Technical Fuel Economy Record? (for Uno Turbo)

[alexGS]

Please just try to GUESS the fuel consumption (in Miles Per Gallon) of my Mk1 Uno Turbo?

Yesterday I covered almost 600km in my Uno Turbo - probably more than in the last six months...

While embarking on the second leg of the journey (main road/motorway run) I decided to fill up with petrol since the warning light was staying on... so I filled the tank (an immense cost of $74 these days - almost 25 pounds).

I reset the trip meter, which is in miles.

My Uno Turbo has 15" wheels with 195/45 tyres - which end up being about four percent larger than the originals. This means my economy will be about 4% 'worse' than reality, since the trip meter will under-read.

You can also form your own ideas about the extra rolling resistance of the 195 rubber... and the possible aerodynamic gain by the 50mm lowered suspension...

I noticed with a shock as I joined the motorway, I had covered 82 miles of bumpy, winding, and fairly narrow main roads (e.g. Karangahake gorge, if any NZers are reading) and yet, the fuel gauge was still unwaveringly pointing to '1'! It hadn't moved!

So when I joined the motorway up the Bombay hills to Auckland (note: these are still called the Bombay hills, not the Mumbai hills...) I decided to exercise restraint and keep to 110km/h (nearly the speed limit). Then when I got to Ellerslie, I navigated the streets gently - and when I drove home, I trundled gently down the motorway at 110km/h and the main roads south at 100km/h. This made for a total distance of more than 160 miles (255 km). The fuel gauge was still reading three-quarters.

Filled up (at the same type of petrol pump, to the second shutoff-click) and worked out the fuel consumption.

Result: 46 MPG! That's 6.1L/100km...

The handbook claims 48.7MPG at a constant 90km/h, but only 37.2MPG at a constant 120km/h, 'Urban Cycle' being just 31.7MPG.

But whatever the figures, I think we can agree that for its performance, the Uno Turbo is a supremely economical car...

The Stilo Abarth, by contrast, appears to achieve 14L/100km (not that I have one, of course... just going by what the trip computer said in someone's...)

-Alex

 

[Biz]

46??????

I was luckey to get over 22 in my mk2!!

Did you keep it off boost?

 

[thepottleflump]

Cool, I haven't driven enough miles in my Turbo to fully gauge the fuel econonmy but it feels pretty reasonable.

If you want a car with good fuel economy the Stilo Abarth is probably best avoided. I averaged 250 - 270 miles from a tank of fuel with a large proportion of motorway miles - when you drive 24000 miles a year that is pretty expensive!!!!

 

[Dunc Uno Turbo]

managed to put £25 in my UT and set off the santa pod, got there and it stopped, id ran out lol! 80 miles, £25, mint!

Dunc

 

[barbarianbeast]

40£ quid to fill a 38 litre tank and your complaining? here in uk filling my tank costs almost £40 even more if you use the good petrol! oh well

 

[Jai]

46mpg?!!!! the mind boggles!!!!! you must have the extremely rare, minimo fuelista superchip in your ecu, when i was running the tub, be lucky to get half that, then again tarmac terrorism was a tub speciality.....:devil:

 

[SuperUno]

Not a turbo, but 46 mpg i wish, on rallies i gauge for 15mpg in my 999cc Uno !!!!!!! Regulary only get 25mpg.

 

[thepottleflump]

managed to put £25 in my UT and set off the santa pod, got there and it stopped, id ran out lol! 80 miles, £25, mint!

Dunc

Surely not - how hard were you driving?

 

[Chas Uno]

I got 62 mpg once out of my 999cc FIRE, not a turbo though...

350 miles of motorway driving playing 'keep the econometer needle out of the red zone'

Managed 400 miles to one tank that cost 26 pounds to fill up!

I'd still take the ecomony drop to have a turbo though

 

[SteveNZ]

I assume this miles per UK gallon?

I remember my mk1 Uno turbo as the most economical car i have owned. It was great. 6.1L/100k is unbelieveable though. I use to get 8-10l/100k on a long trip but I could never be so restrained.

My mk2 is a gas guzzler compared to the mk1. Best ive ever got was 10l/100k

I drove 500km in my Tipo (2L turbo) that weekend and used a total of about 45-50L of fuel. I was not trying to conserve fuel either and that also included going flat stick around the car park too. haha. I was really supprised since it geared to 3200rpm at 100km/hr in 5th gear.

I measured my fuel economy around Pukekohe last time I was out there. Haha, I use about 1.5L per lap or 50L/100KM!

 

[Dragyth]

Er, how about this.

London to North Devon, 231 miles...
My dad filled my car up for me (nice of him), full tank, bout 40 quid.
Got out the A roads, to a garage which was basically shut... still 30 miles away from my house... fuel warning light was on.

Stuck another 20 in there and drove off, was near empty when I got back.

Reason being is that I averaged 110mph on the M5, stuck to 124mph for about 10 minutes, then I was chasing a bmw upto 120mph on the A roads... but it completely drinks.
In contrast, my Rover did 115 and counting... probably would've got to just under 120 and that's really good on fuel apart from when being completely thrashed.

Anyway. 200 miles for 40 quid. petrol was about 97p per litre, so that's 41litres for 200 miles. 41 litres is 9.1 gallons.
200/9.1 = 22MPG!
Woo...ahh... that's really bad.

 

[Dragyth]

Citroen AX .954. 45bhp but low torque. Weighs 690kg.
london is 231 miles, at 60mph it's doing over SEVENTY mpg...
London to devon, same journey, 13-14 quid

I reckon going 85mph all the motorway...way, in both cars, would equal out to be about the same... I hope
If so, then it's all cool.

 

[Chas Uno]

Citroen AX .954. 45bhp but low torque. Weighs 690kg.
london is 231 miles, at 60mph it's doing over SEVENTY mpg...

The Fiat handbook for the mk1 45S (five speed box, also 45bhp) reckons it will do 68mpg at a constant 56mph

I got 62mpg once, but that was nearly all non stop motorway driving late at night, keeping below 70mph and trying hard to drive economically (keeping the econometer out of the red zone!)

Town driving gets me about 100 - 110 miles for £10. A full tank costs around £28 these days, so even at its worst I could get 280 - 300 miles from it. For the same about of fuel I could 400 miles if I drive VERY sensibly on motorways in a high gear.

 

[Dragyth]

Awesome. Sometime soon I'm gonna try to set the benchmark for furthest in an Uno's tank. =)

 

[alexGS]

Well as an update to this thread...
The trip to Auckland and back was to check out my Stilo Abarth, which I subsequently bought

I've managed an average of 10.6L/100km (27mpg) in the Stilo, over a full tank, in mixed driving conditions. This is a lot better than the quoted 14L/100km, and better than what the other Stilo Abarth owners on this forum seem to achieve (about 22mpg)

My Uno Turbo averages 8L/100km (about 35mpg) in similar conditions.
Maybe you begin to understand why I'm reluctant to uprate the Turbo... it's just so economical for its performance! The Stilo isn't actually giving any more performance, yet it's using more fuel. I think my Uno is really something special

-Alex

 

[Biz]

im not botherd anymore now about FC...........as i know how the general fuel injection system works i can drive anycar really economically now, lol

Over-run mode, TPS percentage and its effect on the fuel x load x speed map, etc, etc

 

[Dragyth]

huh??

Elaborate, Biz.

C'mon, tell us. Tell us.

I've always thought of putting an adjustable acutator connected to a boost controller, so I can turn the turbo off, and get more than 36mpg at 75mph...

I know 2l Turbo cars that return better than that!

 

[alexGS]

When the standard recirculating dump valve was broken on my Uno Turbo, it was impossible to exceed 80km/h without boost. Having replaced it with a new standard valve, now I can get up to 100km/h and beyond without any boost registering. However, the economy was always good even with the turbocharger whistling away all the time...

In fact I think it gets slightly more economical with the turbocharger boosting; it's just a great design. There must be something wrong with yours if you feel its economy is bad (and anyway, 36mpg at 75mph isn't actually all that bad, can't do that with my Stilo y'know)

Also if anybody considers the Uno to be un-aerodynamic, they should bear the economy in mind compared with my Stilo - which looks more aerodynamic, but takes more petrol to propel itself along (probably because of a greater frontal area and a less efficient engine).

-Alex

 

[Dragyth]

Na I'm aware that .34 CD is a pretty good figure for aerodynamics, and I've kinda worked it out from first principles and quite a bit of the mpg hike is due to the extra weight than from a standard 1300, I think it's 60-70kg, which is roughly my weight, over and above. That should contribute to about 8% of the fuel economy.

Only leaves another 7-8% for the turbo' system, which is probably about right, considering the long way round things have got to go, and the fact that it's geared for speed, not economy.

Still, curious if Biz knows a way to increase economy. =)