Elgrand E52 MPG - How bad is it really

One of the first questions asked by any prospective Elgrand owner is what fuel economy is like, and there is quite a lot of discussion about the E51's economy, but very little about the E52.  I have kept a log of my fuel and mileage which might be helpful to you as an idea of what you are likely to get.  Be warned though, it might not be pleasant reading!

In the last 6 months I have covered nearly 5000 KMs (my car is still recording in KMs) and the records I have are as follows:

Litres	KMs	KM/L	MPG
64	325	5.08	14.34
28	289	10.32	29.16
29	171	5.90	16.66
60	517	8.62	24.34
56	435	7.77	21.94
81	703	8.68	24.52
33	309	9.36	26.45
61	498	8.16	23.06
110	856	7.78	21.98
41	328	8.00	22.60
43	348	8.09	22.86
606	4779	7.89	22.28

The best I achieved was 29mpg and that was on motorways / highways and being conservative with my driving.  The lowest figure was when I first got the car and it was started/stopped reguarly as I checked it over and worked on it, so I believe it is not a good indication of normal use.  The second lowest I saw was 16mpg which might also not be normal as I did use an aircon freshener to remove some smoke smell and the car was running for 30 minutes on full aircon without being driven.

My driving is typically a mixture of motorways and local roads, perhaps even 50/50.  So, the 22-24mpg that I am getting might be about right for that style of driving.  My guess is that local town driving is around 20mpg, and on motorways you tend to get 26-30mpg depending on whether you sit at 70mph, or you maintain a nice 65mph.

Hope that helps if you are looking and sorry if that not what you want to hear.  Do leave a comment if you find any ways to help improve these numbers.