I had to make a quick return trip to Ovingdean – near Brighton – yesterday from my home in Solihull..
It’s a fair distance so I brimmed the car at our local service station and reset all the trips before setting off.
The journey took me via the M42, M40, M25, M23, AS23, A27 and then sideroads to ovingdean. I set off at 09:30 and arrived 164.5 miles (265km) later at 13:05. I didn’t stop on the way – other than in traffic jams on the M25 and I averaged 46 mph (74 kph) overall. I set the cruise at 60 mph (97 kph) on the motorway but bouts of heavy traffic slowed me – especially the infamous M25 which can be a nightmare.
I was very pleased to see that according to the trip recorder the car averaged 56.9 mpg (4.96 l/100k) for the journey.
However - I know the odometer under-reads by 2% and the trip economy exaggerates by an average of 8.5%, hence the true figures are nearer to 167 miles (269 km) and 52.4 mpg (5.39 l/100k) which, for a Venga 1.6 petrol auto is still very respectable.
Upon my return home to odometer now read 338 miles (544 km) and economy 55.9 mpg (5.05 l/100k) – the true figures being 345 miles (555 km) and 51.5 mpg (5.49 l/100k). Eagle eyes will spot I did 10 more miles on the return journey than on the trip down. This was because the KIA Satnav and my Garmin warned of a major delay on the M25 and I let them guide me round a detour. The 10 mile detour took me almost an hour – the heavy traffic on the detour would suggest I am not the only one who was gullible.
It is interesting that the DTE upon returning home is reading 357 miles (575 km) – which is after travelling for 338 miles (544 km) – add the two together and you get a predicted range of 695 miles (1118 km). It took 55.13 litres (12.12 gallons) to brim the tank this morning. If you multiply this by the 55.9 mpg trip average you get 678 miles (1091 km) which is not a million miles apart.
I don’t expect to get anywhere near that range – the rest of the month will be spent on short urban trips which will murder the economy figure and savage the range. Not only that, I have noticed that as the tank empties below half full, the DTE drops off at an increasing rate.
The longest distance I have got from a tank so far is 534 miles (859 km) with a DTE at refilling of 41 miles (66 km) , giving a predicted range of 575 miles (925 km)
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