Afternoon all.

I'm looking for some advice about handing a car back for a refund. I've done it successfully once before but that was when I received a brand new car where none of the panels matched up and it looked like it had been built by children! This is a bit different.

I bought a new Hyundai i10 in May this year under the scrappage scheme. The main reasons I went for the i10 were the practicality of a 5 door car combined with the fuel consumption of a small car (Hyundai say it should achieve approx 57mpg on the combined cycle). I drive it mainly on 60mph limit A roads and sometimes around town so I was expecting to achieve somewhere near the combined figure and certainly was hopeful of reaching 50mpg.

After around 2500 miles it was only achieving 40mpg. I rang Hyundai who said to give it more time to run-in. It has now done nearly 4000 miles and is only achieving 35mpg. On one tank where I did more town driving it only achieved 29mpg (I measure it by brimming it, counting the miles and brimming it again and I was a Maths teacher in a previous life so my sums are correct!). It's now going in to Hyundai on 7th October.

What I'm wondering is this:

1) Due to Hyundai telling me to give it more time to run-in I'm now nearing the 6 month cut off mentioned for getting a full refund. Is there anything I can do about this?

2) Would getting almost half of the manufacturers quoted mpg figures usually be a good enough reason to reject a car?

3) Does getting the car under the scrappage scheme create any problems when it comes to getting a full refund? I got £1250 from the dealer and obviously £1000 from the government.

Hopefully they can find a solution and this won't be necessary but I don't want to risk leaving it too long and ending up stuck with a city car that drinks as much petrol as my Octy!

Cheer guys.

1) Did you get anything in writing? If not it will be dismissed.

2)Quoted MPG's are estimates depending on driving style. If they do a diagnostic and find no problems they will accuse you of driving like a loon, you may want to get a second opinion

3) Might want to give citizens advice for this one

Afternoon all.

I'm looking for some advice about handing a car back for a refund. I've done it successfully once before but that was when I received a brand new car where none of the panels matched up and it looked like it had been built by children! This is a bit different.

I bought a new Hyundai i10 in May this year under the scrappage scheme. The main reasons I went for the i10 were the practicality of a 5 door car combined with the fuel consumption of a small car (Hyundai say it should achieve approx 57mpg on the combined cycle). I drive it mainly on 60mph limit A roads and sometimes around town so I was expecting to achieve somewhere near the combined figure and certainly was hopeful of reaching 50mpg.

After around 2500 miles it was only achieving 40mpg. I rang Hyundai who said to give it more time to run-in. It has now done nearly 4000 miles and is only achieving 35mpg. On one tank where I did more town driving it only achieved 29mpg (I measure it by brimming it, counting the miles and brimming it again and I was a Maths teacher in a previous life so my sums are correct!). It's now going in to Hyundai on 7th October.

What I'm wondering is this:

1) Due to Hyundai telling me to give it more time to run-in I'm now nearing the 6 month cut off mentioned for getting a full refund. Is there anything I can do about this?

2) Would getting almost half of the manufacturers quoted mpg figures usually be a good enough reason to reject a car?

3) Does getting the car under the scrappage scheme create any problems when it comes to getting a full refund? I got £1250 from the dealer and obviously £1000 from the government.

Hopefully they can find a solution and this won't be necessary but I don't want to risk leaving it too long and ending up stuck with a city car that drinks as much petrol as my Octy!

Cheer guys.

Had exactly the same problem with my Hyundai Getz, and I posted it on here also. I tried to go down the route you are as well. I did brim to brim on the tank and found I was getting nearly half the MPG Claimed, no matter how slowly I drove

It's a well known fact by Hyundai owners that their fuel economy is appaling at the best of times, no one I knew on the Hyundai forums could get near the claimed MPG Figures

I ended up with my dealer testing the brakes for sticking, engine management and everything and it all came to nothing. The car turned out to be an annoying peice of crap that quickly lost it's showroom appeal so I just got rid of it anyways

The first thing you need to check is if it's reading is presented in US or UK Gallons, this was a source of confusion for many european owners at first. It was corrected on the facelift Getz but maybe the i10 reads in US MPG as most Hyundais do, check this first before you go further, but a small car with such a small engine should get way more MPG

It's just not gonna happen, I'm afraid!

The manufacturer quoted figures are usually a lot more than what can be achieved in the real world, they are calculated in perfect conditions, assuming a flat road and no wind at all. The i10 is not the most aerodynamic of cars, so this may also have a bearing on the figures achieved. Its the same for all marques, even Skodas figures can never be achieved.

Driving style, wind, tyres, road surface, gradiants all play a major part in the real world.

The 1.8T is a suprisingly economical engine which is based on newer technology than the dated design in the 1.2 i10, so its no suprise to me that mpg figures are simillar.

I'm sure I read somewhere of someone succesfully returning a car due to fuel consumption not getting anywhere near manufacturers stated figures (might have been on Honestjohn).

As a guide, real world consumption is nearer to half way between urban and combined figures, so for the i10 that would be half way between 56.5 and 44.8, so 50.65mpg. If you're only getting 35 and assuming you're not driving with the handbrake on, then you probably have a case.

Best get legal advice on this without delay and have a read of this: Honestjohn: Frequently Asked Questions

It's fairly obvious that the manufacturer's quoted figure isn't a guarantee , but equally obviously it has to bear some resemblance to what you can expect when driven sensibly. I know I could get the quoted 48.5mpg from my PD140 octavia and don't you manage the same in yours Manny?

They can't have it both ways - if they make a point of advertising the car's fuel economy they can't then turn round and say that it's an unrealistic dream.

If someone had bought an Octavia with a 1.8T engine and was getting 20mpg when driven sensibly on dual carriageways nobody would argue that that's normal and to live with it would they?