The V6 is just a dog, that and the slushbox will both give a substantial
fuel economy penalty. Turbo with a 5 speed in the same car give more
power and much better economy, N/A 4 cyl gives even better economy but
is a bit under powered for such a big car.

As for safety, I'm sure an Echo is decent, but given a choice between
the two, I'd take the 760 hands down, airbags aren't magic, nothing
replaces a good solid passenger cage and large crumple zones.

I'm guessing you're posting from Canada and I'm not sure about the
engine configuration there. To me Canadian models are quirky, sometimes
delivered as Europen models and sometimes as North American models. So
the information given is more generic then model specific.

The biggest mileage killer would be a lazy or inoperative (stuck open)
thermostat that would cause the fuel injection control unit (if it has
an electronic fuel injection fitted) to run excessively rich. If it has
the K-jet system fitted the control pressure may be staying low due to a
burned out heater on the control pressure regulator. A similar effect
could be produced by an inoperative heater circuit on the O2 sensor or
simply an O2 sensor sorted to ground from excessive carbon build up on
the sensing element, if you have one. A low or aged battery will force
the alternator to work harder longer thus adding power losses during the
warm up period when the engine is consuming extra fuel.

Low or insufficient tire inflation pressure will induce excessive drag.

A higher profile tire (i.e. larger circumference) will yield fewer miles
on the odometer than the tires previously installed and produce a larger
number when doing the consumption calculation.

Switching to synthetic oil in the motor and differential will give
noticeable improvement in consumption. At 60-65mph (~100 kmph) you
should see a drop of about 100-200 rpm for the same speed.

If you know the exact mileage recorded between two points as logged on
summer tires, compare it to the same mileage as logged by the winter
tires over the same distance to rule out a distance measurement error
before checking the engine performance parameters.

Bob

I have an 88 model 760GLE B280E auto in the UK, it only goes short distances
and is rarely nice and hot, I get around 17mpg and on a 50mile trip it may
touch 20mpg, as far as I know it is all running ok and passes MOT's etc!
If I didn't love it so much I would take up lighting cigarettes with £5
notes, i'm sure it would be cheaper!! And I don't even smoke!

On another subject I have to change the leaky bearing water pump, I have all
the bits but my Haynes manual says "first remove the inlet manifold!" surely
I don't really have to, do I? Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Regards, Bob Green.

Our 960 gets similar mileage from its Inline 6 engine... 10-11L/100kms city
in the summer and 12.5-14L/100kms city in the winter. On the highway it gets
8.9-9.2L/100kms summer and around 11L/100kms winter.