ProperCharlie

anyone else got one of these? the lump is actually quite nice - especially for a ford , but it doesn't seem to be that economical. the best MPG i can get on a run is about 34.5 mpg on the car's own meter. i once saw 34.9, but that was with the missus driving. it's an estate, so i suppose it will be more juicy than the equivalent saloon, but it only seems to return what my 1.8 petrol mondeo did. struggling to see 400 miles from a tank. anyone get anything better or worse from theirs?

brickboy

That does seem low -- Diesel Car got an average of 44mpg over 10,000 miles from their long-term Zetec TDCi (you can see the tests etc at www.dieselcar.com).

I know its not like for like, but my Passat PD130 gives 55mpg average on the trip computer (52mpg actual measured) on longish (300 mile) motorway runs, cruising at 80 - 85mph.

ProperCharlie

cheers bb - mybe i'll ask ford what i should expect.

Flat 4x4

My girlfriend had one out of the first TDCi batch in the country (Jan 2002).
She has averaged 36mpg which has been 70% urban and 30% Motorway.
We were also expecting nearer 40 to be honest.

Also, tyre wear has been really bad (12k for each rotated set on pressures checked weekly at home). Apparently the rears often wear unevenly - we haven't had the 'uneven' bit !

The upsides are the handling/steering (which may partly explain the above) and it's suprisingly quick on the motorway...

Any other questions let me know.

Mungo

Is the car new? The engine may loosen up a bit now it's got some miles under its belt. I was disappointed with our Golf TDi 130 which was only returning 42ish for the first 10k miles, but it's now giving an average of 45ish. On a long motorway run at 80ish I will get 52 which is excellent.

ProperCharlie

the car is just over a year old with 8k on the clock. we've had it since november 03, and only done about 1k in that time, as i don't use it for work. when i had a mkII mondeo i found the front tryes wore very quickly. i didn't bother rotate them and was getting about 10k to 12k out of the fronts, but easily double that on the rears. maybe things will improve a bit once the engine is fully run in. like you say flat 4, i was hoping that about 40 mpg under mixed driving wouldn't be out of the question. the bonuses are definitely the direct steering, fairly nimble handling and reasonable poke from the 130 PS diesel. incidentally, what's the service interval? the saleswoman didn't know this rather trivial peice of information (okay, i coukld read the manual, but that's like work

cheers.

Flat 4x4

When we needed the first service there was lot's of chin scratching from the Ford demo fleet and the leasing company. The handbook said TDdi 10,000m and all petrol engines only 12,500m. So we assumed that the TDci would be 10,000m and booked in at the Ford dealer... who said it was 12.5k... who spoke to Ford etc etc. It's now due the next service at 25k as they thought it was 12.5k after all.

Let me know if you find out will you?

Paul_M

My old man has one and the computer shows around 44MPG. That's with a mix of driving, fair bit of motorway but also in the city/town etc. Dunno how accurate the compy is though. His is the Ghia X which is the heaviest model so lower spec models should get better results.

russell hayward

Not related but my BMW 330 Touring will return 35 mpg on the motorway !

ProperCharlie

russell - want to swap? what do you get if you drive at ton plus all the time . sorry, i mean what do you *imagine* you would get?

the only thing i can say in its defence is the mondeo is significantly bigger than a 3 series touring. i should think it is closer to the size of a 5 series.

GMT

I've got an 03 plate Ghia X TDCi 130bhp saloon .. averages about 600 miles to a tank, on the computer it shows about 46.5mpg ... mixture of driving on motorways and in traffic.

Service intervals are 12,500 according to my fleet company and Ford agreed with that...

ProperCharlie

GMT - do yo think yours being a saloon can account for the difference? it seems odd that you are getting nigh on 30% better fuel economy then i am. mine's a 130PS ghia, but it's not the 6 speed one.

Flat 4x4

I just think that they vary a fair bit out of the box. Some cars do.

They also revise the ECU's fairly regularly - I suspect that our one (being the first batch) will have a very different ECU than the ones available now in terms of fuelling / boost.

I used to have a 190bhp (remapped) A4 TDi V6 Quattro and for work / holiday reasons we needed to go in convoy to Wales with the Mondeo. At anything up to silly speeds, the Mondeo was no more than 5 or 6 car lengths behind. I suspect that the torque output (with overboost operating) is a lot closer to 270lb/ft than 240...

dave20vt

ive got one of the first tdci, jan 2002, mine does 40-42mpg, no matter how hard you drive it!

dave

GMT

Nope shouldn't do - the kerb weight of mine is 1507kg, yours is 1565kg .. difference should be neglible.

Mine is also the 5 speed so exactly the same as yours bar the estate part!

The 2 main things I'd look at are.. What fuel are you using? I seem to get less mpg if I use supermarket fuel compared to say BP Ultimate..although I refuse to pay for BP Ultimate!

Also, when driving normally, do you let the turbo kick in before changing gear? When driving around town, try to change gear without letting the turbo kick in, i.e. before about 2,000 rpm .. it can have quite a big impact on the mpg you'll get.. although also has an effect on how much fun you have driving the car

Graham