New member with Mirage GLS CVT only getting 11 km/L

[sniper007]

hi there, i've been using my mirage gls cvt for more than a week now... and upon checking the fuel consumption, i only got 11km/liter.

[jamiec]

That does not seem right sniper007(welcome to the forum) Hope it gets better or the economy has not calculated wright.

[MetroMPG]

Hi sniper007 -

Hope you don't mind I moved your post to a new thread.

When people are getting a lot less than the official fuel economy rating, it's often because the type of driving is very different from the type of driving done on the official test.

EG: when we see Mirage economy-run numbers that beat the official ratings, it's because they're done almost exclusively at gentle/moderate speeds on the open highway.

Can you tell us what kind of driving you are doing?

(Of course it's also possible something could be wrong with the car, but it makes sense to start by looking at driving environment/style first. Also, are the tires properly inflated? Are you idling the engine? In your previous vehicle, were you achieving the rated fuel economy in the same driving environment?)

[Matt]

That sounds rough. I hope things improve :/

I hope to be able to do a test drive with my scangauge if and when they make it over here, and will try to compare to a number of other cars. I think I will get to drive a Spark this week (I asked for one from the rental company, but you never know).

[AntInOz]

I haven't filled my tank a second time yet so I can get some accurate figures, but the indicated figure in the trip computer can vary quite a lot. Mine was up around 12L/100km the other day, due to a couple of very short hops to the train station. Then out cruising on the freeway it almost immediately dropped to 7L.

[MetroMPG]

Yes, short trips are bad. Any car gets its best economy when the drivetrain is fully warmed up (even in hot weather).

Some conversions, for comparison purposes ...

12 L / 100 km = 8.3 km/L

7 L / 100 km = 14.3 km/L

AntInOz, would you say you drive the car like a typical driver, or using eco-driving techniques?

[sniper007]

Hi metro MPG,

Thank you for the reply, the road is good, mostly asphalt thought about 10%c are hilly area, running at 40 to 60kph...

[AntInOz]

AntInOz, would you say you drive the car like a typical driver, or using eco-driving techniques?

My short trips (which is most of my driving) is very stop start, tight suburban streets with a couple of roundabouts, lots of traffic so that is driven like a "typical" driver other than avoiding hard acceleration (mainly because I would have to stop again).

Longer trips I tend to drive more economically and am more aware of the way I am driving. Pretty sure my run to the airport last week was indicating really low usage. I also think the engine has quite a bit of loosening up to do. It feels more like one of my motorbike engines than it does a car engine and they took a little while to run in.

I should be able to get some good stats over a mix of driving as this vehicle is getting a lot more use than my old 206. My wife takes it to work in the weekends and it is often used for runs to the supermarket etc. as it is so light to park!

[Daox]

I'd give it time, the engine has to wear in and you have to get used to the car. Its going to take a bit.

[MetroMPG]

Here's something else that a Philippine reviewer mentioned to me:

He had the Mirage tested on a dynomometer, and they were surprised that the air/fuel ratios were not predictably "smooth" across the engine's RPM range. His opinion was that to get good mileage from the engine, you would need "instant" fuel consumption feedback to help optimize accelerator pressure.

In some markets, the Mirage gets the Eco Drive Assist display, which would help with this:


(from: Mirage factory fuel economy gauge/display (MID): details, accuracy )

But a fuel consumption gauge with an "instant" consumption display, like ScanGauge or UltraGauge, would help even more.