any suggestions on improving my mpg without the need for a flat cap?

[Martin_1962]

LPG conversion - no more economy, but cheaper fuel

[Andy B]

LPG conversion - no more economy, but cheaper fuel

No boot!      

[jonathanh]

what's killing your economy is not the odd chav beating moment but the 4 mile commute to and from work.  The warm up phase drinks fuel as does the autobox in town.  I know it is not practical in winter but for a 4 mile trip, use a bike.  Use the Miggy for longer runs outside of town driving.  you should get nearer 30mpg then

Incidentally, just read about someone getting 40mpg from that 'smart' car so I suppose you shouldn't feel too bad.  Miggy= 2 smart cars, so 20 mpg is not too bad?

[feeutfo]

the omega is not fuel friendly, its nearly 2 tonnes i beleive and any v6 will be thirsty. Add an auto box and busy town driveing with short journeys and 16 mpg is easy. Saintly driveing might give you 19/20 in town. Try using the auto box tendency to roll with no engine breaking to your advantage, ie gentle acceleration and come off the gas pedal early so you roll up to junctions or what ever with minimal breaking. Hard acceleration with long periods on the gas with hard breaking at the other end can waist fuel for very little time gain. Its a different driveing disciplin, try it, saves your license as well.

More fuel friendly cars exist obviously but youll have to spend alot more money up front to get one. Thus the total saving will take considerably longer to achieve/get your money back, probably not within the life of a smaller car. Personallly i would rather pay the fuel bill and have a cheaper more luxurious car.

 The omega will go on, with some maintenance work, to do silly miles. With that in mind, a diy £750 lpg kit conversion can deliver overall savings within a year at about 50 to 55p a litre. The following 5 or so years, dep. on your mileage, of motoring will roughly half your fuel bills once the price of the kit has been recovered.

I would recommend a tech 2 session with one of the guys on here who have them. See "The Boys" rates on the bottom of one of his posts. This can check the multi ram operation on the engine and fuel trim(?)  to make sure the economy is as good as it should be. Dont bother with a dealer tech 2 session, they ve not a clue how to use it. Muppets!
Hth.

[Albatross]

Follow Chris's advice above^ it is good.

Personally I too have a 4 or 5 mile commute to work and I either cycle or drive the PUG 306 D-Turbo to and from work. The Omega is for weekend runs out of town or when I have to go further afield for work reasons.

The Pug is a simpler, and slightly cheaper, compromise than LPG for me and it is great for chucking the bikes in the boot with the seats down too.

As for LPG, personally I like my boot-space (not enough to drive a hearse estate though ), but I am quite seriously considering it now having seen Kevin Wood's engine bay on his 3.2 like mine.

I need to see the figures and how they stack up though before I commit to the money for an LPG system. I'd also have to factor in the costs of paying someone to fit it; I would only really trust a fellow OOF member anyway to do the job. I'm trying to work on Kevin to see if he would do mine.

Horses for courses buddy.

[feeutfo]

boot space is an issue, a large tank halfs(ish?) the boot space. So i intend as large as possible upright donut tanks in the spare wheel well as i also like to bung a couple of mt bikes in the back with the seats down. Gives less range but that suites me, all things considered.
.

[keithnic]

I used to have the 3.0 v6 auto estate and only got 16mpg in town.  Now have the 3.2v6 auto and it gets 18-19 so not much better.  The last 4,500 miles I got average 26.5mpg, but that included lots of motorway with trips from London to Switzerland and Aberdeen driving at a steady 80-85ish.  
The trick I've used recently is to leave early when going somewhere and driving more slowly i.e. 70-75 rather than 80-85.  I think that makes a difference

[Welung666]

All excellent advice I don't want to go the LPG route really, I'll have a look on the map and see who's my closest Tech2, I need to replace my MID anyway so will probably need programming.

[Richard A]

Midlands meet at the 'Plank & Leggett' tomorrow.
regards
richard a

[Tony H]

As stated it's the town driving that "nails" the V6 economy careful cruising on a motorway run at 65 to 70 mph has returned over 40 mpg for me

[Welung666]

Well I've been out shopping with the 'Boss' and took it steady on acceleration, let it coast as much as poss and gentle running. Very rarely did the instant drop below 25 and the average is up to 17.3 now Although I'm on super now.

[jjleonard]

I'll absolutely agree - in my 2.6 I'll average around 29 mpg for 200 mile motorway journeys. As an experiment today, I left the trip computer in instant consumption mode - 7mpg under heavy acceleration!

I used to own a diseasel mondeo that averaged 54mpg, but I'd take half the fuel consumption any day, when I now have heated leather seats, a Bose stereo, climate control and a car that I'm proud to give work colleagues a lift in!

 

[Lizzie_Zoom]

As stated it's the town driving that "nails" the V6 economy careful cruising on a motorway run at 65 to 70 mph has returned over 40 mpg for me

Yes indeed Tony, even in a 2.5 V6 short journeys around town are a killer on mpg, with mine being lucky to average more than 18.

But once the car warms up and I do a long run, especially 70-80 on a motorway the mpg shoots up.  After a 200+ mile jouney it has reached 35 mpg even if I have booted it a few times .  

Knowing the Omega's, and their predessors mpg as I do it is just one of those things you accept for the fair swap of comfort and a powerful engine. 8-) 8-) 8-)

Anyone who objects to an Omega's mpg frankly has just one option; get a small car or a push bike!

[vegasgo]

The mpg on my 2.2 auto 51 reg was a concern when I bought it, a three mile trip would knock four times that off the 'miles remaining' number on the lcd. Once you hit the mwys, it tends to go the other way.

Have come to appreciate luxury and comfy driving does come at a price, wouldn't change it though.

[dieseldean]

i'm not the best example at the moment as my tractor is poorly     but although diesel is a few pence more per litre much less is used to cover same distance as a petrol. and diesel engines last longer than petrol ones. so although my diesel tractor is pi**ing me off at the moment i still find diesel mig the best car for me

[Pete Elite]

LPG conversion - no more economy, but cheaper fuel

No boot!      

        I think cutting the boot off will lighten the car, but a bit drastic don't yer think .

[dieseldean]

LPG conversion - no more economy, but cheaper fuel

No boot!      

        I think cutting the boot off will lighten the car, but a bit drastic don't yer think .

should estates be more economical cos they have no boot

someone once told me that boots are worn on feet and tailgates are fitted to Y-FRONTS

[Entwood]

Follow Chris's advice above^ it is good.

Personally I too have a 4 or 5 mile commute to work and I either cycle or drive the PUG 306 D-Turbo to and from work. The Omega is for weekend runs out of town or when I have to go further afield for work reasons.

The Pug is a simpler, and slightly cheaper, compromise than LPG for me and it is great for chucking the bikes in the boot with the seats down too.

As for LPG, personally I like my boot-space (not enough to drive a hearse estate though ), but I am quite seriously considering it now having seen Kevin Wood's engine bay on his 3.2 like mine.

I need to see the figures and how they stack up though before I commit to the money for an LPG system. I'd also have to factor in the costs of paying someone to fit it; I would only really trust a fellow OOF member anyway to do the job. I'm trying to work on Kevin to see if he would do mine.

Horses for courses buddy.

e-mail sent  

[Omegadoha, Desert Member]

I reckon the shortness of the journey is the killer. I do 7kms each way and reach speeds of up to 50-60 mph with only one set of lights on the way and minimal traffic. (A/C on). I can only get 15-16 mpg. Plus I'm very light footed.

Double the journey gives me around 23mpg. Further journeys even better.

[Andy B]

...... Plus I'm very light footed.
 .......

 With fuel as cheap as yours ....... Why?          

[Martin_1962]

Follow Chris's advice above^ it is good.

Personally I too have a 4 or 5 mile commute to work and I either cycle or drive the PUG 306 D-Turbo to and from work. The Omega is for weekend runs out of town or when I have to go further afield for work reasons.

The Pug is a simpler, and slightly cheaper, compromise than LPG for me and it is great for chucking the bikes in the boot with the seats down too.

As for LPG, personally I like my boot-space (not enough to drive a hearse estate though ), but I am quite seriously considering it now having seen Kevin Wood's engine bay on his 3.2 like mine.

I need to see the figures and how they stack up though before I commit to the money for an LPG system. I'd also have to factor in the costs of paying someone to fit it; I would only really trust a fellow OOF member anyway to do the job. I'm trying to work on Kevin to see if he would do mine.

Horses for courses buddy.

You boot is actually more awkward to use than mine, I can get a lot shoved on top of the tank and between the tank and rear seats, my amp is in this gap.

That said I haven't tried getting a TV stand in mine

[Martin_1962]

I get high teens but 2.6 auto, 30 miles a day, 6 of them in town in heavy traffic the other 24 or so on country lanes.

[barclay03]

i get close to 30mpg with mixed driving... but dont get me wrong, ive got a very heavy right foot aswell :lol:

Filled up last week, trip is on 250ish miles and still got 20 litres according to the fuel gauge, thats been a few long trips but plenty of short ones to shops etc aswell :-/

[Richie London]

3 weeks ago i was getting 18-20mpg just driving about locally, since ive changed my ht leads it seems to have gone downhill. was showing 13.6 earlier this morning.

[feeutfo]

3 weeks ago i was getting 18-20mpg just driving about locally, since ive changed my ht leads it seems to have gone downhill. was showing 13.6 earlier this morning.

Maybe cheque your vac pipes to multi rams. May have been pulled off during the work on ht leads ?

[Richie London]

i will take the plenum off and have a good look about, check the leads are all in right place, dis pack and so on. check for leaks everywhere.

[Albatross]

Follow Chris's advice above^ it is good.

Personally I too have a 4 or 5 mile commute to work and I either cycle or drive the PUG 306 D-Turbo to and from work. The Omega is for weekend runs out of town or when I have to go further afield for work reasons.

The Pug is a simpler, and slightly cheaper, compromise than LPG for me and it is great for chucking the bikes in the boot with the seats down too.

As for LPG, personally I like my boot-space (not enough to drive a hearse estate though ), but I am quite seriously considering it now having seen Kevin Wood's engine bay on his 3.2 like mine.

I need to see the figures and how they stack up though before I commit to the money for an LPG system. I'd also have to factor in the costs of paying someone to fit it; I would only really trust a fellow OOF member anyway to do the job. I'm trying to work on Kevin to see if he would do mine.

Horses for courses buddy.

e-mail sent  

Cheers for that Entwood. Would it be fair to consolidate the two sets of data from each of the worksheets?

I did this and came up with some calulations (attached in a reply e-mail). 1st question is that there is a hard coded 2173.8. Is that the cost of the LPG kit fitted?

When I was speaking to Kevin Wood recently about the kit has has on his 3.2 he was implying a cost of about £750, although he did fit it himself.

Now if I were to work on his figures plus a chunk for fitting, say £1000, I come up with the following...




[/td][/td][/td]

Cost             Days so far             Months so far                          CALCULATED (on mileage from your sheet)             Miles p/annum (calc.)                          Rate of payback (years)             Rate of payback (Months)                          Date of payback             Date from now                                       ESTIMATED (on mileage p/annum entered)             Miles p/annum (est.)                          Rate of payback (years)             Rate of payback (Months)                          Date of payback             Date from now             [td] Actual £2,173.80 171 5.62 15,388 1.48 17.80 09/11/2009 04/05/2010 10,000 2.28 27.39 10/10/2010 20/02/2011 [td]                                              [td] Cheap £1,000.00 171 5.62 15,388 0.68 8.19 21/01/2009 16/07/2009 10,000 1.05 12.60 17/07/2009 27/11/2009

[/table]

[Entwood]

Yup the 2173.80 was the total cost of having the job done, the analysis figures on the bottom of page 2 are consolidated figures anyway, calculations are continuous as the B/F figures from page 2 row 4 are included in row 35 - which is where the analysis figures are sourced from ..

The figures right now are very much like the figures were whilst in France .. as petrol has dropped and - round here - LPG has not but still saving around 6 pence / mile

Never got a reply e-mail BTW ..

[Kevin Wood]

Cost to upgrade mine was £700 exactly for the kit of all parts delivered.

Mine's currently averaging about 22 mpg on gas @ 51.9p/l 10.7p/mile plus a little petrol for starting

On petrol it averaged at best 26 mpg. @92.9p/l 16.2p/mile.

So, payback would be in 12700 miles at today's prices however, I believe petrol prices have done their dropping now, and LPG maybe has a way to go. I n any case I was saving 10p a mile when petrol was up at £1.20.

Kevin

[Albatross]

Yup the 2173.80 was the total cost of having the job done, the analysis figures on the bottom of page 2 are consolidated figures anyway, calculations are continuous as the B/F figures from page 2 row 4 are included in row 35 - which is where the analysis figures are sourced from ..

The figures right now are very much like the figures were whilst in France .. as petrol has dropped and - round here - LPG has not but still saving around 6 pence / mile

Never got a reply e-mail BTW ..

Sorry, I hadn't clicked the "Send" button. It should be with you now.

[tmx]

19mpg i get lol! aye the V6 hates city driving i turn the engine off on red lights etc save fuel  

[MadMark73]

My motor must be buggered then.  I do 20 mile each way to work at a steady 65 and only getting at best 20 mpg. Is this normal and any info would be appreciated.

[Rob James]

I have a 3.0V6 and do a mix of journeys. I keep all my reciepts and at the end of each month fill in various details in a spreadsheet (I have a fuel card with work and need to keep track of amount spent and miles). Here are the details for the last few months

Miles    Cost         PPM      Liters      MPG
1856    £397.34    21.41    340.81    24.76
1249    £252.86    20.24    207.13    27.41
1096    £242.76    22.15    204.65    24.35
1984    £349.00    17.59    298.80    30.18
1581    £322.37    20.39    286.94    25.05
692      £135.31    19.55    130.18    24.17

PPM = pence per mile

[feeutfo]

My motor must be buggered then.  I do 20 mile each way to work at a steady 65 and only getting at best 20 mpg. Is this normal and any info would be appreciated.

Check multi rams, vac system from brake servo. They even out the torque curve and if not working make you press the pedal harder to get the car to accelerate. Worth a look. A tech2 can activate remotely and its more obvious if they are working.

[tmx]

you can test the multirams without a Tech 2 Rev by revving the engine up on the throttle body cable the rear one will operate on low revs but the front one requires a but of a thrashing!

i assume this car has had a recent service? Plugs, Filters etc?

[hp7166]

I do a 60 mile round trip all motorway everyday and i have a 2.5td auto. Get around 40mpg according to the onboard computer but i never take the revs above 2000

[psnimv6]

my 3.0 mv6 manual in 2 years of ownership has never done less than 26 mpg on the tank and i check each time i fill it up ,my work is 13 miles of poor b road driving each way and the rest is just mixed b roads some town driving almost never motorway and i think that is truly excellent considering the car, and even in scotland this summer with roofbox camping tralier and car full it done 28-29 mpg over 1200 odd miles   athough saying that i don,t really drive that fast but it does get tramped to the red line prety often it rarely puts the red petrol light on before 380- 400 miles

[feeutfo]

my 3.0 mv6 manual in 2 years of ownership has never done less than 26 mpg on the tank and i check each time i fill it up ,my work is 13 miles of poor b road driving each way and the rest is just mixed b roads some town driving almost never motorway and i think that is truly excellent considering the car, and even in scotland this summer with roofbox camping tralier and car full it done 28-29 mpg over 1200 odd miles   athough saying that i don,t really drive that fast but it does get tramped to the red line prety often it rarely puts the red petrol light on before 380- 400 miles

Never done less than 26 mpg?... Nah, MUST be something wrong with it, defo!  

[psnimv6]

nothing wrong with it at all ,it purrs like a cat but is fitted with a proper gear box thats what makes the difference (wait till they read this a can of worms comes to mind )

[sev]

Any V6 is always going to be thirsty especially till it warms up, and that means not only the engine, but all the drivetrain bearings as well!

My mrs' CLK 3.0 v6 returned 25mpg as a rule with 35 on a long M40 run, and that's mercs newest variant!

When we picked it up it showed just 17 on the trip computer!

My mig does an average of 23 with town driving and mid to high 20's on decent runs - I've yet to take it for a proper motorway blast.  But that'll be soon now that all the shocks are done.

[Andy B]

An auto then  .... like they should all have!        

[psnimv6]

An auto then  .... like they should all have!        

yea thats the lazy man,s gear box   never had one myself and never will if i can help it ,that was the reason that i had to get a cop car as you well no proper gearboxes are hard to find in 3.0-3.2 omega,s so it was cop car or no car for me

[notacarbuff]

Just back from a 210 mile trip to Coventry and got 34mpg from a 3.0 V6 auto. Very happy with that. 8-)

However round town can't seem to get more than 20.

[JamesV6CDX]

I use my car mostly on combined runs with some town driving, and consistently get 30+ mpg, with my 3.0 V6 Auto Estate.

With unleaded at 91ppl here, and diesel 15p more at 106ppl, it makes no sense whatsoever to get an oil burner.

For me, petrol is just over £4 a gallon, to which I get 30 miles. That's less than 13p per mile, so I'm more than happy with that, given car size, engine size, and autobox.

If fuel economy  over short distances is anything of a concern for you, then I'd probably suggest a V6 Omega probably isn't the best choice of vehicle in that department  

In terms of incresing MPG, my biggest bit of advice is make sure it's getting up to temp quickly  

[TECHNOPUG]

15.8mpg since April in mine. That's mainly due to quite a but of town driving, well, central London crawling to be precise! Will run at mid-20's on the motorway, although I'm running smaller radius wheels (55's on 15 rims) which will lower the gearing - don't know whether this will be refelected in the trip computer calcualtions? I think the speedo is over-reading by around 5%, so not really anything noticeable. Managed about 22mpg on a 270miles trip across Europe in the summer. Stuck 60l in the tank at Adeanau and managed to get all the way to Dunkirk ferry terminal and into the BP at Dover with zero miles range showing.....not too bad considering it was pretty much a 100mph hack all the way. Misfire probably isn't helping matters but I'll address that when I get her back from the MoT station.
     Altogether, not exactly frugal, but then again she only cost £460 to buy and I'm probably doing less than 5k a year - so I don't mind paying out the petrol tokens in return for the nice V6 growl when she gets to stretch her legs.

[rastamanblues]

Over the past 2/3 tank fulls, The averages have been between 28-32mpg, thats with a few runs to MK and back, but also giving it quite alot of right foot action. I also stuck it into instant consumption mode, and managed to get it down to the high 6's low 7's!

It also prolly helps that my trek to work is about 14/15 miles each way, and thats a mix of a/b roads, and a trip down the M4, with very little traffic, so no stop start.

[TheBoy]

I use my car mostly on combined runs with some town driving, and consistently get 30+ mpg, with my 3.0 V6 Auto Estate.

With unleaded at 91ppl here, and diesel 15p more at 106ppl, it makes no sense whatsoever to get an oil burner.

For me, petrol is just over £4 a gallon, to which I get 30 miles. That's less than 13p per mile, so I'm more than happy with that, given car size, engine size, and autobox.

If fuel economy  over short distances is anything of a concern for you, then I'd probably suggest a V6 Omega probably isn't the best choice of vehicle in that department  

In terms of incresing MPG, my biggest bit of advice is make sure it's getting up to temp quickly  

If you are getting a consistent 30mpg from 3.0 auto, you would get mega miles from a chipped tractor manual if you drove it the same Miss Daisy way

[TheBoy]

Since filling up tractor on Saturday morning, 24mpg .  Hopefully now resolved

[Kevin Wood]

If you are getting a consistent 30mpg from 3.0 auto, you would get mega miles from a chipped tractor manual if you drove it the same Miss Daisy way

.. and probably won't miss the power. So, a pair of ear defenders on your Christmas list and you're sorted.

Kevin

[TheBoy]

If you are getting a consistent 30mpg from 3.0 auto, you would get mega miles from a chipped tractor manual if you drove it the same Miss Daisy way

.. and probably won't miss the power. So, a pair of ear defenders on your Christmas list and you're sorted.

Kevin

Oi  

I changed the oil on Saturday, now I can here the wheel bearing

[MickAP]

My speedo tells me I've just done say 37 miles (trip mileage) and my MID also tells me I've covered the same distance. Question can I believe it's telling me I've achieved 37 mpg. The reason I ask is I don't completely know whether if that accurate because I have had the TD chipped recently.
How does the MID take it's mileage covered calculation, and fuel used calculation. OK maybe a bit thick on this one, but can someone explain so's I can understand whether it's giving me the correct info.

Mick

[Peter H]

My 2 cents.

My 2.5V6 Elite (prefacelift 1999) returns 21mpg pocing about in Somerset, lanes and all, and just managed 29.4 return run to London for a theater trip.

My XJ-S does around 15 mpg on the local circuit, and has done 20.8 mpg on a London run.  

I always run my tyres near the upper end of the range, I think the Omega is 32psi front 30 rear, but I am not sure how much help this actually is.

Given that the Omega is more comfy I think it is a small price to pay for the amount of car you get to drive.

When filling up I always think of the depreciation on say a BMW 535d and feel better about another £60 of unleaded!

[Kevin Wood]

MID needs 2 inputs to work out MPG: Distance covered and fuel used.

Distance comes from the same signal from the ABS ECU that the speedo uses so it should be reasonably accurate.

Fuel used comes from a signal from the ECU which indicates how much fuel it thinks it's injecting. This is not measured, but depends on the (known) flow rate of the injectors and the duration for which they are open. If the flow rate of the injectors is not as it should be or fuel is leaking out, etc. the MPG reading will be inaccurate.

The above applies equally to petrol and diesel engines. I find the MID is within 1 or 2 MPG.

Kevin

[MickAP]

MID needs 2 inputs to work out MPG: Distance covered and fuel used.

Distance comes from the same signal from the ABS ECU that the speedo uses so it should be reasonably accurate.

Fuel used comes from a signal from the ECU which indicates how much fuel it thinks it's injecting. This is not measured, but depends on the (known) flow rate of the injectors and the duration for which they are open. If the flow rate of the injectors is not as it should be or fuel is leaking out, etc. the MPG reading will be inaccurate.

The above applies equally to petrol and diesel engines. I find the MID is within 1 or 2 MPG.

Kevin

So do you think having changed the chip on the TD would have messed the figures up on mine or should it still be reasonably accurate. In other words are the MID readings correct.
I get roughly around 10 mpg more now than I was getting pre chipped. The chip was obtained and fitted by our good friends here on the forum, so others have the same fitment on their TD's.

Mick

[beemerdevil]

well........hmmm......quite a variation of mpg figures there peeps.........i did about 250 mile rond trip at weekend, 90% motorway, and according to the obc, i did about 25 mpg - that was cruising at 85-90 (and obviously slowing to 50 mph speed zones on the A1)  i dont think thats bad at all  

[TheBoy]

MID needs 2 inputs to work out MPG: Distance covered and fuel used.

Distance comes from the same signal from the ABS ECU that the speedo uses so it should be reasonably accurate.

Fuel used comes from a signal from the ECU which indicates how much fuel it thinks it's injecting. This is not measured, but depends on the (known) flow rate of the injectors and the duration for which they are open. If the flow rate of the injectors is not as it should be or fuel is leaking out, etc. the MPG reading will be inaccurate.

The above applies equally to petrol and diesel engines. I find the MID is within 1 or 2 MPG.

Kevin

So do you think having changed the chip on the TD would have messed the figures up on mine or should it still be reasonably accurate. In other words are the MID readings correct.
I get roughly around 10 mpg more now than I was getting pre chipped. The chip was obtained and fitted by our good friends here on the forum, so others have the same fitment on their TD's.

Mick

As Kevin Wood says above, should be accurate, as its based on how much ecu thinks its putting in, and (on diesel) feedback from injector 4.

The only true way is brim it, use it (not necessarily the whole tank), brim it again, then calculate by hand.