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[Rods2]

EU emissions and fuel consumption tests are inaccurate. According to the report in the US the EPA does the tests in the EU the manufacturers do! No room for any biases and selling advantages in the EU then!

They estimate fuel consumption is typically 40% out when comparing manufacturers and real world figures costing the typical owner £2,800 in extra fuel costs over the period they own the car.

I can see like LIBOR there are going to be many more revelations on this.

LIBOR and other banking scandals, FIFA and now the fiddling of car tests have all been exposed by US investigations, which means we should also be asking the question where the EU and EU country Government's spend far higher amounts on regulation and Government in general, why are they so useless at their jobs?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34376086

[Diamond Black Geezer]

To be honest It's astonished me the hike in mpg and vehicle ranges that we've seen over the last 10 is years or so. 65mpg seems to get quoted as if it's a kind of norm, but in real terms, in real-world driving that just seems impossible.

I know I drive a pretty hefty old girl, with a 22 year old engine design, but I get 21.7mph at present, almost entirely town driving. Carlton and Senny's, with their 1960s engines (original CIH introduced in 1965) managed a little less than that, dipping into the high teens.

Fast forward to 2015 and my old man's Insignia 1.8 averages mid-maybe high-20s again, almost exclusively town driving. That seems on-trend, and believable for a 1.5 ton car with a 1.8 engine... but wildly different from the sort of figures that other manufacturers are quoting. To be honest I think he's a bit disappointed how little the difference is in his bank balance from Omega Diesel ownership to 'high tec' modern Insignia ownership.

I know much of the VAG scandal is about the emissions, not mpg. But nevertheless the figures we've all been quoted just seems to suggest a quantum leap in engine design, and I'm not sure there really has been. 

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

My Signum uses virtually the same amount of petrol as my 2.6 Omega....according to the trip computer.

Long gentle run about...... 31 MPG.

Town only..................16-18 MPG.

Overall about..............25 MPG.

[STEMO]

When I first got my 1.4 Astra, I posted on here that I was getting around 40mpg on semi-rural runs.....and I was.
However, when I did a motorway run, expecting 50-55, I was surprised to be getting around 42. Obviously the quoted 60 is at a constant 55mph, with no acceleration or braking.
I'm now getting a bit fed up driving like Tunnie granny and wring it's neck to get where I'm going a bit quicker. I'm seeing about 35, which is hardly worth coming down to a 1.4 for. Big diesels would laugh at that mpg, according to manufacturers figures anyway, but at least I'm not plagued by DPF issues.

[Diamond Black Geezer]

My Signum uses virtually the same amount of petrol as my 2.6 Omega....according to the trip computer.

Long gentle run about...... 31 MPG.

Town only..................16-18 MPG.

Overall about..............25 MPG.

  At least the Signum uses effectively the 'same' engines/the next half-a-generation-on of engines. Though lighter, the Vectra Cs are still chunky barges, not as light as perhaps people would imagine. I know what you mean, you'd still expect a bit of a difference in your fuel costs, moving from an Omega to a Vectra Signum.

I think many people look at the quoted figure at a steady 55mph, then rev the nuts off a car around town and are amazed at the difference. I have long held the theory that whether you're in a V6 barge, or a nippy 1.4 supermini, you're effectively doing rubbishtothegallon, no matter what engine. An engine being stressed is never at its most efficient, that's that. My old Turbo Weasel = average 22mpg, my V6 average today reads 21.7mpg. Ok, both are big old cast iron Omegas, but according to Parkers the TD averages 35mpg, the V6 a mere 25mpg. Rubbish. 

[Rods2]

The report is quoting a 40% difference. Those with modern cars, please quote manufacturers againt your real world figures, so we can come up with ball park percentages, so those that are buying new(er) cars can calculate what they can really expect to achieve.

I've convinced that a petrol with LPG is the way to go with any car these days. I suspect the 'real world' running costs for LPG are cheaper than for a tractor by the time you have added AdBlue, DPF, injector and fuel pump replacement at some point during its life. Somebody I know with a Germany tractor had a bill for over £3000 for these and it would have been double that if he had not managed to get hold of 2nd hand injectors. That would pay for an LPG install and £1000-2000 of LPG which will do an awful lot of miles, even at 4mpl.

[Diamond Black Geezer]

Agreed. When I look at these figures I just default to me as a 'home mechanic' but in the real world, for most people, they simply have to walk into their nearest dealer and say 'my car's making a funny noise/has a light on.. can you mend it?' and the ensuing bill, therefore. A bill that offset 3 yearsworth of saved fuel.

Another very good reason for, bizarrely, keeping with older technology. If you stick with a technology for 50 years, then every single back street garage, and quite possibly kid, can mend it. Count the number of car garages there are vs 3D printer repair shops in your Yellow pages and you'll see my point. I'm not saying 3d printing is bad, or wrong, just that it's new, and by definition there is less support for its maintenance than the internal combustion engine, for instance.

Of couse this doesn't make me an advocate for not progressing, of course we should use LED light bulbs to replace our incandescent, which replaced gas lamps, which replaced candles, which replaced just stopping what you are doing when it got dark.... but at the same time, in the name of being green and saving the planet we shouldn't chuck in the bin the perfectly serviceable tech, which still has years of use left in it off to landfill. ie: the banal flawed logic of buying a brand new Prius every two-three years 

[GastronomicKleptomaniac]

Have mpg figures ever been spot on? No. Are they one way of assessing one car against another? Yes. Does the great British public realise this? No. Do they expect the moon on a stick and a car that runs on fresh air? Usually. Are VW the only company using electonickery? Probably not.

[Rods2]

When the UK had their own tests rather than the EU ones, manufacturer's figures were typically about 10% better. I think we all did and would accept that as 'advertisers licence', but with the current EU tests being almost double real world ones in similar conditions it is about time the EU for allowing it, along with the manufacturers were brought to book.

Why aren't the AA, RAC and CSMA organising a campaign on this?

[05omegav6]

When the UK had their own tests rather than the EU ones, manufacturer's figures were typically about 10% better. I think we all did and would accept that as 'advertisers licence', but with the current EU tests being almost double real world ones in similar conditions it is about time the EU for allowing it, along with the manufacturers were brought to book.

Why aren't the AA, RAC and CSMA organising a campaign on this?

Because they no longer have the interests of the motorist at heart...