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**Chris** · 03-10-2023, 11:52

Well, just because I could, I checked my fuel consumption at different speeds driving home just now. There are a couple of long, straight, level sections of urban road that aren’t too busy mid-morning. I’m driving a Fiat Panda, 0.9 litre, 3 cylinder, 5 speed automatic. I absolutely love it - it’s pretty much a perfect town car.

At 20 mph, it settled in 3rd gear and, as it’s hard to keep the old right foot perfectly still, instant consumption was as high as 70mpg, as low as 55, but most of the time was around 65-66.

At 30mph, this particular car normally still wants to be in 3rd. It may select 4th if you stray above 30, and may or may not stay in 4th if you ease off. It has a very busy gearbox (I tend to keep it in eco mode most of the time, which forces the gearbox to relax a bit and change up earlier). This time it stayed in 3rd and fuel consumption was around 60mpg.

It’s also worth adding that when you accelerate to road speed from a standing stop, the mpg is below 20 (around 12-15). It’s reasonable to conclude that if you’re only accelerating back to 20 rather than 30 you spend less time doing low mpg.

Obviously this isn’t terribly scientific but I suspect a Fiat Panda is actually slightly more economical at 20mph than at 30.

03-10-2023, 11:52	#141
Chris Trollsplatter Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: North of Watford Services: Humane elimination of all common Internet pests Posts: 38,138	Re: 20mph is just the start. Well, just because I could, I checked my fuel consumption at different speeds driving home just now. There are a couple of long, straight, level sections of urban road that aren’t too busy mid-morning. I’m driving a Fiat Panda, 0.9 litre, 3 cylinder, 5 speed automatic. I absolutely love it - it’s pretty much a perfect town car. At 20 mph, it settled in 3rd gear and, as it’s hard to keep the old right foot perfectly still, instant consumption was as high as 70mpg, as low as 55, but most of the time was around 65-66. At 30mph, this particular car normally still wants to be in 3rd. It may select 4th if you stray above 30, and may or may not stay in 4th if you ease off. It has a very busy gearbox (I tend to keep it in eco mode most of the time, which forces the gearbox to relax a bit and change up earlier). This time it stayed in 3rd and fuel consumption was around 60mpg. It’s also worth adding that when you accelerate to road speed from a standing stop, the mpg is below 20 (around 12-15). It’s reasonable to conclude that if you’re only accelerating back to 20 rather than 30 you spend less time doing low mpg. Obviously this isn’t terribly scientific but I suspect a Fiat Panda is actually slightly more economical at 20mph than at 30.