Kia Tempest

My car is the manual version so not entirely comparable. Very carefully driven it returned 40mpg from new. This has improved to 51 mpg at 11,000 miles. The mpg plummets on the motorway when i do 75mph or above. Wind noise can be heard but is not much of a problem, its tyre noise that is the issue for me. and this intrudes at 70mph upwards. On some motorway road surfaces it can drown out the radio totally. The 65mpg quoted in some figures is pure fallacy in such a blunt and heavy vehicle.

The Tempest is a very distinctive car and it does have character....in a relaxed but "look at me" way!. I have had quite a few issues with my particular car...and they are gradually getting sorted....but i still really like it and want to keep it for as long as i can. At the end of the day, its a roomy but not overly large vehicle, sensible sized engine, nice to drive, quite simple mechanically and should last a long time if carefully maintained.

My Shaker diesel is now achieving 51 mpg with the air-con on. it is getting better with each tank of fuel as it loosens ups. Don't go over 80 on the motorway and you will get decent returns. Also be aware that the diesel has a quirk built into the throttle pedal. It works as normal until about an inch from the floor, then a resistance is met.This is to assist drivers in driving the car in the most economical rev range. You can still use the last 1 inch of pedal travel by pushing down harder and the power comes in fine. Great for overtaking, car moves quite swiftly 20 - 40 mph in second gear.

Alright there Gezzer, mines the 1.6 diesel auto, does mid 40s if you take it steady,a lot less if the wife drives it,at the moment its only done just under 6000 so hopefully will get better as it gets run in a bit. 

Hi , a few names--ASDA, Morrisons, Tesco. never use branded fuel in my soul only supermarket fuel,what makes a lot of difference is how the pumps are set up,are they set to max minus or max plus that is allowed on the measurements,what temp is the fuel when it is pumped. The fuel is sold by volume and the volume increases when temp increases therefore the calorific value in the fuel at a higher temp is less therefore less energy per measurement of volume.Couple this with the pump that is set at the lowest setting allowed on throughput and you have a substantial difference in the amount of actual energy you are putting in your tank.Fuel expands just like water does when the temp increases,only way to measure it to be 100% acurate is by weight. It does not matter what the temp or increase in volume the weight stays constant and the calorific value is constant.I have found that most of the supermarkets are more likely to be checked and are set more generous , I have seen the road tankers queing to fill up all from the same storage tanks ,only the additives they put in are different.