[andyellis111]

Hi all,

Since I've had my Megane 1.6VVT I've driven it carefully and thought the mpg was really crap.

I tested it over the last tank of fuel, I drove normally and managed to get only 330 miles from one tank, averaging at 30mpg!!

This morning I drove 35 miles to work (all motorway apart from 1.5 miles) like a granny, not going over 65mph on the motorway, and managed to squeeze 39mpg out of it.....

Surely this can't be normal? The published AVERAGE is 41mpg!!

Could it be lambda sensor or something similar? Any advice?

Cheers

 

[Ralph]

Don't have a clue about your car but if you look on the Fuelly web site you may be able to find your car and see what others are getting, just click on the top icon of my sig and you should be able to find your way from there.

 

[andyellis111]

Ok will do cheers Ralph

Don't expect you to remember but you were one of the first people I spoke to on here back when I bought my first renault megane sport tourer dci

(I live in Lytham St. Anne's)

Andy

 

[andyellis111]

After looking on fuelly it looks like many people are returning between 30-38 mpg so maybe its normal

Car's in my local garage on Friday for tyres so I might get them to check the temperature sensor and lambda sensor just to be sure.

Thanks Ralph

Andy

 

[hondo]

Because I'm retired now & never get involved in the daily rat race via a commute to work any longer :d which undoubtedly does make an MPG difference, however I'm usually in between 42 & 46 MPG.

It might be worth checking the air filter

 

[andyellis111]

Will do that, cheers.

I did have it fully serviced at KwikFit but that probably means that they didn't bother changing the air filter. I've already had a few refunds from them as I found out they never bothered doing the tracking which I paid for, they didn't bother checking/clearing the engine fault codes either!
Plus I had tyres done with them and they charged me for Nitrogen inflation which I didn't ask for!

So I wouldn't trust them ever again....I wonder if they actually serviced the car at all....might check the spark plugs too - can I tell if they are recent ones/old ones do you know?

Thanks again,
Andy

 

[Haree]

Hello Andy,

you don't state if your Megane is manual or auto, but it sounds as though you are driving it in an economical manner. The MPG you are getting sounds about right to me. Spark plugs should be changed ever 36,000 miles on your car.

Harry.

 

[andyellis111]

Hi Harry,

Thanks for your reply - it's a manual.
To achieve the 39mpg I had to drive on the motorway at a constant 65mph.

Under normal driving, around town & motorway combined, the absolute best I can get is 32/33mpg.

As I mentioned, the published average is 41mpg, which suggests that on the motorway I should be getting more than that....so my thinking is that something may be wrong.

32mpg from a 1.6 engine, driven carefully, is pretty awful don't you think?

Thanks again,
Andy

 

[S80]

Hi Andy,

I think it's quite rare to achieve the manufacturer's 'combined' mpg figure in normal driving.

Sadly, cars have (just like me) put on weight in recent years - which takes a toll when accelerating.

In addition I think the car is quite low-geared, so it's buzzing away at quite high rpm at motorway speeds. Fuel consumption is also markedly worse at 80mph than at 60mph.

I'm not saying there isn't something wrong with your car - just that the little bits of fuel inefficiency all add up the wrong way

Cheers,
David

 

[andyellis111]

Cheers S80,

I agree with you completely. As mentioned above it's in the garage tomorrow so I'll get them to check a few sensors etc, but after two days of mixed driving (motorway & town stop and start) it seems to have flattened out at around 37mpg which isn't too far off the published 40mpg to be fair, but as I've said I've been driving very carefully indeed so I'd like to get a bit better than that!!

Cheers,
Andy

 

[MéganeDynamique]

Andy, that sounds about right I'm afraid!

My Mégane has the 2.0 VVT engine and I get about 300 miles per tank, averaging around 29 MPG. I drive a lot of Méganes with work, and the 1.6, even the 1.4 aren't really any better at all. I'm glad I picked the 2.0, I'd be paying the same for less power otherwise. Plus I hate diesels!

And by the way, my 1.6 Laguna is averaging 32 MPG, but it's not the VVT engine, and has to work quite hard to pull the car along! So yes, I'm afraid it's right :crazy:

 

[andyellis111]

Hi cheers your your reply.

I guess it's good news in that hopefully nothing's wrong with the car, but I'm really shocked as to the bad mpg. I have to drive like a bit of a granddad to reach 37mpg.

My usual driving style was doing about 30mpg so I think I'll be driving more carefully from now on!

I really love my car so it's not going to put me off...I think I'll still ask the garage to check the temp/lambda sensors otherwise it'll keep popping into my head when I look at the trip computer!

Just out of interest MeganeDynamique, what mpg does your Vel Satis get? I used to have the Megane Sport Tourer 1.5dci which used to sit at around 50mpg which was great - but my next car will probably be a bigger engined diesel - just wondered how they do fuel-wise...

Thanks again,
Andy

 

[MéganeDynamique]

Hi Andy,

Glad to hear you're enjoying the Mégane regardless of the pretty rubbish MPG. It's just a Mégane characteristic I'm afraid.

The Vel Satis wasn't great (I need to update my sig, I sold it last month). It was averaging around 35 MPG around town, and this would only rise to about 41 MPG with a motorway run. I had a 3.0 diesel V6 Vel Satis before, which oddly, was better. It averaged 47 MPG on the run from Stranraer to Birmingham, and sat at about 33 MPG around town. It's the same story as the Mégane, a bigger engine which doesn't use too much more fuel, and is more than worth the extra.

I wouldn't buy the 2.2 again. Underpowered and boring compared to the V6 diesel.

MPG from your other Mégane sounds excellent. I sometimes think about getting a little dCi Clio to run alongside the Mégane. At current fuel prices I might be forced to

 

[S80]

For comparison, my 10 year-old 1.8 Megane will return just over 50mpg on a 40-mile run up the A1 - by just ambling along with the truckers. It's the same F4P engine used in the pre-'01 Laguna, and doesn't have VVT.

(Fairly obvious) aids to good economy:

Avoid unnecessarily hard acceleration - particularly on a cold engine.

Keep cruising speed to 65mph (helps keeps points off licence!).

Anticipate traffic conditions to minimise braking and maintain momentum.

Don't carry a ton of crap in the boot.

Keep the tyres pumped up to their maximum pressure allowed in the handbook.

 

[andyellis111]

Hi again,

The garage couldn't get to check the temp sensor as they were too booked up on Friday. Had my tyres done and they pin pointed a weird knocking noise from the front (seems always the case with Renaults...) - it's the plastic top bearing in the suspension. Why they are made of plastic is just a complete mystery.

Anyways....I noticed that on my long run to work this morning the temp guage wasn't reaching normal running temp - it only managed to get to about 2mm behind the running temp midpoint.
Obviously not a big difference but either my car is over-cooling itself or the temp sensor is on it's way out - causing a slightly crap mpg result.

What d'ya think?

Cheers,
Andy

 

[andyellis111]

The Vel Satis wasn't great It's the same story as the Mégane, a bigger engine which doesn't use too much more fuel, and is more than worth the extra.

I see what you mean! If I'd have known I would have gone for the 2.0, I could've had one at the same price too only thing that sold the 1.6 more to me was the pan-roof

Cheers,
Andy

 

[andyellis111]

For comparison, my 10 year-old 1.8 Megane will return just over 50mpg on a 40-mile run up the A1 - by just ambling along with the truckers. It's the same F4P engine used in the pre-'01 Laguna, and doesn't have VVT.

Cheers for the advice, I have indeed reduced my driving "enthusiasm" since I noticed that my fuel consumption was rather awful.

Do you think the VVT has something to do with the mpg with these engines? I guess it was probably supposed to help with performance rather than efficiency... who knows.

Cheers,
Andy

 

[Ralph]

Hi Andy yes I remember My Clio averages about 70mpg over the year but in cold weather as in now it drops to around 62/65 ish and if I drive around Blackpool it drops to the high 50s so a lot depends on were and how cold it is were you are driving.

 

[andyellis111]

Cheers Ralph, I do a lot of "nipping to the shop" which I expect will bring it down alot as the engine doesn't really have the chance to warm up properly. I drive to work in Chorley 4 days a week, and my mpg now (from driving quite frugally) has settled at 35mpg...I'm rather disappointed

But as mentioned previously, it isn't enough to put me off the Megane

Andy

 

[Swipey]

I have a 2004 1.6 VVT and mine does 30 to the gallon also (32 motorway miles per day).
Like yourself, if I drive like a granny I can squeeze 36 mpg out of it...


I've come to the conclusion it's just fairly poor on the fuel