Just did a little table of the economy, I thought it was doing around 35 to the gallon. My mental arithmetic is complicated by the fact the odometer is in kilometres. But after getting 180km/180km/270km out of £20/£20/£25, my spreadsheet found it was getting UNDER 30mpg.... Thought that was a bit poor for a sub 1 ton little car, even if it is a 1.8? :( Any thoughts / comparisons?

PS: I'm stil enjoying driving it - and unlike my fabia it has a working engine, and 4 wheels.

270Km for £25 of fuel is roughly 32 MPG 180KM for "20 is about 27MPG. For cold weather use I would say those figures are pretty decent. Depends how you drive it I guess

Just search on spritmonitor.de. Just started logging the Mrs' 1.2 Corsa on there. Doing 40mpg - couple of mpg under the mean for that model. Makes me laugh though - I get over 7mpg more out of my much bigger Octavia with 3x as much power doing similar journeys.

Sounds like the Mazda is in need of a service to me.....

God, I fitted a new air filter and I reckon the owner services it being a mechanic himself.

Thing is, the fuel runs out at "around 1/4 tank" showing on the gauge, so I have to be careful when and where I fill up in case it starts running out unexpectedly. That explains the 2 x 180km on £20 and 270km on £25. In reality I probably could have pushed the 2 180km to nearly 200, but would then have done less on the £25. Another £25 went in yesterday so shall see how that tank gets on.

I think high 20's are about right for it Jason. BTW it's only ever started to run out on 1/4 tank when it's on track - seems it can run under the empty line on the road. Best to carry some spare fuel just in case though.

Was wondering if perhaps the tweaking to the timing done for the trackday might have an effect, i.e in theory you could retard it back and save a bit of fuel? I dunno, it's running damn nicely so can't grumble. Have noticed when going up to 4,000rpm then just easing off the gas the exhaust does pop ever so slightly.

Will keep filling at 1/4 tank I think. The last thing I want to do is run out by "pushing it too far"

Sell the furby and keep the mx really do like these things. Mates got a mk1 and I'm always jobbing the keys when he calls round.

welcome to driving cars with proper engines

Retarding the timing won't help the MPG, the only thing that will help is a lighter right foot!

Well... it's a step in the right direction. It's petrol, but it's a bit... well... gay.

Retarding the timing won't help the MPG, the only thing that will help is a lighter right foot!

That's where I'm going wrong then.