I Drove a SUV That Got 44 MPG!

I traveled to the Midlands of England for one of my many business trips to that part of the world in November of 2004. I typically rent a vehicle from Hertz at the Birmingham airport then drive forty miles to Stratford upon Avon. On this occasion, I was given a rather large car relative to the usual compact size Vauxhall or Ford product I rent. I was concerned that I would be burning considerably more gas than with the smaller cars, but decided to take it nevertheless. The price of fuel in the U.K. was around the equivalent of $7.00 per gallon at that time. I would be staying over the coming weekend and doing a little sightseeing, so I was antisipating spending a considerable sum for gas. I make it point not to request reimbursement from my company for my free time activities so I would be absorbing the cost for gas.

The gas mileage for an automobile of this size in the U.S. would likly be around 20 – 22 MPG and I was anticipating similar efficiency from this rental. I set the trip odometer to zero and decided to track the mileage during my stay. I already knew from my drive to Stratford that there were some differences about this car from those made for the U.S. market, other than a right side steering wheel, so I became curious about its mileage.

I drove a total of 463 miles during my two-week stay in the U.K. Most of the miles were on their A and B roads, the equivalent to the U.S. state highways and major city and town roads. However, I did travel about 200 miles on the U.K. motorways averaging about 70 MPH.

My daily commute to my company’s factory in Bidford was a 16 miles round trip. I did a bit of sightseeing on the weekend and drove around the Midlands into Warwick and the surrounding area. On Sunday I traveled to Nottingham and took a hike through Sherwood Forest. I’ve always been fascinated by Robin Hood and his exploits like many Americans. To my surprise with all this driving, I didn't have to fill up. In fact I still had about a quarter of a tank left when I refueled at a petrol station near the airport.

Now, I’ve left some important information out about this vehicle that is relevant to its superb economy, at least to U.S. standards. Please follow the links through the photos I took of the car. While looking at the photos, ask yourself if, considering it's fuel economy, would you buy a car like this if it were available in the U.S.? It’s not all that different than the SUVs I see on U.S. roads.

link:"British car 1"