In association with Mini's all-electric range
Real MPG: the least economical cars revealed
What Car?'s laboratory tests use a real-world driving route to show what fuel economy you can really expect. But what are the worst performing cars we've ever tested?...
Filling up with fuel can really put a dent in your bank account, so if you’re thinking of buying a new car, it’s worth knowing which ones to avoid if you don’t want to make a lot of trips to the petrol station.
On top of that, the official mpg figures you see printed in sales brochures don’t always reflect what a car will actually achieve in real-world conditions.
That’s why we conduct our own Real MPG tests, which reveal what your car can really do without resorting to any unrealistically slow acceleration or ‘hypermiling’ techniques.
Here, we list the 10 cars which performed worst in our tests and will have you stopping to fill up most often.
How we test for a car’s Real MPG
We carry out our Real MPG testing in laboratory conditions, and the cars undertake a real-world-inspired driving route using a rolling road that comprises urban, motorway and country driving. This ensures that no uncontrollable variables, such as weather or traffic conditions, will affect the accuracy of our results.
Each car is weighed and we make sure its tyres are inflated to the manufacturer’s recommended levels. Climate control is set to 21 degrees, or if the car has manual air conditioning, the temperature dial is set to the midway point and the fan speed to its lowest setting. All other electrical equipment is switched off.
The Real MPG results are calculated using the average data from an exhaust connection, which measures the car’s emissions at every second.
Read more: How we test a car’s Real MPG
