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My car's "stated" fuel consumption is:

  • 4.2 l/100 km not urban
  • 5.9 l/100 km urban
  • 4.8 l/100 km mixed

In reality I get around 6.5 l/100 km. I drive mostly to/from work - 3 km mixed, 14 km motorway, where I cruise at 80-90 km/h.

The car has a helpful "current" consumption on the dash, this consumption always goes quite high on hills.

I suspect that the 1.0 litre engine can't deal with hills so well, of which there are a few around where I live.

I also have stud free winter tyres on at the moment, which may make fuel consumption worse.

Obviously I'm a bit disappointed that I'm not getting near the 4.8 l/100 km for mixed driving.

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    Welcome to Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair! There are several considerations. Not sure if they do it where you live, but most "civilized" places where they care about the environment change how the fuel is done to compensate for winter. That as well as cold weather starting and your relatively short driving stints can add up to increased fuel consumption. It also depends on how you drive the vehicle.
    – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 ♦
    Apr 1 at 14:08
  • Thank you for the welcome @Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 ! It feels good to be able to get help to improve my rusty mechanic skills
    – minisaurus
    Apr 4 at 17:04

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You didn't mention a country or the name of the authority that regulates fuel consumption ratings in your market, so I will tell you how the U.S. EPA regulates them.

The car is tested with pure gasoline of the correct octane rating in conditions that approximate mild temperatures, no wind, no hills, a normal weight load and normal acceleration and braking for both urban and rural traffic.

Then they simply take the numbers and make them 10% worse to account for variables such as hills, wind, winter tires, ethanol blends, passenger and cargo loads, aggressive driving, etc. And that is the number that is published. The hope is that most people will get approximately the quoted fuel economy, but obviously fuel economy will vary from driver to driver according to specific conditions. You drive on hills, and that will definitely affect your fuel economy.

Fuel economy ratings are useful to compare different car models and help you decide what car to buy, but they are not a guarantee.

You can search for answered questions in this stack on how to improve fuel economy, or post a new question if you don't find a suitable answer.

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  • Thanks for the answer; I'm in Sweden. I'm wondering if one gets better economy on hills with bigger engines? My previous Focus was a 1,8 2001 model; I don't think I'm really using less petrol with this newer version ...
    – minisaurus
    Apr 2 at 12:49
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    @minisaurus For climbing hills, the most important factor controlling fuel economy is the total weight of the vehicle. For cars of equal weight, about the same energy is required to overcome gravity no matter the size of the engine, and that energy will come from about the same amount of petrol. Since you have a continuous display of fuel economy, you can experiment to find the most efficient gear (thus RPM) and road speed when climbing the same hill every day.
    – MTA
    Apr 2 at 13:09
  • Thanks @MTA for the explanation. I'll also try your suggestion :)
    – minisaurus
    Apr 4 at 17:02
  • On how you drive the vehicle: it will make a big difference to the fuel consumption if you are in the habit of accelerating uphill, rather than trying to keep the speed steady. In hilly country, do your acceleration on a down-grade, and keep steady on an up-grade.
    – Weather Vane
    Apr 5 at 17:01

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