gas/diesel mileage

[falcojake]

may not seem important to you guys accross the pond but here in good old blighty (england) fuel is really expensive like 5 dollars 60 cents for a gallon of diesel and i little less for a gallon of petrol, im serious!
anyway i just bought a pt cruiser route 66 brand spanking new.
because of the high cost of fuel here and because i cover a lot of miles with my work i bought the 148bhp 2.2crd version.
it drives, handles, and accellarates better than any car i have ever driven and i am really pleased. being the owner of an old 1960s car i also really like the way the cruiser looks.

anyway back to my problem. in the chrysler literature it states the 2.2crd should do about 50mpg on extra urban driving.

when i get mine on to the motorway(freeway)and open her up to about 80mph the fuel economy drops like a stone to about 28mpg.
when i drive it in town i can get about 32mpg

is this normal? is it a running in problem (i only have 460 miles on the clock so far)

[p.schuh]

Gas mileage PT Cruiser CRD (Diesel)

Hi falcojake!

Chrysler UK says (mpg in UK gallons !!!):

Combined Cycle 47.2 [}] (6.7) mpg (l/100 km)
Extra Urban Cycle 50.4 (5.6) mpg (l/100 km)
Urban Cycle 32.8 (8.6) mpg (l/100 km)

There is a mistake in the british website. Correct is

Combined Cycle 42.1!!! (6.7) mpg (l/100 km)

For my american friends (mpg in US gallons):

Combined Cycle 35.1 (6.7) mpg (l/100 km)
Extra Urban Cycle 42.0 (5.6) mpg (l/100 km)
Urban Cycle 27.3 (8.6) mpg (l/100 km)

falcojake, you drive a brandnew car. After 5.000 – 8.000 miles, you will have a better gasmileage. [?]
Peter [8)]

[Fodder4U]

With all the fish and chips made there you would think there were plenty of resources for bio-diesel to become very popular in the UK. Anyone messing around with it there?

[quicksilverdon]

Welcome.
Mileage wil get better as engine "loosens up.
Drag increses by the SQUARE of speed, so at 80 MPH, you have FOUR TIMES the drag at 40 MPH, and there's a lot of drag to a PT.