The 530d & Superb are reasonably fuel-efficient on the highway, but the Thar is a guzzler, whatever the driving condition.
GTO recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Are you driving a guzzler? I got 3. Of course, I do have a car that delivers respectable FE numbers in the ’97 Classic (10 – 11 kmpl) and one with stupendously high FE = the Sunny (15 kmpl in the city & 20+ kmpl on the highway).
But my most frequently used cars are all guzzlers:
530d: 6.5 – 7 kmpl in the city. Reasons for guzzling = my heavy right foot, 6-cylinder engines are inherently thirsty, lots of power & torque, 300 BHP remap, weight, fat tyres, the typical one-way drive in Bombay is just 5 – 10 km (short trips). In a typical 5 km drive to Bandra or Worli, the engine drives below the optimal temperature for 50% of the way.
Thar Petrol AT: 6 kmpl in the city. Reasons for guzzling = my heavy right foot, 150 horses, 1700 kilo weight, torque-converter AT tuned for driveability (which I appreciate)…
Superb L&K: 7 kmpl in the city. Reasons for guzzling = 2-liter turbo petrol, power on tap, short commutes of my brother (typically 4 – 5 km one way trips).
From the above list, the 530d & Superb are reasonably fuel-efficient on the highway, but the Thar is a guzzler, whatever the driving condition. It’s the only car I’ve owned that required a 2nd fuel pitstop in a Bombay-Pawna round trip.
Here’s what BHPian navpreet318 had to say on the matter:
Thar Petrol AT- Around 7. I drive with a normal foot now. It’s my daily drive. Highways too it just goes up to 8. But that’s it. I prefer taking an Innova Crysta Cab on the highway runs. Turns out to be nearly same expense.
Here’s what BHPian Shreyans_Jain had to say on the matter:
My Hexa automatic gives 9kmpl in city traffic and 11-12 on highways, going up to 14kmpl on lazy cruises. I find it fairly acceptable for the kind of car.
Compass diesel manual is pretty fuel efficient, at about 13-15odd in city conditions and 19-20kmpl on highways. Very good for the kind of performance on offer. Cruising at 100kmph means 20kmpl, easy.
The ageing City, again diesel manual, gives 15-18km in city traffic. We don’t take it out on highways anymore.
Jazz petrol manual, well, FE was never the strong suit. 10-12kmpl in city and 15-17 on highways. Tall gearing + small and weedy engine means you really need to make the engine work in first and second gears in city, and in third and fourth gears on highways.
Here’s what BHPian sandeepmdas had to say on the matter:
Ford EcoSport 1.5 petrol “Dragon” mated with TC AT. Returns 8 to 10 kmpl with AC on. Happy to certify it as a confirmed gas guzzler.
Fantastic car to drive and high on safety however.
Here’s what BHPian nithi had to say on the matter:
Renault Triber AMT:
City Driving AMT Mode – 9 kmpl
Highway Driving AMT Mode – 18 kmpl
I always drive with a light foot.
Triber has 1L engine with 76 PS. To compensate for the low power, Triber AMT is programmed to shift gear at a high rpm above 2500 rpm. As a result of this, the engine always runs at higher rpm in the power band, resulting in poor mileage in the city. It is also very loud.
- 1 ~ 2 gear shifts at the speed 16 kmph
- 2 ~ 3 at 26 kmph
- 3 ~ 4 shifts at 38 kmph
- 4 ~ 5 shifts at 60 kmph
High way mileage is around 18, when driven around 80 ~ 90 steadily.
Here’s what BHPian na_agrawal had to say on the matter:
Well, who would’ve thought? Our humble Hyundai. An i20 Active. With a “just adequate” heart measuring 1200 cubic centimetres guzzling on the “more” expensive black gold. Did I tell you, it requires 3 pedals to press, not just two. Not even a bargain for that expenses.
This baby runs just 8kms on every 1L if I’m running between the city lights. The best frugality this has showed me was around 14kmpl with a mix of twisties and fast straight tarmacs.
Who to blame? Probably my father’s super short dashes to his boss erm… Office, & our heavy foots who refuse to reduce weights.
Renault could have very well avoided this poor mileage in the City Driving, by proving a CITY mode in Triber AMT ( even through it is a budget car ), which can shift as a relatively lower RPM.
Small engines are NOT always fuel efficient.
Here’s what BHPian Jeroen had to say on the matter:
I have two guzzlers. My 2002 Jaguar XJR will do about 8,5 Kmpl. That is, if I control my right foot. With 400 HP from a 4.0L supercharged V8 this car is ferociously fast.
My other guzzler is my 1998 Jeep Cherokee XJ. A 6 cylinder inline producing only about 170HP. But plenty of torque, 4×4 capabilities and a more or less bomb proof mechanical design. I usually get just below 8 Kmpl.
Here’s what BHPian DCEite had to say on the matter:
I would say everyone on the mStallion petrol engine from Mahindra is driving a fuel guzzler, as per the feedback I received from my colleagues and friends who own the Petrol Scorpio/XUV700 and Thar in Delhi-NCR.
The range of FE figures are somewhere between 5.5kmpl to 8 kmpl.
Infact this is one of the most overlooked fact by car buyers in Delhi-NCR, since the preference is for Petrol vehicle but some of them did not take into account the TCO (Total cost of owenership), specially those with high running, with the petrol prices touching 100Rs and abysmal FE figures from the mStallion, there are lots of petrol XUV700s in the second hand car market already !
Keyword: BHPians driving fuel guzzling cars share their fuel efficiency figures