A recent study has revealed that car manufacturers are still massaging their emissions figures, and whilst that may not be the most shocking news you’ll hear today, the extent of the cheating could be; it was found that some cars are as much as 63% down on their claimed mpg figures.
The findings are made worse when you consider that these figures specifically relate to vehicles bought for their green credentials – hybrids.
Just one in 39 hybrid models currently available actually achieves the manufacturers claimed mpg, although on average, a typical hybrid will return around 70% of the claimed figure.
The Volkswagen fallout
The buying public really first found out about emissions cheating as a result of the Volkswagen scandal in 2015, and although trade insiders widely understand that it was happening on a regular basis, with many of the manufacturers, it seems that Volkswagen paid the price.
The reason why the Volkswagen scandal was so detrimental to the brand was that they had set out to deliberately cheat on emissions testing – going so far as to having software that reacted to an emission testing situation, whereas for many of the other manufacturers, it was purely down to the vehicle being tested in absolute optimal conditions; the results were the same but achieved differently.
The ‘dieselgate’ scandal with Volkswagen led to new legislation being introduced – Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (similar to the existing tests, but faster and more dynamic – using a range of engine loads/speeds, gearchanges and temperatures) and the Real Driving Emissions (RDE) which involves driving a vehicle on open roads, including motorways and urban areas for 90 minutes, both tests should see a significant improvement in the truth regarding claimed emissions.
Why hybrids?
From the 1st September 2018, all new vehicles will have undergone the WLTP testing, and the RDE testing will come into effect on the 1st September 2019 – this should stop the wild exaggerations of manufacturers, in the meantime, however, there is still the matter of 63% less fuel economy for some hybrids.
The study by HonestJohn is based upon 148,000 real-world fuel tests, and whilst it was expected that the regular diesel and unleaded figures would be different to the claimed manufacturer figures, the surprising truth was that they were closer to manufacturer figures than the hybrids; one hybrid in particular was achieving just 36.9% of the manufacturers claimed figures – 49.63 mpg against a claim of 134.5 mpg, at the opposite end of the scale, the closest was still nearly 16% down on the manufacturers figure.
Further legislation
The UK Government has recently passed further legislation targeting manufacturers who deliberately set-out to cheat the emissions testing, but we should make it clear – this is targeting the makers that fit a ‘defeat device’ (such as Volkswagen did) to beat the testing; this won’t target those manufacturers whose numbers are on the generous side through optimising their testing – laboratory conditions, static load, set temperature, constant speed – these are currently still accepted methods for testing.
Transport Minister Jesse Norman says that some manufacturers are “dishonest and deplorable” and that the new regulations (which come in to power on 1st July 2018) will ensure that any brand caught cheating will be made to pay financially and legally – as much as £50,000 per car that’s been found to have a device fitted.
This is possibly too little, too late, especially if the RDE and WLTP testing legislation works as they should.
What does this mean for the motorist?
If you’ve bought a hybrid specifically for the purpose of saving fuel & money, you’re probably all too aware that it’s not achieving anything like it should – the number one selling plug-in hybrid is the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, by our reckoning, 10,000 miles should cost in the region of £354 in fuel, but readjusting that figure from the results of the study, it’s closer to £833.
If you’re currently looking to purchase a hybrid, our advice would be to wait until September at the very least – manufacturers should be using the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure then, which in theory means that any claimed figures will be a little closer to reality, but if time is of the essence, you should research the models fuel consumption before signing on the dotted line – don’t take the manufacturers word for it.
The top five least accurate figures are:
- Mercedes-Benz C-Class C350e – achieves 36.9% of the claimed 134.5 mpg
- BMW 3 Series 330e – achieves 37.2% of the claimed 134.5 mpg
- Volkswagen Golf GTE – achieves 38.1% of the claimed 166.3 mpg
- Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV – achieves 42.5% of the claimed 166.0 mpg
- BMW 2 Series Active Tourer 225xe – achieves 56.4% of the claimed 141.2 mpg
And the best:
- Lexus GS450h – achieves 84.2% of the claimed 45.6 mpg
- Toyota RAV4 Hybrid 2WD – achieves 79.3% of the claimed 57.6 mpg
- Toyota Yaris 1.5 VVT-I Hybrid – achieves 77.9% of the claimed 91.2 mpg
- Kia Niro 1.6 GDI Hybrid – achieves 77.4% of the claimed 74.3 mpg
- Toyota C-HR 1.8 Hybrid – achieves 77.2% of the claimed 74.3 mpg
Do you own a hybrid? Do you feel that the report is accurate? Have you been surprised at just how IN-accurate the fuel consumption figures are? Let us know in the comments.
This does not surprise me at all. CHEATING CAR MANUFACTURES they are all at it
this is fraud/ conspiracy to commit a crime/ obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception contrary to the theft act /corporate liability comes into play/ so on and so on
What are you going on about, everyone knows the mpg figures are quoted on a rolling road, with no wind resistance, no hills, no rough surface that causes drag(chippings on TAR) deception and fraud is when a deliberate attempt is made to hide the emissions knowing they are wrong such as software. But that company is now trying to win back favour by rolling out EVs.
I have a Kia Optima PHEV saloon. The first thing I noticed was that on typically cold, damp British mornings, the engine would run even in EV mode to warm the car etc. Only when temperatures exceeded 10degrees or so could I drive around town in EV mode and not have the engine come on. Then as temperatures rose, the aircon would be working harder and so the it seemed the engine would come on from time to time then.
That said, it is the best car to drive I have ever had. I’ve had 7 series BMWs, Volvo V70, all sorts and the Kia beats them on comfort and noise and the performance isn’t too shabby either. I had heard that hybrids were not delivering the mileage quoted but it didn’t stop me from getting one.
My son has an electric ZOE,, try finding a charging point that works LOL LOL LOL. It is known that some people leave their electric cars in the charging points for hours even when they are fully charged,, REASON FREE PARKING LOL LOL Another point we have a charging point at our house. HIS LEAD DOES NOT FIT…. got an adaptor lead all plugged in and it wont work LOL LOL LOL. Some points that have to be sorted out.
Time limited parking at electric bays.
ONE TYPE OF CHARGING PLUG FOR ALL home charging points.
Electric charging points serviced properly.
WE WILL NEED ACRES OF CHARGING BAYS IN THE FUTURE to charge electric cars on the Roads.
I’m getting just 43mpg out of a 2018 RAV4 using eco settings.
I get 46 to 51 from my diesel Merc GLC, 220d. No refuel for about 500 miles. No range anxiety or waiting in a motorway service station for plonkers trying to recharge on a broken device- seen it! I can use air con, radio, heated seats and all electric bits with minimal effect. Why go hybrid?
I’ve got a VW Golf GTE and your pretty much spot on. Long term mine is doing around 66mpg
I’m getting 62 mpg from my 13 Yaris hybrid . Can’t complain
51mpg from my Yaris Icon Plus, all singing and dancing, 1.33 petrol. cheaper to buy too.
getting mid 50’s in winter (presume battery needs to be heated more) and getting 60’s in summer… Yaris 1.5 Excel Hybrid (15″ wheels) Zero VED…
75mpg quoted by manufacturer, knew it wouldnt get that, have never got whatever manufacturer quoted on any car I’ve ever owned… so expected nothing different…
Batteries work better at a higher ambient temp, so in winter the range will reduce, add to that the battery only car has to supply the heating, lights etc, and the range will drop significantly.
We bought a Toyota Auris hybrid in 2015 and have had long discussions with Toyota about the appalling fuel consumption! Living in a hilly area no doubt contributes to the problem but even when driving with a light right foot we can only achieve 56mpg as against their claimed 78mpg. Very disappointing as our previous Toyota Corolla 2 litre diesel gave better fuel returns!
Comparing Diesel with Petrol – Honestlly! Should compare a normal petrol engine of same size to a Hybrid. We have a Lexus CT200H giving 45 mpg. Not bad for a 1.9 litre car.
I agree, at present if I try not to go over 60 mph I can get 51 mpg with my 12 plate Lexus CT200H
I have the Auris and currently by watching the way I drive achieve around 58.5 mpg. Never believed the 70+ mpg claims.
That,s no big deal, I got 40mpg when I had a 2.5 litre transit!
I bought a Mitsubishi PHEV Outlander and am not surprised at this report. However, all the tests we saw said that it’s not the car for regular motorway runs but is excellent for local work. A 2000 mile trip on holiday returned 43.6 mpg, whilst a local round trip of 64 miles returned 103.5. I found if I use the steering wheel paddles to increase the charge whilst travelling downhill, I can increase the range significantly. These paddles are not gear change units but increase the generators resistance in 5 stages. Becomes second nature to use them instead of braking for corners, traffic lights etc. It’s a different way of driving but at 77 years old, if I can do it, so can you!
That is a really good example of a truly bad user interface. If you want to see a better one, look at Tesla cars. On those, the accelerator pedal needs to be pressed to keep the car going; take your foot off and the system regen-brakes fairly aggressively.
The key is that you go from two speed control systems to just the one, and an easier-to-use one at that.
You can do that on Mitsubishi but it is not as efficient as the other driver describes
Don’t blame the manufacturers, blame the test and authorities responsible for it, the previous test allowed any hybrid battery to be fully charged with no account for CO2 or the cost for charging it, so any miles driven under electric are essentially penalty free. This is the core reason why the figures are wildly out. Car manufacturers cannot influence that, simply abide by the test conditions. Compounding that is the fact that WLTP and previous test cycles are not representative of real world driving. Bring on Sept 2019 when RDE comes in to effect, this will level the playing field and give “real” world efficiency, if there is some cost/CO2 associated to the energy within the battery.
No CO2 is used charging my 330e. I use renewable energy.
How do you know you are using only renewable energy? If you use the mains supplied to your property, even if you have solar panels, then you are using an unknown mix of energy sources as there is no way to differentiate between sources. You can only make your claim if the solar panels are the only source for charging the car. Even those create serious pollution during manufacture and disposal.
You live off grid I presume.
Interesting that the best performing have the lowest claimed figures. Therefore while I agree the tests need to be looked at because they are completely irrelevant, this doesn’t mean that the cars on the list are more efficient, they just get closer to the claimed number
In my experience Mitsubishi have not headlined the test results because the test was not representative of driving conditions – it was just a level playing field for all cars. Some weeks when I run around locally at less than 20 miles a trip, I use no petrol at all and exceed the 166 mpg. More representative is a trip of 40 miles which will give about 80 mpg, but beyond that just running as a hybrid it will give around 38 mpg – and it is a heavy car.
Of course the mpg figure is also invalid because it only quotes per gallon and does not include the cost of electricity. It costs about £1.20 to ‘fill up’ the battery which gives 20 miles approx. (and only 60p if you set it to charge on the night rate ( if you have a dual meter)). The saving comes from the lower vat on electricity an no fuel duty. It is all done with smoke and mirrors.
Mitsubishi have consistently used their ‘fraudulent’ mpg figures in their advertising for several years. I questioned them in a Mitsibushi dealer, and the senior salesman admitted to me that they were a ‘farce’. I am just amazed that people fall for the hype. If however, the car is bought for other reasons, I can understand that.
All the references to ‘ claimed ‘ or ‘promised ‘ figures demonstrates a misunderstanding of what the figures are. They are the result of a standardised test, performed in particular consistent circumstances to give comparative not absolute results.
Also, why single out hybrids, all cars are likely to have lower efficiency in the real world than the official figures.
Real world values can be just as misleading, so evaluating a hybrid’s electric range using ideal conditions provides a quantifiable benchmark.
I drive a Volvo V60 D6 hybrid and can achieve 25 miles ( out of the claimed 30) when running in pure mode. Consideration must be given to driving style; a heavy left foot will never give economy.
I have driven various different cars since 1970 & absolutely none of them ever achieved any manufacturers stated mpg figures. I’ve therefore accepted fact that my Toyota Auris Hybrid does an average 52 mpg against the much higher ones quoted by manufacturer. I’m now aged 65 & I’ve learned to accept or live with the fact that we really just can’t believe what anyone like politicians / employers / media / suppliers / producers state.
I think we are possibly missing the point. Whilst we all know the figures published are never achievable on the road they are, I believe, all undertaken the same way. Therefore you can use the figures as a comparison (rather than an expectation) and that’s a very accurate way if choosing on MPG returns.
I know that all these figures are, as normally stated in the small print these days, “for comparative purposes only”, but I can’t help but think these figures are still terrible in real terms. The best listed is a Toyota small family car achieving 71 mpg according to these numbers. My Mazda 6 2.2 diesel running a 60 mile each way trip to work on motorways (so real world driving) achieves around 73 mpg and as good as 78 mpg if I’m running at 60 mph almost all the way which is likely to be better than the Toyota smaller car in the same conditions. Overall, that makes my diesel a superior car in terms of economy and emissions.
That’s the way I think it should be obvious that a 3ltr will do less to the gallon than a 1ltr. Plus if you do lots of town driving the small engine may be worse than the larger engine on a run. I find I can get the 45mpg bmw claim for my 730d but only on longer runs. In town it 27-28mpg but again that’s about book.
Yes, in theory, a 50mph car should get twice as far on a gallon of petrol as a 25mpg car, but if you look at the figures above, then for hybrids, that clearly isn’t the case
My Rover 75 diesel gets 49mpg exactly what the makers said.
My 2006 Alfa Romeo 166 2.4jtd does even better than quoted by the manufacturer : 40mpg (average on 150.000 km). Btw: hybrids are much ado about nothing.
We’ve found that friends buying a hybrid for their low fuel consumption have consistently been living in cloud cuckoo land, but would never accept it.
I own a Hyundai Ioniq. A lot of it depends on the way you drive. I’m achieving an average fuel consumption of around 69 mpg over all driving styles/conditions, which is higher than than the stated official figures. I’m sure hybrids could achieve far better economy, but so far I’m reasonably happy with my Ioniq.
I also have a Hyundai Ioniq and am very satisfied with it overall. I live in hilly Devon and can’t expect to get a daily good mpg but on drives to Sussex I can get up to 70mpg. Love my car.
It’s GOOD to know about real conditions. for MPG.
Thank you.
Lots of emotive words about Manufacturers “cheating.” No, they have their vehicles tested by the official method, it comes out with what everyone knows is a ridiculous figure, but by law they arent’t allowed to quote anything else. When I bought my last 3 cars, one a hybrid, a salesman told me, quietly and privately (and illegally) roughly what I could realistically expect. Incidentally none of the 3 cars was from a manufacturer involved in dieselgate.
The change of official testing method will improve things, but won’t be perfect.
My Hyundai Ioniq premium hybrid gets 75 mpg on average official Hyundai figures 55-57
I ownedthe Mercedes C350 e for 3 months from new and I achieved 42.5mpg. I now have a Toyota EAV4 hybrid I4wd and regularly get 50mpg on journeys of more than 5 miles both in town and on the motorway…
Why should the consumer, with nothing but limbs， be expected to read between the lines， when it is manufacturers， with all their sophisticated machinery, who are clearly being more than just economical with the truth?
Surely car owners should be entitled to compensation for the significant shortfalls in fuel economy?
I have a Hyundai Ioniq on lease and I get 59.4 mpg on average – on motorway I cruise about 67-75 max and urban I stick to 30 limits using the cruise control. I usually have air con on all the time and the radio plus some of the gadgets so I’m probably using more energy than most, but it’s pretty good.
The concern however is that it’s supposed to be doing 70-80mpg at least, but you can only really achieve that if you’re very gentle on the throttle, and pull of very slowly and generally waft about but that’s just not practical on UK roads. You just get in everyone’s way with your slow pootling to save an extra few quid. Doesn’t make sense.
Honestly if it wasn’t for the tax aspect, I’d go back to a diesel or a small petrol engine as the economy would be the same or better.
One other annoyance is that, due to the big battery under the back seat, the Ionia handles very poorly in corners on motorways and starts to feel unsteady – little too much body roll and just doesn’t feel like it will confidently grip. Also some small minor annoyances such as a 1-2sec delay in power when pulling off from a junction, the inside has started to rattle already (11 months of ownership!) and some of the cheaper materials used in the cabin are starting to show their lack of durability.
For the price tag, you can get a much higher quality car that actually delivers on the mpg for around the same money and with similar levels of equipment, although maybe not all the gimmicks but I’ve found that I don’t use all of them anyway.
Having researched it my best alternatives seem to be Nissan Qashqai (although I’ve been warned about reliability issues), Seat Leon, Mini Cooper 5dr, a few of the Kia fleet including the Niro and the Sportage or the Toyota C-HR but I’m kinda put off hybrids (and the Niro is almost identical to the Ioniq inside it’s just a different body shape and bigger)
Overall, I’d say take the advertised mpg and work on real life being 60-75% of what they say and you’ll be about right.
My driving style is generally keeping up with the pace, I do sometimes put my foot down to overtake or if I’m in a rush but I usually stay close to or at the speed limit if that gives an idea. I could squeeze an extra few mpg out of it as I mentioned earlier but I’d really be driving slow and deliberately and just tickling the throttle – doesn’t work in reality.
I note preponderance of German Manufacturers on the ‘Naughty Step’ here. No surprises to me at all.
Sadly despite its technical competence I have the distinct impression the German Motor Industry cannot be trusted and bear in mind they obviously have the eyes and ears of the German Government, who in turn have what must be a tight rein on the EU itself..
To save space here it is relevant to read Der Spiegel Online – ‘The Cartel’. This reinforced my suspicion after Dieselgate occurred and knowing how suppliers and car companies are linked from my own time in the industry this article raises a whole raft of embarassing (for the German Industry) events. Now I note Mercedes are set to recall ca. 800,000 vehicles in Europe for the fitment of ‘defeat devices’ (Source ‘Linked In Rundown’). Diesel fuelling systems are supplied to auto manufacturers by 2 or 3 suppliers (German…mainly for European makes) and the Der Spiegel article is illuminating when it comes to emissions from German Diesel vehicles.
Re Hybrids. A friend with a Hybrid Lexus car equivalent in a way to my 2 litre UK built diesel managed 43 mpg to Wales from Oxfordshire while my car managed 60+ mpg. Our speeds and loads were similar and the route was the same. I feel Hybrids help with the Urban driving scenarios and emissions , but on longer runs one is carrying this lump of a battery pack that when it is low on charge is no lighter than when full….unlike IC and CI vehicles.
I note Jaguar export diesel cars to US inc California and seem OK (remember it was the US who finally brought out the news in to the full public arena the VW shenanigans).
Audi halted deliveries of A6 and A7 diesel cars over emissions ‘irregularities’ amid ‘claims the engine software slows pollution controls (Adblue in this case) – (Times 9 May). See also the aforementioned Der Spiegel article.
For VW diesels – read also SEAT, Skoda, Audi..& MAN?
ON a safety aspect BMW have now been forced to recall ca. 300,000 cars for an engine cut out issue which they were aware of in 2011 (Times 13 May).
Can I trust German manufacturers with EV performance and range claims? Unfortunately and sadly I cannot trust them at all based on their general history. Sad when they are so capable engineering wise.
I have achieved 68 mpg in my Yaris 1.5 hybrid on a long tour of Scotland. Mainly due to driving most of the time at 40mph or less. My normal mpg around home which is a semi rural area with the odd motorway trip is 50mpg. This is my 3rd Yaris hybrid and 50-55mpg is the best average for normal use. I buy the Yaris hybrid for its outstanding drivability and reliability not necessarily for its economy.
So no different from any other cars then???!!!
We all know manufacturers’ theoretical figures are meaningless and the only important mpg figure is the one you actually achieve.
I’m on my 3rd Prius (not the “plug-in”) and the latest is a dream to drive and very economical……theoretical figure about 80mpg, I think, and over 7,000 miles of mixed and varied driving I am averaging 65mpg….around 81% of manufacturer’s claimed mileage : I am happy with this and would not have expected more in “the real world”.
I am a fan of fully electric vehicles and fully expect their actual mileage per charge to be rather less in real-life driving conditions than the manufacturers claim…….I’m waiting for one that achieves 300 miles per charge in reality before I consider taking the plunge……plus, of course, a much improved charging infrastructure.
The 5 worst performing are all plug in hybrids, if you do short trips and can plug it in then they’ll suit you perfectly, the problem is the older testing replicates this sort of use so these official figures (don’t blame the manufacturer they don’t control how they’re tested but they’re not above manipulating the cars to perform better in the tests and not just VW) don’t match most peoples usage. You just need to think how you will use the car, if you’re doing long motorway trips do you really want to be carrying around a load of batteries but if you drive around town then a hybrid extends the fuel saving advantage of stop-start in slow , even more so if you can plug it in at the end of the journey.
Spot on – my BMW225XE suits me perfectly as most journeys for me are 30 miles or less. People need to think about their motoring habits/needs when choosing.
A Hybrid is a a car with two engines and two fuel supplies i.e. heavier than a standard car. Therefore when running on petrol will not return the the same as a single fuel vehicle. Fuel use depends on the type of driving you do! I have a VW GTE and am delighted with it. I did a tour of Cornwall with no charging points & it returned 50mpg. An occasional 300 mile round trip over the M62 delivers around 57mpg and general motoring in the immediate area with a mix of long & short trips 15-100 miles delivers 70-80mpg long term, depending on journeys made. On motorways the cruise control tends to deliver better consumption than using your foot.
Statistics…blah blah. Surely the BMW 2 series active tourer achieving 56% of 144 mpg is better than the Lexus achieving 84% of 46 mpg…economy is a better measure than accuracy.
I have owned a BMW 330e for 18 months and driven 14000 miles. If I drive locally using only the electric motor it is easy to obtain the claimed 134.5 mpg. On longer journeys where the petrol engine is used I get 40 something and overall with mixed driving I get about 70mpg. The performance is sparkling. and I have saved about 1000l of petrol since I bought it.
The only disappointment is the battery only gives a range of 17miles against the 25 miles claimed.
I have just bought a Renault Scenic Hybrid Assist with a published 80mpg. I’m getting 50mpg at best and I’m doing everything I can to increase that but it’s not working. If I had know, I would never have bought it. Disappointed is not a strong enough word.
I have a 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV with a claimed mpg of 144mpg.
In the first month of owning the car, I achieved 140mpg.
Some of the use of the petrol engine in that first month was unnecessary, and just getting used to the car.
The actual mpg could easily have bettered the advertised 144mpg.
I own a Mercedes E350e (company car). I knew before I got it that car manufacturers simple lie about fuel consumption but got it because of the tax implications. 90% of the time the car is just used for commuting, a range of 16 miles and I have now worked out the most economical way of going both to work and back home. Yesterday I got over 93 mpg going home and around 75 mpg to work. On a longer drive that falls off a cliff and averages around 40 mpg. One strange thing is that the mpg gauge on the car doesn’t go above 99.9 mpg which I have done on quite a few occasions, again only on a short drive. Simply put don’t trust the manufacturer’s figures, ask people who already have one.
Having bought a Rav4 hybrid for a more economical drive I found the consumption to be not as great as toyota claimed but the shear enjoyment of the drive more than compensates.
I am amazed that anyone is surprised that their cars don’t reach the impressive consumption figures. The published figures are based on a standardised test procedure (which isn’t laid down by the car manufacturers), and is intended as a guide to compare vehicles. It isn’t the manufacturers fault that this throws up some doubtful results although I’m sure they design their cars around the tests.
Once your hybrid has used all its electric charge it becomes just another hydrocarbon powered vehicle, but one that is carrying around the weight of the batteries. The huge claims of 100mpg etc are based on mainly electric running – surely that is obvious?
However, electricity will take over from other fuels as time goes on so rather than complain that the figures are unachievable we should be pressing for a more realistic test procedure – something which I understand the industry is trying to address.
I have a Kia Niro First edition, claimed MPG 64.2, currently getting around 60, initially got around 50 mpg but wasn’t too disappointed as I never expected to get claimed figure, current 60mpg with everything on is not bat at all. Previous car was a Citroen C4 Cactus Diesel EGS, claimed mpg for that as I recall was about 89mpg, but in reality only ever got between 59 and 59.9, didn’t matter how hard it was driven or how eco aware I drove, mpg was always the same, whereas driving style and traffic/route conditions have a major effect on the Niro.
I am using a Hyundai Ioniq for work………. 60mpg minimum…… Excellent
My Driving Profile is for the most part PHEV optimal, and in my 4740 miles of Golf GTE ownership I have averaged 109.1mpg.
In the most recent long term figures from the car I’ve done 1098 miles at an average of 201.8mpg
I have Been pleased with a Passat GTE 980 miles covered including motorway journeys and returning 184 mpg less than a quarter of a tank of petrol used.
I have a 2017 RAV4 hybrid and by working at it get 42 mpg . That said I didn’t believe the published figures so I am not surprised.
Kia Niro 1.6 GDI. Lucky to get 50mpg. Way under the claimed mileage.
I have the Outlander PHEV, its a great car and i love driving it but as far as fuel economy is concerned it in no way manages anything near the figures they suggested.
If I drive a maximum of about 35 miles on a single charge i have achieved approximately 89mpg but this is if i drive conservatively and the outside temp is above 15c, in the winter the same journey will achieve about 42mpg.
This is due to the fact that the engine is needed to heat the cab during the cold weather.
An other down side to this car is that if I need to do a long journey using the motorway the mpg could go as low as 22mpg.
The worse thing for me is that due to the changers the government made to hybrid tax, my company car tax has doubled this year. Some of you may say its my own fault for having such an expensive car, it wasn’t as when I opted for this car the benefits suited my situation.
At least I have something at last that almost meats the test figures in a Kia Niro and the swanky European motors cheating again.
Come on guys! Why the shock?
The electric drive in hybrids and electric cars is “fuel efficient” until the charge runs out.
The secondary drive will never be as efficient as in a non-hybrid because it’s driving the added weight of the electric unit.
As such the “fuel economy” will be totally dependent on the length of drive (as well as the usual factors like terrain and driving style).
If journeys are all within car battery charge range and the car is recharged to keep it full then economy will be fantastic (but your domestic. electricity bill will increase)
When the battery range is exceeded then, as the drive length increases, the fuel economy will drop closer to the figures that others have reported.
So basically don’t consider a hybrid unless your journeys are mainly local …. or fit solar panels to the car roof ?
It’s down to the usage, the c class and bmw only have a short range on battery only, so 10 visits to the shop and back you will get that mpg, but on a long run the batteries can’t cope so you will be driving using the combustion engine and lugging the extra weight about.
Having owned 2 Honda CR-Zs since May 2010, I’ve returned an average figure of 53.53 mpg over about 65,000 miles (the advertised combined mpg is 56.5 mpg) so about 94.7% ~ but then, it is a Honda! If I refrained from using Sport mode, I believe I could match the official figures, but have no fun! I frequently get low to mid-60s on a regular 22-mile journey. And I have the figures to prove it!
Mine is a Kia Niro, & your figures are about part of the course. I made a good choose of Hibrid
I got around 40mpg in my previous RAV4. 20000miles per year but for a heavy car with a 2.5l engine I thought that was good. Now in different circumstances and have an Auris Hybrid. Getting around 50mpg. Driving around town I can get up to 65mpg so fits in perfectly for my current life. I always take 20% off quoted figures anyway. Usually gets you pretty close.
Now on third Toyota Hybrid.
2010 Auris, Low to mid 60’s mpg overall
2012 Prius Mk3, Mid 60’s, slightly lower when hammered on the Autobahn!
2016 Prius Mk4, Mid to high 60’s on a run, including touring on the Mainland, LOW 70’s on mixed local use on rural roads.
Things just keep getting better…
Also in the family, the wife’s 2012Yaris Hybrid, High 50’s to low 60’s, mainly local rural use.
Seems at first glance slightly bonkers that a smaller car/engine returns on average higher mpg, but maybe older tech.
I should be added that these3 figures are as a result of ”regular” driving.
With extra ”care and caution” and a very light right foot, I can easily achieve HIGH 70’s in the Mk4 Prius
Rather than using rolling roads to ascertain these figures, manufacturers should have to be able to point to a road on which their car can and has achieved the claimed mpg figures!
I have a light accelerator foot and have to nurse my Rava 4 Hybrid to get 45mpg