A new toy or not? Tis all about the MPG this time around!

If you want 2010-20s era MPG in a 2000s car, look no further than a 1.4 TDi Audi A2 which easily returns 50-60+ mpg on the motorway, or more if you're careful. Stylish and practical too - and pretty much at the bottom price rung now.

Sadly even the bottom rung of the cheap car market ladder is now eye watering. I find myself in immediate need of a cheap daily and have discovered, to my dismay, that such a thing no longer exists, unless you are willing to gamble and try using 170k+ old snotters as a daily. Some of the cars I've seen are 15-20 years old, povvo spec, poor history and condition and they are still asking for strong money, sometimes three times 2020/1 levels.

I am fully aware of the reasons for the present insanity of used car prices but I am now effectively priced out of buying a car that's even remotely worth the money being asked and that I would trust to transport my family safely and reliably. Being in the south east doesn't help either, as prices here are the absolute zenith, UK wise.

Its the bus for me, until prices come back to earth.

Same - probably because I set the cruise at 64mph and I always get about 45ish MPG towing my 1.1 tonne car & trailer combo in my C220d

Due to the missus car going pop and me spending the best part of 2 months fitting a replacement engine to it (1.3 CDTI Corsa D), she's been using my C220d as she has small humans to ferry around and the average MPG has dropped to mid 30s instead of the low 40s I see bombing around 50/50 town/motorway. I've been running pretty much anything I can get my hands on in the meantime, first the replacement racing ka before I pulled it apart (later 1.3) which was good on fuel - probably better than the C class!, then a bargain streetka which stuggles to break 30 mpg, then my Mum's Mokka 1.4 auto which did 35mpg, them my sisters Twingo 1.2 16v which was okay but so so so slow. Got the Corsa running now which is going 56MPG consistently, it's amazing how if you drive the little diesels conservatively they just sip fuel. Thinks I'll be getting over 600 miles to this tank of 45 litres which is just insane!

Neither Subaru  betters 20mpg when driven on local country roads. The previous 2l turbo with 2 adults, 2 children and 2 Labradors onboard  pulling a tarpaulin covered single axle 6 ft trailer loaded with luggage bikes etc would regularly happily return 33 mpg when driven enthusiastically on a 170 mile journey to the Lake District with admittedly a chunk of the journey being on the A7.

This is not novel in my experience. In the distant past, when I pulled a 17ft Drascombe Lugger behind a Suzuki SJ410  both speed and fuel economy improved appreciably. 

With my latest acquisition, this almost happened. I missed out on similar cars before, but over-thinked the buying process. Sometimes you have to go in both feet first.

How? That can only be down to the fact that you’re driving slower as it cannot give better mpg pulling something, that is just not possible.
If you drove at the speed you do pulling the trailer without it on, it would clearly return better mpg
You want to try adjusting the brakes up a bit so they bind a bit, that will obviously improve the mpg even more 🤣