When the cars consumed even less in everyday use than in the brochure
A few decades ago, car manufacturers still published so-called DIN consumption values for speeds of 90 and 120 km/h and in city traffic. These values were apparently measured without much trickery and were hardly ever embellished. According to the DIN standard, a Ford Granada 2.3in 1980 consumed 13.7 liters in the city and 8.6 and 11.0 liters at 90 and 120 km/h respectively. This resulted in an average of 11.1 liters per 100 km.
When the ADAC tested this car, the testers arrived at an average consumption of 10.6 liters per 100 km. Nowadays, modern cars can achieve 20 to 50 percent more!
However, not everyone drove as economically as the ADAC. In 1977, Automobil Revue took a somewhat sportier approach and achieved an average consumption of 13.7 liters per 100 km. At a constant 120 km/h, by the way, 10.7 liters ran through the carburetor, at 90 km/h about 8.3 liters.
The rule of thumb at the time was that a car in the test would consume just under the city driving value. As a normal consumer, however, you could easily get below the DIN average. Yes, that's how it was back then.
