Austin A35 Fuel Economy Test

[peteo48]

Hope the above link works. Came across this on You Tube (I should get out more but it's raining!). The RAC took a new Austin A35 from the factory at Longbridge and did a 500 plus miles test to establish real world fuel economy - no fuel saving "tricks" were used.

53 mpg! It kind of confirms my hunch that average fuel economy hasn't improved much over the last 40 or 50 years. The engines in a modern car are definitely more efficient but these gains have been cancelled out by the weight and size of a modern car.

The A35 is probably half the weight of a Jazz!

[madasafish]

I had one as a student. 12 years old.
I reckon it did no more than 40mpg.

[Kremmen]

Ah, the old 'puddle jumper'.

My dad had one of them with the semaphore indicators.

[csp]

My first car was a second hand A30 bought for £25, new tyres cost me more than the car. I had took the sump and head off removed the pistons then towed the car to a workshop where the the cylinder block was rebored, then I put it all back together. I had to run the engine. I didn't check the mpg but the specification states the same value as the A35.

The A30 only had an 803cc 29bhp engine but the A35 had a 948cc 35 bhp engine.

[fashionphotography]

got to admit i used to specialise in old classic italian cars. and often could get 40 plus mpg out of an old alfa with twin 40 webber carbs on . on a run.

[John Ratsey]

My A35 averaged 36 mpg over several tens of thousands of miles and I don't think it ever did better than 40 mpg between refills. OK, I was younger then so probably had the right pedal nearer the floor but recall that when I did try to drive more economically it made no significant difference to the mpg. The engine had the Zenith carburettor which seemed very crude (and often needed to be taken off the engine and cleaned to stop the engine running rough). I think the SU carb was a better product.

[peteo48]

The other thing that occurred to me about the test was it was done in the 1950s when traffic was very light compared to today and, although there was a fair bit of driving through towns, there was a lot of open road cruising at 50 mph.

I still think that fuel economy hasn't improved that much for all sorts of reasons. I find it interesting to scroll through Fuelly.com and Mk3 Jazzes seem to average low 40s. Again you've got much heavier traffic these days and very much heavier cars.

[olduser1]

A35 great rally race car, also a favourite of James Hunt must be on cross ply tires.
Personally I was Beetle fan then SAAB 96's for many years.
The dream was a low cost petrol engine to seat 4 adults returning 60mpg at 60mph, never came close in over 55 yes driving.

[E27006]

Hope the above link works. Came across this on You Tube (I should get out more but it's raining!). The RAC took a new Austin A35 from the factory at Longbridge and did a 500 plus miles test to establish real world fuel economy - no fuel saving "tricks" were used.

53 mpg! It kind of confirms my hunch that average fuel economy hasn't improved much over the last 40 or 50 years. The engines in a modern car are definitely more efficient but these gains have been cancelled out by the weight and size of a modern car.

The A35 is probably half the weight of a Jazz!

Modern cars have the great benefit of metering by fuel injection, carefully controlled by a computer (ECU) and several sensors measuring air flow and exhaust gas content and other parameters,  Your point as to how  cars have grown  in size,  last week spoke with an owner of an ADO16 who had parked her 1300 Wolseley Hornet at the  local Tesco , a variant  the famous  Austin / Morris 1100/1300 with hydrolastic suspension,  the car was tiny in footprint and roof height  compared to everything else near it,  Almost a child's pedal car against everything else around it. 

[Bazzzer]

After 16 years of "low" cars, my Jazz seems very high when approaching from the side.