I know there's another long (6 page) string about fuel ecomomy, however I wanted to focus specifically on TD4 Auto fuel economy.......

Though I tend to drive my lovely FL2 for its pleasure rather than for economy, I have noticed that the average mpg figure is quite noticeably affected by whether you select normal drive auto, sports mode auto, or command shift. As a driver and not an engineer, I would have expected normal drive auto to be the most fuel efficient, then maybe sports mode and finally command shift. In my personal experience and driving style I find for fuel efficiency, precsiely the opposite is true!

So for me command shift gives best fuel economy, then surprisingly sports mode auto, and finally the most guzzly is normal drive mode auto. Has anyone else noticed this, or is it just the way I drive?  Life is not a dress rehearsal!

Since you can change up and down sooner on the C Shift i expected that to be best for fuel as the auto's hold the revs higher before changing up. I would have expected the std auto on that philosphy to be second with sports being worst????? You say my second and third should be reversed???????

Currently getting 27.7mpg mainly town and queues on motorway but a 'sad O' trip to Leeds not going over 70mph and hardly moving the throttle returned me 38.6mpg

Had mine now for just over 2700 miles...averaging just over 28mpg, and I have never had a reading over 30mpg!! Mostly town driving, and, for any motorway driving I do, I cruise at an incredible 60mph. Very gentle on the throttle, but nothing seems to help.  Freelander 2 GS Auto black + privacy glass
Mercedes E220 CDI

carlfraz wrote:

'sad O' trip to Leeds not going over 70mph and hardly moving the throttle returned me 38.6mpg

You came to Leeds and didn't stop to say "Hi" i'm insulted

Proberbly best doing the 'Sad O' driving round here with all the flashing yellow boxes about Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

On longer trips I can get 32 - 34 mpg quite easily, without driving like a total pussy On more mixed driving that level of fuel economy slips to between 30 - 32 mpg. I have never averaged much below 30mpg other than on very short trips; today the average is showing at 29.6mpg after recent in town trips of about 8 miles.

It would be nice to get better fuel consumption figures, but I guess I'm happy enough with this, particularly after my old Disco TDI, which was a tad more thirsty!  Life is not a dress rehearsal!

I've just done a trip from Worcester to Bracknell & back again - 215 miles and the average was 34 mpg - not great but so much better than my old Shogun

I have a TD4 manual, very pleased with the fuel economy, average sitting at 37.4 over 22k miles. My car will be replaced in 18 months and I will likely go for auto (not available when I ordered mine in Nov 06). A question I have about the auto, which will have a direct impact on fuel consumption, but which has not yet been answered to my satisfaction is .... does the auto box have have a "lock up" feature in 6th gear (possibly 5th as well) ????? This will make a difference to fuel economy, and will be especially effective when 'cruising' .... So has anyone asked the question about lock up and if so what was the answer ....

avtur wrote:

I have a TD4 manual, very pleased with the fuel economy, average sitting at 37.4 over 22k miles. My car will be replaced in 18 months and I will likely go for auto (not available when I ordered mine in Nov 06). A question I have about the auto, which will have a direct impact on fuel consumption, but which has not yet been answered to my satisfaction is .... does the auto box have have a "lock up" feature in 6th gear (possibly 5th as well) ????? This will make a difference to fuel economy, and will be especially effective when 'cruising' .... So has anyone asked the question about lock up and if so what was the answer ....

Quote:

In a lockup control system of an automatic transmission with a lockup torque converter, a controller pre-stores a predetermined lockup control map including at least a predetermined coast slip lockup area, within which the system executes a slip lockup control mode under the vehicle's coasting condition, so that a speed difference between input and output speeds of the torque converter is brought closer to a predetermined value. The controller determines whether a first transition from the vehicle's driving condition to the predetermined coast slip lockup area occurs in a release mode of the lockup clutch or a second transition from the vehicle's coasting condition to the predetermined coast slip lockup area occurs in the release mode. When the first transition occurs, the lockup clutch is conditioned in the slip lockup control mode. When the second transition occurs, the lockup clutch is conditioned in the release mode

Nice search npinks, in simple terms a lock up does what it says, it locks the torque converter.A torque converter will always allow a certain amount of slippage, this is what hits the fuel economy of an auto. However a lock up provides 100% drive when engaged, as per a manual box, therefore increasing efficiency. The reason for my question is simply that not all autos have this feature. I'm not sure what determines the use of a lock up, its not a premium brand feature, Mrs Avtur's 1600cc petrol Deawoo automatic does have this feature.

Avtur,

I don' think the FL2 Auto has that feature as such. However, surely using command shift and selecting 5th or 6th will achieve much the same effect?

As far as I can tell, the gears will only then drop automatically if you pull up at a junction while still in say 5th; in which case it does automatically engage 2nd gear for you to pull away again. I guess this is on the assumption that had the driver been paying attention he'd have done this himself anyway.

Either way, I'm sure you'll love the auto version; I'm so glad I waited until it was available here, annoying though that was at the time  Life is not a dress rehearsal!

Avtur I've read several times (at least two ) in the forum that our FL2's have a lock-up feature in 6th gear. I'll try to ask my service dealer if it's true and let you all know. Nevertheless, I've noticed that auto is most thirsty when in traffic, and I beleive that's because the torque converter is so much less efficient at very low speeds - too much torque from the engine, not at all on wheels when starting from stand still. So, if you use the car on motorways most of the time the difference between manual and auto should be even less. And as Carl has said several times( ) command shift does also make a difference.

All,

Had my auto a month now and getting 21.8mpg. Mostly town driving, which to be frank appauls me. I'm hoping it's still running-in (has anyone noticed this?), as I've only done 700miles.

Will test out the command-shift/sports theory to see whether things improve. Manufacturer figures for mpg are:

Urban: 25.7
Extra Urban: 41.5
Combined: 33.2

And the small print:

Quote:

Fuel consumption figures: The results given here do not express or imply any guarantee of the fuel consumption ofany particular vehicle with which this information may be supplied. Vehicles are not individually tested and there are inevitable differences between individual vehicles of the same model. The vehicle may also incorporate particular modifications. Furthermore, the driver's style and road traffic conditions, as well as the extent to which the vehicle has been driven and the standard of maintenance, will affect its fuel consumption.

It helps to reset the tour from time to time. I was doing pretty well until I did some stop starting in town - this pushed the MPG way down, and no amount of careful motorway driving could get it up again. Its an average reading, over the tour distance. - Mike

4eveRed wrote:

I've not idea why the car should be so fuel inefficient. I can understand it not being up to scratch on motorways etc due to drag coefficiency, but in town, I would have thought it not to be too disimilar to any other similarly powered car/van.
4eveRed

My auto has never returned less than 30mpg during town driving and between 34-37mpg on the motorway (solo).
Towing my caravan with the car and van fully loaded coming back from Spain with a strong headwind in the summer I only achieved 20-21mpg, but the engine was still tight then.