What's the news?

Small equals economical, right? So you might be led to believe, but consumer motoring website HonestJohn.co.uk has uncovered anomalous fuel consumption figures for the latest bunch of supermini models. Using 'Real MPG' data gathered from 60,314 participants, HonestJohn.co.uk has discovered sizeable differences between manufacturers' quoted average fuel consumption figures and those its users experience in the real world.

The worst overall performers according to HonestJohn.co.uk's findings are the latest small cars - which are often sold on the strength of their economy. The worst performing car in the survey was Nissan's Note, the 2013 model only achieving 67.7% of its quoted official fuel economy figure. The Note was followed by the MINI hatchback, Citroen's DS 5, the Renault Captur and 2014's biggest-selling car, the Ford Fiesta.

Daniel Power, Managing Editor of HonestJohn.co.uk, said: "It's no secret that car buyers are confused by official fuel economy figures. Indeed, HonestJohn.co.uk receives thousands of complaints about misleading fuel economy figures, which shows that many car owners are out of pocket when it comes to calculating real world fuel costs.
"Rather than attack the official EC figures, which form the basis of car and company car taxation, we prefer to offer realistic figures achieved by real motorists to be used alongside official guidelines."

The figures also find some remarkable real-world mpg performances among the top models. The Land Rover Defender from 1984 onwards takes the top spot, with a real mpg ratio of 106.3%. It's followed by the 2003-2008 Toyota Celica, while Nissan's poor showing with the Note is reversed with its 2003-2010 model year Micra, which manages 102.6%.

What to make of it?

As with all surveys the results are open to a degree of interpretation, though they do serve as a guide. It's entirely possible a disgruntled minority are skewing the results while plenty of other owners are happily achieving better real-world mpg. Real-world driving a very difficult thing to quantify, but if the HonestJohn.co.uk Real MPG Report highlights one thing, it's that the current official mpg measuring system does many buyers a real disservice in over-stating what's achievable in reality.