The Southern Group of Motoring Writers represents motoring journalists living or working in the region around the M25 motorway, stretching from Suffolk in the north to Portsmouth and Brighton in the south and from Reading and Oxford in the west to Kent in the east.
The Group's main role is to assist and enable communications between its members and the motor industry at large. We boast membership of around 30 journalists working on local, regional and national newspapers, magazines, books, web sites and television, to provide the general public and specialist industry areas with the latest motoring information.
We hope you enjoy your visit to our site and please feel free to contact us with any thoughts or queries.
Latest News
REAL WORLD FUEL CONSUMPTION FIGURES
25/04/12
Peter DE Nayer, veteran specialist in technical research and fuel economy and performance evaluation carries out real world fuel consumption tests and has generously offered the disparity results to Group members and visitors to the SGMW site.
If you would like Peter’s full results on the cars you are assessing, contact him by E Mail at:
Peter says:
“These ‘Real World’ fuel consumption figures are obtained by driving pre-set test cycles on traffic-free roads, with no random interruptions caused by other traffic. All car instrumentation is corrected before commencing the tests and the target ambient temperature is 10 degrees C, with dry surfaces and low wind speed; the test routes are circular. The car is normally equipped with a fuel flow meter on the delivery side of the engine, which provides an accurate measure of the fuel being consumed in millilitres – 4546 to the gallon.
The URBAN test is a programmed series of stops and starts over a 3.2 mile route, with brief periods of acceleration and cruising up to 40mph; the car is stationary for 27 per cent of the time and the average speed is 16mph.
The RURAL test also has a maximum cruising speed of 40mph but the driving style is much more leisurely and there are no periods of idling, although there are ten junctions over the 10 miles of A and B roads, with an average speed of 30mph.
These two tests establish the normal mpg range for everyday extremes of use; however, the MIXED USE result is not the mean of these two extremes. Three other test cycles are conducted as well – Motorway/70 cruising, Short Journey/Suburban (from a cold start), plus Out of Town/Brisk but Legal. Between them, the five encapsulate every (legal) driving style and traffic condition one will experience in the UK.
All five results are ‘Combined’ (like the two NEDC cycles, to produce the mileage-weighted MIXED USE AVERAGE; the mileage mix for this calculation is 7% Urban, 13% Suburban, 30% Brisk, and 25% each for Motorway and Rural. This will provide an accurate indication of the car’s overall fuel economy for the user who ‘does a bit of everything’ and is useful for comparison with rivals. However, prospective owners can reliably calculate their own anticipated Overall MPG by adjusting the figures to suit their own pattern of use.”
Peter goes on to say:
“As you can see, the two results are very close in 10 per cent of the cars, yet nearly half of them are more than 20 per cent adrift – so much for the ‘Level Playing Field’ justification for the NEDC (New European Driving Cycle) testing regime.”
BHP
Disparity (%)
Audi 2.0 TDIe
134
26.6
BMW 318d Touring
141
15.5
BMW 320d Efficient Dynamics
161
26.4
Citroën C1 1.0
67
13.7
Citroën DS3 1.6 THP
150
4.2
Citroën C4 Berlingo 1.6 HDI
89
6.6
Citroën C4 Picasso 1.6 HDi
110
0
Fiat 500 Twin Air
84
45.0
Fiat 500 1.2
68
19.1
Ford Fiesta 1.4
96
22.5
Ford Fiesta Econetic
95
24.7
Honda Jazz 1.2
90
13.4
Honda Jazz 1.4 Hybrid
98
25.6
Honda Insight Hybrid
99
20.0
Hyundai i20 1.4
98
15.9
Hyundai i20 1.4 CRDI
95
18.9
Kia cee’d 1.6 CRDi
113
21.9
Kia cee’d Ecodynamics
89
23.0
Lexus RX 450 Hybrid
245
19.5
Mazda 2 1.3
83
22.0
Mini One 1.6D
89
30.5
Mitsubishi Colt 1.3
94
7.0
Mitsubishi Colt 1.3 Cleartec
94
15.3
Nissan Qashqai 1.6 SWB / 2WD
115
17.2
Porsche Carrera 2 Coupé
341
3.1
Peugeot 107 1.0
67
13.7
Renault Clio 1.2 TCe / 100
99
18.8
Renault Megane 250 Cup
247
0
Renault Megane 1.4 TCe
129
15.7
Smart Fortwo CDi
45
35.1
SEAT Leon 1.2 TSI
103
26.0
Suzuki Splash 1.2
67
15.5
Suzuki Alto 1.0
67
22.3
Toyota Aygo 1.0
67
15.7
Toyota IQ 1.0
67
21.7
Toyota Yaris 1.3
98
15.4
Toyota Auris Hybrid
134
32.0
Toyota Prius Hybrid
134
26.1
Vauxhall Agila 1.2 ecoFLEX
67
15.5
Vauxhall Astra 1.7 ecoFLEX
123
36.5
Vauxhall Insignia 2.0 CDTi
158
8.2
Vauxhall Insignia ecoFLEX
158
10.5
Volkswagen Urban Fox 1.2
54
8.9
Volkswagen Polo 1.2 SE
68
13.0
Volkswagen Polo 1.4 SE
84
12.7
Volkswagen 1.2 TSI
104
18.4
Volkswagen Polo Blue Motion
74
31.2
Volkswagen Golf 1.4 TSI
121
9.9
Volkswagen Golf 1.4 TSI DSG
121
14.9
Volkswagen Golf 1.6 TDI Match
103
20.8
Volkswagen Golf Blue Motion Tech
103
24.1
Volkswagen Golf Blue Motion
103
25.9
New member Tristan Young
20/02/12
All in the Southern Group are delighted to welcome another well known motoring writer, Tristan Young, who is not only a traditionally qualified journalist but also young enough to bring down the Group's average age considerably.
Married to successful artist, Katy they have two young daughters and three Collie dogs, a cat and a retired horse. Amazingly with that lot, he finds time to contribute to a remarkable number of top quality outlets including the Daily and Sunday Express, Autocar, Auto Express, Business Car, Just Auto as well as being Contributing Editor of Business Car, Managing Director of Wheel Ideas and Editorial Director of Auto Retail Network.