LETTERS to Fleet News’ editor Martyn Moore.

Annoyed by wild fuel consumption claims

SIR – I’ve just read Kate Batchelor’s comments about the Peugeot 307SW 2.0HDi SE fuel consumption (long term road tests, Fleet News, March 1), which are very interesting to me because in the past I’ve sent emails of protest to your testers who kept claiming miles per gallon figures of 50+.

I’ve owned diesel Peugeot 305, 405, Toyota Avensis and Renault Laguna and driven them all fast and hard, but never averaged less than 43mpg with all of them curiously.

Now retired – and with no pressure to push on – I too found initially I got 37mpg from this car. I then started driving it really carefully i.e. in neutral wherever possible and with rear seats removed to save weight and last summer managed 45mpg quite often and 49mpg once. I defy anyone to achieve 50mpg plus in normal mixed driving conditions. With 32,000 miles on the clock, I know it is not possible.

The dealer has also checked the car over incidentally and found nothing abnormal. One thing that no-one ever mentions about this car (52 plate) is the whining noise it makes from the gearbox on over-run in second and third between 20-30 mph.

It can become really annoying in hilly areas like the Lake District. The dealer tells me he gets a lot of comments about it from customers and he has demonstrated to me that the intensity of it varies from car to car. Other than that, the car is good.

Thank you for your honest comments.

Stanley Rooney
Via email

No chance of a fair toll charge

Sir – My jaw dropped as I read that less than 50% of people in a poll favoured road pricing because they don’t trust the Government to run such a scheme fairly. What reason could people possibly have not to trust this Government? I almost kept a straight face there.

While I am not against the concept of the proposal – charging people based on their usage rather than having a one-size-fits/robs-all approach – I too find it hard to believe that this would be implemented fairly, or even successfully, thinking back to other ingenious Government schemes that have failed in the past few years.

But as with every other Government initiative in recent years that the public has unanimously disliked, I expect the system will be introduced and we will all end up just a little bit poorer.

Lee Baker, Faccenda

OK for drug drivers?

Sir – The MotorInsurance.co.uk survey states that 18% of drivers admitted to driving under the influence of drugs. RoSPA’s numbers say that 18% of road deaths are drug-related. Surely the statistical implication, therefore, is that drug-drivers are no more at risk of dying in a road accident than the general population.

Steve Bowen
Materials manager, Ruskin Air Management