Which? Magazine And The Times View On Aygo...

[SOD]

Was reading my Dad's Which magazine the other day and came across an article about car security. Of the cars tested they found that the Aygo, C1 and Pug 107 were the easiest to break into and thus got a very poor score.

Then yesterday I read an article in the Times about car manufacturers 'lying' about the MPG stats of their cars. Toyota was cited as the worst with the Aygo as they tested the car in extremely hot temperatures and minimal speed. They beleive the realistic MPG of the Aygo is actually 54 rather than the 61 advertised by Toyota.

Not great news but these are independent opinions. Still like my Aygo though! :)

However you do wonder how car maufacturers actually test the cars for fuel usage - I have this picture of a car going round a flat, circular track on a warm summer day doing 50mph.... :D

[PaulT]

Then yesterday I read an article in the Times about car manufacturers 'lying' about the MPG stats of their cars.

Apparently the mpg figures come from an independent assessor. The test is run under the same conditions for all cars and the manufacturers all quote those results.

It isn't a question of "Toyota" lying about the results, it just happens that you probably won't get those figures for any car on sale as they are produced under a very specific set of test conditions.

This is what you get from newspapers :D

Paul.

[BadBoyVTEC]

thats why the next step with my aygo is to get an alarm fitted (after its repaired of course :( ).

[Plusser]

I would definatley query The Times. I am driving 60 miles per day (inclused motoway driving) and am getting a very definate 57MPG, although I have been know to get over 63MPG. However, if The Times looked at the fuel consumption figures, in "urban traffic", the MPG can be as low as 51.4MPG, which is lower that the fuel consumption they are reporting. I have definately found stop-start traffic to be the biggest killer of fuel consumption.

The question for The Times is that how they managed 85MPG on a Citroen C1 around the M25? The answer is how you drive the car has the biggest effect on the fuel economy.

As someone whom use to work for a Dynamometer manufacturer, whom built "Mileage Accumulation Chassis Dynamometers" (Rolling Roads for those whom don't know what I talking about), the fuel consumption is based on a simulated journey which is defined by EU legislation. The car is typically driven by a "Robot Driver" (which operates accelerator and clutch - the braking is normally performed by the dynamometer itself, although it can be controlled by the robot in some configurations) on the dynamometer for a defined number of simulated miles, with the fuel input into the car carefully monitored.

It is also worth noting that the petrol is sold by volume and not Mass (weight). As temperature rises, Petrol expands. What this means is that you are effectively getting less petrol for your money. This is why the aerospace industry use weight as a measure and not volume for aviation fuel, as the temperture in the fuel tanks of an aircraft will change considerablity during flight.

[aygo vvti]

I would definatley query The Times. I am driving 60 miles per day (inclused motoway driving) and am getting a very definate 57MPG, although I have been know to get over 63MPG. However, if The Times looked at the fuel consumption figures, in "urban traffic", the MPG can be as low as 51.4MPG, which is lower that the fuel consumption they are reporting. I have definately found stop-start traffic to be the biggest killer of fuel consumption.

The question for The Times is that how they managed 85MPG on a Citroen C1 around the M25? The answer is how you drive the car has the biggest effect on the fuel economy.

As someone whom use to work for a Dynamometer manufacturer, whom built "Mileage Accumulation Chassis Dynamometers" (Rolling Roads for those whom don't know what I talking about), the fuel consumption is based on a simulated journey which is defined by EU legislation. The car is typically driven by a "Robot Driver" (which operates accelerator and clutch - the braking is normally performed by the dynamometer itself, although it can be controlled by the robot in some configurations) on the dynamometer for a defined number of simulated miles, with the fuel input into the car carefully monitored.

It is also worth noting that the petrol is sold by volume and not Mass (weight). As temperature rises, Petrol expands. What this means is that you are effectively getting less petrol for your money. This is why the aerospace industry use weight as a measure and not volume for aviation fuel, as the temperture in the fuel tanks of an aircraft will change considerablity during flight.

Well i live in a very hot country and im getting 58mpg but sometimes it go down as low as 43mpg! and the price of petrol is always going up! Now it got up to 3.62 per gallon!

[Robie]

Regarding the fuel economy; Toyota have been critisised for optomising their cars to perform well in the tests rather than normal driving. As stated, all car manufactures can only quote one set of figures so it is in their interest to perform well in the tests.

Also it is important to note that MPG is relative. IE a difference of 50mpg to 60mpg is about the same as the differance between 17mpg and 19mpg.