Tank Range

[Bingo123]

the max i could get was 450 miles on one of my scotland trips. You guys must be driving with Cruisecontrol at 70 to get to 500 miles in a tank.

[dazed]

the max i could get was 450 miles on one of my scotland trips. You guys must be driving with Cruisecontrol at 70 to get to 500 miles in a tank.

Although I don't use cruise control I do tend to drive around 70 +/- 5mph when on dual carriageways (traffic permitting of course).

My daily commute takes me in and out of Cambridge and includes 8 roundabouts between home and the office which (try as I might) I just can't take at 70mph!

About 10 miles of my journey is on a single carriageway A road on which I probably manage about 55 +/- 5mph.

[Bingo123]

thats very impressive then.

[is200 Newbie]

No doubt looking after the car helps a lot.

Dare I say it that I think it would be possible to get a bit more from the tank. Yes, I was driving on both occasions with the cruise on, set to 70 but its impossible to keep to that speed these days so it was a bit up and down but a majority of the time was set to 70. It was all motorway miles with approx. 50 miles in total around town.

This was running on Shell normal unleaded so I expect a fill up on the V-Power will increase the mileage. All motorway at a constant speed should?? get around 20 to 30 miles more but there's no real opportunity to do that these days due to the amount of traffic on the roads.

Also - there were no passengers in the car which I guess helped.

A long trip early in the morning or late at night should prove the mileage when the roads are quite empty.

Also, Dazed is right, When I filled it up this morning I noticed the range has increases to 391. I usually get 360 on average after a fill up. The car must learn your driving style and adjust the range accordingly.

[dazed]

Dare I say it that I think it would be possible to get a bit more from the tank.

I would say the absolute limit is 600 miles based on an experiment I once did:

1. Got the car warmed up and on to a quiet, level dual carriage way.

2. Turned on the cruise control at 70mph.

3. Reset the fuel economy display.

4. Drove for about 5 minutes.

The fuel economy display read 46mpg (which equates to about 43mpg in reality).

So I deduced that 600 was theoretically possible, but probably impossible in practise.

[is200 Newbie]

Had a trip up to Scotland this week ... came back over night last night as I didn't fancy the drive in a lot of traffic. Left at midnight last night and got back just before 7 in the morning.

I filled up with Shell V power before the drive back ---- £1.45 per litre ... wasn't happy with that. Only pay £1.33 at home!!. Anyway I stayed where I could on the motorways and only slowed down to a crawl really at the roundabouts. Used the manual gears through the winding A and B roads and stuck to using the cruise control where I could, which was set to 70 on the motorways. I managed to keep to 70 for a majority of the way.

I travelled 443 miles with a range left of 143 in the tank - a combined "range" possible of 586 miles. With the right conditions I think 600 miles at an absolute maximum would be possible but you would need to drive this distance from a filling station to a filling station I think (it would I think depend on how much is in "reserve" when the range is at 0) Not going to try it but it is showing that they can be very economical if driven right....probably the last time I am going to do this as I now know its possible.

I took the picture below this morning.

I had a look at the oil level as well and found that it had dropped again - picture is on the other thread but this does correspond to the drop I saw after a week in using the flappy paddles instead of the full auto. This car seems to use oil, albeit a small amount (third of a litre) every time I use the manual option for any length of time.

I do an oil change every 6 months so its becoming due so will top it up now.

[jamesm182]

Impressive stuff! Will give this a go next time I drive somewhere that far!

[D8MOA]

just used my 1st tank of fuel..... 250 miles!!! GO ME!!!

[Ishaq]

That's a bit low.....I get amost that if not more with half a tank.

[D8MOA]

That's a bit low.....I get amost that if not more with half a tank.

your telling me!! I should of brought a ISF

[jayt13]

I think i made a mistake getting a diesel when you're getting 500 miles out of a tank on a 2.5 petrol engine, although the main reason i went diesel was for the manual gearbox.

I think if i was to turn back time i would certainly get the petrol.

[dave32]

You don't get high mileage owning the sport version

[BillyCam]

Just picked up my F sport last Sunday and drove up to Aberdeen, reset the counter because I 'give' it some for part of the trip, but I did 456 miles and still had just over 30 miles on the clock.. Averaged 39 mpg from Perth to Aberdeen... Well chuffed, only got 42-43 mpg out of my diesel Mondeo... With a heavy foot I may add. Couldn't be happier with my car

[normski2]

I think i made a mistake getting a diesel when you're getting 500 miles out of a tank on a 2.5 petrol engine, although the main reason i went diesel was for the manual gearbox.

I think if i was to turn back time i would certainly get the petrol.

Don't go thinking that 500 miles from a tank is the norm from every day driving....its not.

[is200 Newbie]

Its not the norm. To be honest it takes a lot of effort in the driving style to get what I had from the tank. Frugal driving. I think normal driving with a mix of motorway and town ( more motorway than town) then in the high 400 mile RR ange is achievable. I am doing the Scotland run again this weekend but won't be taking it that easy again.

[toffee_pie]

I would crack up if i was hell bent on getting that much on a tank from a is250, not my style of driving. If i was so concerned about mpg i would get a fiat punto.

[bobbyc]

Hi Newbie, I bet you filled up at the Abington Shell station on the M74 (about 15 miles south of Hamilton) to get hit £1.45 for V power. I did a run to Newcastle and made the same mistake of going in there to get V Power and was hit with about that price. It is day light robbery.

I normally fill up with BP Ultimate because there is no shell stations near by and that does not cost as much as £1.45 per litre, although in my experience I get about 38 mpg out of both Ulitmate and V Power on a decent motorway run, but the car seems to feel better with V power for some reason. Again it is maybe a placebo effect. Cheers Bobby

[johnatg]

That's because Abington is miles from anywhere! V-Power is reasonably priced in the central belt (Edinburgh/Glasgow areas) - I usually judge my range to fill up at the Forth Road Bridge Shell, which is relatively cheap. The one near Gretna Green isn't too bad when going north, if you need a top up.

Shell stations north of the central belt are few and far between - there weren't many anyway and most that there were have been sold and are now Jet or Texaco or whatever (eg Blairgowrie - was Shell - now Jet).

Shell (and other brands) on motorways is/are always a stupid price - avoid!

[is200 Newbie]

I have filled up today at local Shell garage in Rhyl for £1.31 / litre. Leaving for Scotland in the morning. Can anyone shed some light on this. Since I have replaced the two fuel/air sensors the tank range when filling it up has constantly crept up. I did run the tank quite low also just curious what I could get from it. Does the tank gauge have a float level in it or is it all electronic these days. I used to constantly get a range of approx 360 on a fill up but now its going up after each fill. Today's range read 412. So am wondering if it does have a float then maybe it was sticking in the past? Or is it the ECU deciding the range? By the way Sainsburys forecourt price today was £1.23 ... Are the prices coming down?