Official MPG Figures, Fact or Fiction

Took my car on a 200 mile round trip between Milton Keynes and the outskirts of Sheffield yesterday. I needed to get there by 9 am but not having gone to bed earlier the night before I woke up early at 5 am rather than hang around I left at 6 am and took it easy. Most of the journey is motorway and large sections were restricted to 50mph, so I turned on the cruise control and set it to 50mph and sat back and relaxed listening to some music.
The journey there took just over 2 hours at an average speed of just under 50 mph. Incredibly according to the on board computer I got over 83 mpg. I think the official finger for my 1.6 golf Match (diesel) is 82mpg.
On the way back I did the same and got a round trip figure of over 86mpg which means the return journey must have been near 89mpg.
Now I know the computer tends to exaggerate fuel compensation but it's never been more than 2mpg out.
Had the car since September 2014 and just clocked up 22000 miles. I've kept a fuel log from day 1 and have averaged just over 47 mpg over its lifetime.
Easily the most frugal car I've ever owned.

The answer, of course, is "42."

Or, "both." Here is the USA, those MPG figures can indeed be dead-on accurate, or wildly optimistic, or quite understated. Depends on how the driver, well, drives. The testing here is pretty standardized, but like all of these standards, they rarely reflect how real people drive. Especially with cars like GTIs and Rs, where I'm betting the regulators aren't driving like the folks here are driving.....

TheWombat said:

The answer, of course, is "42."

Or, "both." Here is the USA, those MPG figures can indeed be dead-on accurate, or wildly optimistic, or quite understated. Depends on how the driver, well, drives. The testing here is pretty standardized, but like all of these standards, they rarely reflect how real people drive. Especially with cars like GTIs and Rs, where I'm betting the regulators aren't driving like the folks here are driving.....

Click to expand...

LOL. No one is driving the cars.