Just how 'E' is an 'HLE' - Results inside!

A long trip to a recent committee meeting gave me an opportunity to test the MPG claims of the HLE,

With some frugal driving and the help of the econometer, I achieved this:

Distance: 269 miles
Fuel Used: 23.69 litres
MPG: 51.6 mpg
Speed: I don't have a reading for this, but it was around 55-60mph for the majority of the journey.

Not bad for a petrol car, a 28 year old one at that!

better than I ever got in my 2.0d, but then I was never light footed with that.

[Guest]

As you say, very good consumption from a car of that age.

You may be interest to know that I ran a 1986 HLE from 1990 for 18 years, during which time it had its original engine and gearbox for the first 2 years of driving. The mileage at the start of this period was about 40000 and I was slightly disappointed that, despite my best efforts to take notice of the econometer, I never managed to achieve more than about 45mpg during motorway driving with this combination.

In fact I got better average fuel consumption when I had to change the engine and gearbox to those from a non-HLE car, though the consumption on motorway journeys was slightly higher. My feeling was that the HLE gearing was just too high for the power output of the engine, because it used to flag as soon as there was a slight hill on a motorway and 5th gear was not usable in urban driving.

I am now running a Ledbury car, which is at the other extreme with low overall gearing, but I find the fuel consumption in local running to be better than all the other Maestros I have run because it is happy in 5th gear at 30mph. The downside to this of course is much less relaxed motorway cruising.

[CPL593H]

As you say, very good consumption from a car of that age.

You may be interest to know that I ran a 1986 HLE from 1990 for 18 years, during which time it had its original engine and gearbox for the first 2 years of driving. The mileage at the start of this period was about 40000 and I was slightly disappointed that, despite my best efforts to take notice of the econometer, I never managed to achieve more than about 45mpg during motorway driving with this combination.

In fact I got better average fuel consumption when I had to change the engine and gearbox to those from a non-HLE car, though the consumption on motorway journeys was slightly higher. My feeling was that the HLE gearing was just too high for the power output of the engine, because it used to flag as soon as there was a slight hill on a motorway and 5th gear was not usable in urban driving.

I am now running a Ledbury car, which is at the other extreme with low overall gearing, but I find the fuel consumption in local running to be better than all the other Maestros I have run because it is happy in 5th gear at 30mph. The downside to this of course is much less relaxed motorway cruising.

Thanks for the input Phil this HLE has the early 3+E gearbox, it isnt great for town driving, as it only leaves you 3 gears to use, really, anything below 50 is not possible in 'E'

wasnt the 4+E box was pretty much the same as the ledbury 5 speed boxes?

its wrtitten in the haynes manual somewhere.

[G51 NAV]

When 02Man had 'Barney' the beige HLE he competed in a classic economy run and iirc came second only to a diesel. He had figures similar to yours, well into 50mpg+. Damn respectable for a 25 year old A-series Maestro with about 60k on the clock.

[Guest]

The Ledbury car is certainly lower geared than the 4+E HLE. It was apparently fitted with a close ratio box from the van. See the following link http://maestro-special.tripod.com/rhistory.html.

My general impression is that 5th gear is not much higher than 4th was on the HLE so it isn't much of an overdrive, though I don't know specific gear and final drive ratios to confirm that. The effect when it comes to driving the car around town is that it feels somewhat more responsive and there is less need for gear changing. That results in better local fuel consumption than I ever achieved with the HLE. Could be something to do with the fact that my right foot is much lighter now than it used to be 20 years ago as well though.

[threelitre]

4th on the early HLE and 5th on the later HLE are the same ratio. They are also the same as 5th on the VW-type 5-speed box fitted to non-MG Maestros and Montegos. The standard 1.3 gearbox has a 8% (if I remember right) shorter overall gearing than the 1.6 (different final drive). I don't know if the Bulgarian cars did use an even shorter final drive ratio.

With my LE I got very impressive MPG figures too, my 5-speed 1.3 was never able to beat them. But I managed to use E even in town very often. On flat ground the car was happy to slug along in E at 30mph.

Regards,

Alexander

[Austin-Rover]

On flat ground the car was happy to slug along in E at 30mph.

Same here. I also found 'E' could be used in urban driving quite easily. Once you understood how the different ratios 'worked', you could pick your places to change to 'E' and sail along quite happily.

[cybernaughthippo]

MPG

Just came across some figues while reading the '94 handbook:
(Simulated driving - Constant Speed 56mph - Constant Speed 75)

Non Catalyst
1.3 Clubman - 4 Speed 36.3 - 50.8 - 36.1
Clubman & LX - 5 Speed 36.3 - 58.2 - 40.7
1.6 LX 31.9 - 53.3 - 38.8
LX Auto 31.0 - 43.6 - 30.4

Catalyst Equiped
1.3 Cubman - 4Speed 32.5 - 45.0 - 33.2
Clubman & LX - 5 Speed 32.5 - 52.0 - 36.6

Makes me think your 51.6 is pretty good as the highest figure here is 58.2 (on a treadmill perhaps?).

Im wondering how much pollution is saved from a catalyst when your doing 10% less MPG?

Can you get the same life from an engine in a HLE, I had a friend go through 2 HLE cars both with engines that gave up around 70k... coinsidence perhaps?

[Russ]

Slightly off topic. I used to have a metro 1.3 HLE, when the engine was due for a rebuild i fitted a 1380 with an MG cam and a 32/34DMTL webber carb. The MPG was even better but the extra power/torque meant that E could be used a lot slower than with the standard engine but the high final drive rario gave it an indicated top speed over the 110mph on the clock (which I found out on my private test track I owned at the time )

[G51 NAV]

Can you get the same life from an engine in a HLE, I had a friend go through 2 HLE cars both with engines that gave up around 70k... coinsidence perhaps?

IIRC, the only difference is the camshaft and the gearbox so longevity should be no different. However, when we owned an HLE we found the wide ratios encouraged you to thrash it to make reasonable progress, compared to a normal 4-speed 1.3 which I always found to be very nippy from a standstill without having to rev its lobbox off. Maybe this has a negative effect in the long-term, all else being equal. But certainly our HLE was still in rude health at 50k+ and I believe it still is, well on its way to 60.

[Guest]

Fuel consumption all depends on the torque curve of an engine. Keeping the car as near to maximum torque revs is the way to good fuel consumption. Maximum torque is when the engine is making the most efficient use of the fuel supplied to it.

It sounds paradoxical and may not be the best way to drive around town. This is borne out by my modern car. A KIA Rio 1.5 Diesel. Maximum torque is 1900rpm. What speed am I doing then? 56mph. Coincidence? I don't think so.

Most petrol cars I have had recently I have found return far better fuel consumption on the motorway doing 70 to 80 mph cruising as they are sitting somewhere near their maximum torque output in top gear.

[ryncharlton]

as far as hle longivety mine has 154k on the clock and runs very smoothly , although im not sure what work has been done engine wise , the car is well known to the club so someone may know , beige - b58 ewp

thanks

[Miracle maestro]

I only checked the economy of our HLE (3+E) once and recorded 47MPG.
But that was general driving around the villages, no long cruises.

I found it was possible to drop into E under 40 providing the terrain was kind and you had no ambitions of rapid acceleration!

In open road situations when I was accelerating up to the national limit, I would select E at about 50MPH.

Around town it was necessary to regularly switch from 2/3 and 3/2 whereas in a car with conventional gearing it would have been possible to keep in third.