New Ford Mustang with 5.0 litre V8 WINS fuel economy award

The 2016 Ford Mustang with a proper 5.0 litre V8 engine may not be though the most fuel efficient car you could buy. But it’s just won the MPG Marathon.

Over the last decade, government policies on CO2 emissions has led to the demonisation of petrol engined cars as thirsty and inefficient, and the eulogising of diesel engines as the Holy Grail of clean air.

Thankfully, especially after the Volkswagen Dieselgate fiasco, more car owners are starting to realise what sensible people knew all along, that diesel cars emit less CO2 (but who cares?), but massively more of the really harmful stuff like NOx and particulates.

That realisation is starting to bring petrol engines back in to favour, although car buyers still think of petrol engines, especially big capacity V8 petrol engines, as hugely thirsty. But the don’t have to be.

Ford’s Mustang entry in to this year’s MPG Marathon, driven by Andrew Marriott and Andy Dawson over a 430 mile real world course, managed to return an impressive 36.6mpg, some 75% more than the 5.0 litre Mustang’s official combined economy, the biggest improvement on official economy recorded.

Kevin Griffin, Ford’s Sales Director, said:

Since right-hand drive Mustang arrived here at the beginning of the year, over 3,000 have been delivered to proud new owners – two thirds of them with 5.0-litre V8 engines.

They powered Mustang to the top of the sales charts as the UK’s top selling high performance sales car.  But a high power rating need not necessarily mean excessive fuel consumption – as this year’s MPG Marathon has demonstrated.

All of which proves that even a 5.0 litre V8 petrol can be driven economically.

Although if you’re managing to get 36.6mpg out of your 5.0 litre Mustang, you really shouldn’t have bought it in the first place.