Is A2 fuel efficiency really this bad?

I certainly had to try hard for that 52mpg. The FSI-based A2 shouldn't be considered if economy is of primary concern.
 
ULP said:
We had a 1.6FSI Sport on 17" wheels and it struggled to get more than 35mpg in normal driving (mixture of town, A-road and motorway), it also felt somewhat lacking under the bonnet. We had it serviced and they discovered the wrong spark plugs had been used and this made a difference to performance and economy but it was certainly more sprightly but still only got 38mpg. We could get 42-44mpg on a GPS 70mph cruise but no more than this.

I'm convinced either some people are a bit economical with their calculations or there are just some cars that don't do well on economy compared to seemingly similar cars. Replaced 3 coil packs in our ownership, always used Momentum 99 or V-Power, had the chocolate-fireguard inlet manifold rebuilt etc. etc.
Click to expand...

Interesting - due a service in soon so will check. What's the deal on the inlet?

As for economy, its not my primary concern but a relatively advanced manual gearboxed, 1600cc engine in a lightweight alloy chassis has got to be getting more than 26mpg in town and more than 35mpg on the highway or it can be considered a poor engine regardless of use.
 
Your consumption is perhaps a little high, but not by much given your motorway speeds. The 320d was probably able to get you such good economy even at high speed due to it having a diesel engine. Had you driven it at 60mph I'm sure it would have returned over 60mpg; after all, it's a modern, efficient BMW diesel.
Certainly give Chris' suggestion a go, but try restting DIS before you hit the motorway and then hold 60mph for half an hour or so. If the numbers are still pretty bad, then I'd start looking for problems.

I agree with you where the symphony unit is concerned; it's a little bulky looking, and the cassette player is useless for a majority of the population.

Tom
 
I lived in central London and my A2 has lived at Baker Street and inside the congestion charge zone for over 5 years. The original clutch was totally gone by 46k miles, this is an indication of the kind of stop/start London traffic I used to drive. My 1.4 on the lightweight factory SE 16" alloys with 185/50 Michelin or Dunlop rubber was doing about 30mpg on a bad day but normally looking at 33-5mpg around town. The FSI is meant to be more efficient but the extra weight counters it on stop/start, but even so, 26mpg is very low. I'd expect the FSI to beat my 1.4 on the motorway, I get 40-42mpg normal cruising at 75mph. 37-40mpg if I aim at 80mph, traffic permitting. FSI has even got a higher spoiler so I can't help to think there could be something not quite right about the car. I just don't know what it is, sticky handbrake?

Steering feel is typically Audi numb. The FSI gear change is feel-less and vague, my 1.4 is a lot better. As for ride, it is very poor we all know that. FSD cures the problem of crashing into bump stops and brings more stability. Ride quality is improved with more rubber since I have switched to 195/50/16. My 15" winter wheels brings even more comfort. I definitely won't consider 17" wheels unless I'm on a set of fully adjustable CO.
 
Heres a thought, what about a set of 15's with rim protectors (spartan or rimskins come to mind) they make the wheel look quite a bit bigger and protect the rim from light kerbing. Also available in a range of colours including silver. Apparently easy to fit and very effective. I dont think 16's will make much difference but 15's will for sure. I had use of a standard 1.4 petrol car on 15's while some work was done on my first Tdi SE and was amazed at the difference, Its what decided me to get my petrol some 8 years on. See if you can try one on the smaller wheels before you spend out. Cheers Colin
 
I run an fsi as my Dailey driver with heavy QT alloys(215/40/17) I see a decrease in consumption of 4-5 mpg by changing to 15" pepper pot alloys and winter tyres(205/55/15). Ride is more plush even in my koni fsd set up--BUT I wouldn't want to run the 15's all year as I would miss the sharp handling.
As for my mpg I get week in week out 46-48. That's with 12 miles of 70+ a road the rest is country lane. As others have stated my car is light ie no opensky no leather no climate. BUT IT CARRIES ME so I think that balances that out lol. As for errors in calculations 410-425 miles per tank 40 litres to fill up---46.5 mpg - 48mpg I have had up to 53mpg av over a tank but that just gets zzzzzz
I can see that totally town driving will kill economy but your figure does seem low. The fsi engine can feel "odd" due to the engine mapping and the switch point at 2800 rpm. As others have said get new plugs/air filter/fuel filter and see if that helps.
Cheers mike
 
Well, I've been using the A2 (2002 TDI, 53K on the clock) a lot more than usual as SWMBO is away in the family car.

Our normal usage is strictly urban and whilst I've never done a brim to brim check in the 6 and a half years I've had it I'd normally observe that we were getting 10 miles per litre or 45mpg. OK for a car that has many journeys less than 3 miles or so.

Having done 350 miles this week, mainly motorways, some M25 jams and a bit of local work, it's done a true 58 mpg. And I've not been trying for economy - 85-90 ish on the motorway where possible, air con on all the time and the OSS open on the A roads.

Given my driving style, I'm well happy. Could definitely crack 60mpg in the future.
 
Oh dear my fuel economy isn't good. Have kept a record over the past 10 tanks and am doing only 7.5 miles per litre.

So that is with a similar driving pattern over two months, air con at all times, motorway trips of around 30 miles but otherwise town driving and on 17" tyres. Will sign up to the Fuelly website to look more accurately if that's not too depressing in my case.

Still love the car despite this and its bumpy ride!

Hilary
 
Just been to scotland 65 - 70 mph most of the time, about 3hrs in traffic jams 63.8 mpg there and back, 54mpg running around everywhere during the week. 2001 TDI with the air con on
 
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This is quite an interesting post. Now I run a 53 plate 1.6 FSI Colourstorm with 17" wheels. Not too sure what tyre sizes I have but I think I get much better MPG. Admittedly I mostly do motorway driving but I get about 350 to 370 out of a tank of fuel which is about 40 litres. My other car has a 2.8 v6 vag engine...so I don't hang around. One thing I will say is that my A2 is raspy. It sounds like a diesel when it initially starts and then settles down to this raspy note. If I accelerate hard or hit 3.5-4k rpm it gets even more raspy. I just put it down to the design of the engine. I run my car on MOMENTUM99 and occasionally 95 RON Esso when I get caught short (It seems be less raspy on the Esso but both my power and fuel economy goes down.)

As for the wheel sizes I have just gone up from some diamond cut/polished 15" (which had corroded horribly) wheels to some 17" wheels not only to they look good but I have not noticed any significant deterioration in ride. One thing that does irritate me with the ride of the car is that my suspension seems to crash on the front passenger side if I corner around a roundabbout too sharp or if I go over a large pothole. I have had it checked by 2 garages now. (I think I am going to have to put it down to being a FAT bloke too much aggression in a small car)
 
humps said:
I lived in central London and my A2 has lived at Baker Street and inside the congestion charge zone for over 5 years. The original clutch was totally gone by 46k miles, this is an indication of the kind of stop/start London traffic I used to drive. My 1.4 on the lightweight factory SE 16" alloys with 185/50 Michelin or Dunlop rubber was doing about 30mpg on a bad day but normally looking at 33-5mpg around town. The FSI is meant to be more efficient but the extra weight counters it on stop/start, but even so, 26mpg is very low. I'd expect the FSI to beat my 1.4 on the motorway, I get 40-42mpg normal cruising at 75mph. 37-40mpg if I aim at 80mph, traffic permitting. FSI has even got a higher spoiler so I can't help to think there could be something not quite right about the car. I just don't know what it is, sticky handbrake?

Steering feel is typically Audi numb. The FSI gear change is feel-less and vague, my 1.4 is a lot better. As for ride, it is very poor we all know that. FSD cures the problem of crashing into bump stops and brings more stability. Ride quality is improved with more rubber since I have switched to 195/50/16. My 15" winter wheels brings even more comfort. I definitely won't consider 17" wheels unless I'm on a set of fully adjustable CO.
Click to expand...

If those are the figures for a 1.4 then a 1.6 driven 'spiritedly' even in town (I like to hang on to lower gears a bit to have power) means my MPG is about right and its not an engine fault but as I suspect - just not that great an engine.
 
One thing I will say is that my A2 is raspy. It sounds like a diesel when it initially starts and then settles down to this raspy note. If I accelerate hard or hit 3.5-4k rpm it gets even more raspy. I just put it down to the design of the engine. I run my car on MOMENTUM99 and occasionally 95 RON Esso when I get caught short (It seems be less raspy on the Esso but both my power and fuel economy goes down.)

Exactly this!
 
Just re-visiting this thread as my fuel economy is now only 300 miles to a tank (a 42 litre tank unfortunately).

No significant changes to my journey pattern in the past six months except for a cold Yorkshire winter.

Does anyone have suggestions for a possible problem?

I'm actually thinking about changing to a diesel A2 but it would be a shame to change a car I've owned from new and with mileage of only 70,000.

Any comments?

Regards

Hilary
 
Hi Hilary i have seen a drop in my fsi but i feel its due to the really cold weather. I'm getting only about 350 per tank where in the summer its 400+. Bring on the summer i say. see you soon mike and yvonne
 
I'd say that 95% of my driving is in central London, so start/stop, crashing ride over the bumps and hundreds of potholes...and around 200m/tank.
 
2004 1.6 fsi SE Colour Storm. Runs on BP Utimate 98 ron. I always zero the trip meter when I fill the car (old habit from the days of owning an old metro with a dodgy fuel gauge). I can guarantee the low fuel warning will beep/illuminate when I hit 400miles (+/- 10 miles either way max), has done every time for the past 6 years. I understand from the handbook that there are about 8 litres left in the tank when that happens - so that's approx 50mpg every tank.

90% of time only myself in the car, 80% open road and highway driving (with 100kmh/63mph speed limits here in NZ), virtually never sat in slow/stationary traffic, rarely use the air-con.
 
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