When you are in automatic and aproaching a roundabout/payage t junc whatever, come off the throttle earlier, flick the exhaust brake lever off, then imediatly back on, and instead of the revs staying up while your foot is off the throttle, it will drop down to the ‘false neutral/tickover’ You will be surprised how far you can go on tickover when your approaching any of the above.
When im nearly on top of the roundabout etc, i will leave it in auto, then when i get round the roundabout, flick the cruise control on it will pick the right gear, then flick to manual and go up thru the box, when in auto and flicking cruise control on in a lowish gear, it will rev high (sometimes up to 17001750 revs before it changes up, so by flicking into manual you can keep the revs down.
Its a peice of ■■■■ to do, not sure ive written it very clearly thou!
Does it have a sliding 5th wheel, is the coupling close enough?.
JD tell your govenor to get You a manual, where I work the manuals are doing better on fuel than the i-shifts.
Fair play that your concerned with Your MPG.
Why has the thread run its course? it would be good to see your written workings out etc.
I had a thirsty 520 13lt but when I look back i was dreaming thinking it should have been doing better than it was & it was only that I’d convinced Myself that it would be more economical than that which it replaced that caused this as it was’nt really too bad.
Multi drop groupage around France is never going to be an MPG dream & I would say if Your getting 7.5mpg Your doing good, I’ve heard the dreamers & there 10+ & frankly thats what they are doing dreaming, if You got 8mpg running maxed out 60% of the time Your having a result.
Please let us know what Your getting on fill to fill calculations as I’d be interested to see the difference.
Just to revisit, I recently got 10.1 flat out coming back to Normanton from Watford empty (back-load didn’t work out, but got 7 hours demurrage 
), Fully freighted from Lawnswood to Queenslie via A64,A1 & A66 returned 7.6 (not bad considering it’s uphill all the way 
). On another note Friday gone was pottering around Normanton all day and got 4.4 
. Over 3000 kms I averaged 8.4 on a variety of work (including a couple of night trunks 
). All figures are from the trip computer which is fairly accurate when compared to the pump/bunker figures, sometimes a couple of points under, sometimes over.
Harry Monk:
Weight and terrain are the most important factors, I did a movement from Faversham to Bude last Sunday and because the load was top-heavy I went M4/M5 rather than using the A303.I reset the computer before I started, when I turned off of the M5 at Tiverton, it was indicating 8.1 mpg, when I arrived at Bude it was indicating 7.2 mpg.
you should have carried on along the M5, A30 and then poodled along from the North Cornwall turning after Launceston. the A361 North Devon Link Road will absolutely destroy your fuel figures with its long steep hills.
mucker85:
Harry Monk:
Weight and terrain are the most important factors, I did a movement from Faversham to Bude last Sunday and because the load was top-heavy I went M4/M5 rather than using the A303.I reset the computer before I started, when I turned off of the M5 at Tiverton, it was indicating 8.1 mpg, when I arrived at Bude it was indicating 7.2 mpg.
you should have carried on along the M5, A30 and then poodled along from the North Cornwall turning after Launceston. the A361 North Devon Link Road will absolutely destroy your fuel figures with its long steep hills.
Surely going down to the Kennards House junction would have added a lot of miles and time to the journey ? You’re right about those hills drinking fuel though !
Denis F:
Surely going down to the Kennards House junction would have added a lot of miles and time to the journey ? You’re right about those hills drinking fuel though !
Google Suggested routes
M5 and A30 75.0 mi, 1 hour 27 mins
A361 and A39 76.5 mi, 1 hour 40 mins
Next to no difference in distance but A30 is shorter (just)
We always went M5 A30 when going up to Bude, It’s an easier route without the psychopathic overtakers of the A361
Edit: I meant to say the turning after Okehampton.
mucker85:
Denis F:
Surely going down to the Kennards House junction would have added a lot of miles and time to the journey ? You’re right about those hills drinking fuel though !Google Suggested routes
M5 and A30 75.0 mi, 1 hour 27 mins
A361 and A39 76.5 mi, 1 hour 40 mins
Next to no difference in distance but A30 is shorter (just)
We always went M5 A30 when going up to Bude, It’s an easier route without the psychopathic overtakers of the A361
Edit: I meant to say the turning after Okehampton.
The Halwill Junction / Holsworthy road ?
You’ve still got a few hills around Okehampton ! But you surprised me with the distances !
Ps, do you drive a white fm with a nameplate ? If you do I passed you near South Molton a couple of weeks ago 
Denis F:
Ps, do you drive a white fm with a nameplate ? If you do I passed you near South Molton a couple of weeks ago
Not me I’m afraid, I’m coach driving at the mo. it’s the only decent, flexible work round here. Shame.
Dear Mr JD,
I’m almost sure your problem is the way you use cruise control. If, as you said, you push the pedal half way down until you reach 30 km/h and than re-set cruise control it’s basically equivalent of pushing the pedal half way down until you reach the speed of 30 km/h and than pushing it down to the floor. when cruise control is re-set the computer uses the max power to reach set up speed as quick as possible. never turn the cruise control until you reach your cruising speed. I’m sure you know the golden fuel saving rule: max torque whenever possible, max power only when absolutely necessarily. And re-seting cc as soon as possible is exactly opposite. Like I said. Computer will try to reach the set up speed using all the power available.
Also all the I-shifts, AStronics etc try to “learn” and adjust to driver’s driving style so you may not notice any change in the way the box operates until you wipe ECU.