Winter Fuel Economy

A

Adrenaline

Member
What kind of mileages you guys getting from your Tdi and petrols?

I have a 2001 Tdi i usually get around 44mpg which is not brilliant
but in winter with the cold starts and short trips i've been getting
35mpg this is worked out by filling to the brim.
 
Ive been getting between 42 and 50 so not sure if this 60 to 70 will ever happen.
Not too fussed though as im still saving money on fuel.

Cheers david
 
I am getting 45 MPG for Winter Urban; 50 MPG for Summer Urban and 60+ MPG for Summer A-Road trips. I am no slowcoach and most of my journeys are short urban trips with a cold engine.

You are right, your 35 MPG is not great. Firstly I suggest checking that your wheels can spin freely, to ensure that there is not a brake dragging or a defunct wheel bearing. The second (easy) things to do is to ensure your tyres are fully pumped up to reduce rolling resistance; run your A/C on economy as much as possible to reduce electrical load (putting it on full auto from time to time to lubricate the seals); and keeping your engine freshly serviced to reduce frictional losses. The third (harder) thing to change is driving style which also makes a significant difference in getting better MPG. See the link below for tips. One of the easier tips to learn is too take your foot off the accelerator whilst in gear when approaching a delay ahead - you will be getting 'infinite' MPG due to the engine being in fuel cut mode and this also works going downhill. A hyper-miler motto is that when we brake, we are wasting energy...:)

http://www.dft.gov.uk/ActOnCO2/index.php?q=tips_and_advice
 
too early for me to say what my 1.4 petrol is doing around town, but we just did a 250 mile motorway trip 4 up and averaged 50 mpg at 70/80mph.
 
Adrenaline said:
What kind of mileages you guys getting from your Tdi and petrols?

I have a 2001 Tdi i usually get around 44mpg which is not brilliant
but in winter with the cold starts and short trips i've been getting
35mpg this is worked out by filling to the brim.
Click to expand...

Hi Adrenaline,

A number of us have been keeping a log of our fuel consumption. Have a look at this thread:

http://www.a2oc.net/forum/showthread.php?t=4841

Cold starts and short journeys do not produce great MPG, even with diesels. I have seen less than 30 MPG for a three mile journey that I regularly do. 15 sets of traffic lights, which I do not always get through first time, do not help.

John.
 
Hi Adrenaline

Agreed your mpg doesn't seem great but are you doing most urban trips.

See this forum thread on the subject of summer/winter fuel consumption differences. Example data there suggests the difference is 3 mpg (from a number of factors including headlights).

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=i&t=20656

See my own fuel log (link below) doesn't seem to vary that much in summer/winter. I tend to do long A road trips.
 
i've tried the gentle driving style too but doesnt seem to affect the economy a great deal..last night i did 180 miles mostly motorway average speed 70-80 and i averaged around 48 mpg.

i last serviced my car 20,000 miles but im on the long life service

i dont use the econ mode on my climate control as i got told my
AC may stop working if you drive alot in econ mode
 
Our 2001 1.4TDI does mostly urban journeys of around 12 miles twice a day and averages 55mpg at the moment. We haven't had it long enough to see what the summer figure would be. It has the auxilliary heater (diesel version) which will use fuel on cold mornings but I guess this will be offset in summer by use of the climate control. Perhaps highest mileage therefore will be spring and autumn?

My Passat (1.9TDI) doesn't vary greatly through the year (it has climate but no aux heater) but does longer journeys and usually returns 54 to 55mpg though at the moment it has done 58mpg over the last 1,000 miles. I do notice that the consumption drops by 3 or 4 mpg immediately following a service. It picks up again within about 500 miles. I don't know whether this is because of the oil change or brake pads being disturbed. The final factor I've noticed is that it is about 4mpg better now (190,000 on the clock) than it was 80,000 miles ago.
 
I never get less than 50 mixed driving with a daily 30 mile commute. 2004 A2 returns 60+ all year round and 65+ on a motorway run at 70mph.

If you drive 80+ (In France or course) consumption drops below 50.

You need to get in top gear as soon as you can - i.e 35+ I can be in 5th a tootle along no problem.
 
Adrenaline said:
is there any kind of tuning that can be done to the A2 as i feel i never get the mileage i should be getting
Click to expand...

Hi Adrenaline,

What sort of MPG had you thought you should be getting?

I do not think that there are any devices out there that will magically improve MPG. Your driving style can have a big influence, but on short journeys you will not get much opportunity to cruise along in 5th gear at 1400 RPM, which can dramatically boost average MPG.

The best that you can do is change gear at 2000 RPM, never accelerate hard and try to maintain momentum once you have built it up. There is not a lot you can do if you have to keep stopping for traffic lights or congestion. I do not turn off my engine when stopped at lights, as I do not think it is good for the engine or battery to keep stopping and starting a cold engine.

John.
 
Well, my A2 doesn't seem to like too low revs in 5th. I can sense the engine struggling so I normally keep the revs at 1800 or above in 5th.
It's not a V8 you know :)


Poor_John said:
Hi Adrenaline,

What sort of MPG had you thought you should be getting?

I do not think that there are any devices out there that will magically improve MPG. Your driving style can have a big influence, but on short journeys you will not get much opportunity to cruise along in 5th gear at 1400 RPM, which can dramatically boost average MPG.

The best that you can do is change gear at 2000 RPM, never accelerate hard and try to maintain momentum once you have built it up. There is not a lot you can do if you have to keep stopping for traffic lights or congestion. I do not turn off my engine when stopped at lights, as I do not think it is good for the engine or battery to keep stopping and starting a cold engine.

John.
Click to expand...
 
Xiter said:
It's not a V8 you know :)
Click to expand...

It may not be a V8, but it is a diesel! I agree with you that you can have too few revs and when I wrote about doing 1400 RPM in 5th it was in the context of economy and therefore would only be used with a very light touch on the accelerator peddle. If the road was hilly then I would up the revs to 1600 to 1800. Maximum torque is available at only 2200 rpm

I had a look to see what the owners manual says about how to improve economy. On page 143 it states "you should not drive more than one car's length in first gear. Then change up to the higher gears at about 2000 rpm".

Does your 2005 A2 differ from my 2001 A2 in the type of turbocharger fitted. Is yours variable geometry?

I also had a look at what VW are doing with their Bluemotion range to help economy. Here is what I found:

The engine is Volkswagen's usual three-cylinder, 1.4 litre, 80bhp unit, but fitted with a variable geometry turbocharger to improve the engine's response from low speeds. Maximum torque of 144lb ft arrives at only 1,800rpm. The gearbox has longer-legged gearing, at 70mph the engine is spinning at just over 2,000rpm. The other changes are to the body and the wheels. The nose is redesigned and there's a drag-reducing lip above the rear window. The result is less aerodynamic drag, and the low rolling-resistance tyres on light, skeletal wheels help further to reduce the energy needed to pull the Polo along.

The only change that Adrenaline could reasonably make, based on the above, is change his tyres to a low rolling resistance type.

John.
 
it has to be down to driving style and journeys
i don't drive like a nun and both my A2s TDis return over 55mpg in winter and over 60 in summer
my journeys are invariably country lanes and a roads
Glen
 
R Plates

The only time I have got more than 60 MPG is when travelling in a two car convoy, with another car whose driver has to display R plates. When drivers pass their test here in Northern Ireland they have to display plates similar to a learner plate, but with an R instead of an L and they are not permitted to exceed 45 miles an hour. If you are going on a long journey it drives you nuts as it can turn a two hour journey into a three hour journey.

For motorway driving the A2 needs a sixth gear or a much taller 5th gear. I wonder who is going to be the first to replicate / transplant a Bluemotion gearbox into their A2? Would it go well with a Stealth modified engine or would it be just like having a gearbox with 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th?

John.
 
What do people think of cruise control in terms of fuel efficiency.

The majority of my mileage is on the M1 / A1 from Dublin to Belfast and back.

I believe that with cruise on, where I would ordinarily take my foot off the pedal, lose speed and then have to accelerate back to the speed I had intended that I save fuel by staying on cruise as that speed I have built up is not lost and more fuel has to be used to bring you back up again.

I could be wrong though as cruise seems to bring you up to speed as quick as possible rather than easing you up there.

Any thoughts?
 
Smick, anecdotal evidence from the Honda Insight website I frequent is that cruise control does have a negative effect on MPG numbers. However it is only a limited amount (@ 2 MPG) - and that is assuming that the 'replacement' driver has a relatively sensitive right foot (such as lifting off the accelerator on sight of a delay ahead - see my previous post). As you suggest, cruise control will not be able to take into account descents & inclines in the road ahead.

If you find cruise control useful then don't let this put you off using it. Lowering your cruising speed will have a much greater impact on your MPG (not that I practice what I preach :)).
 
Mpg

Hi

First Post and new to the A2 world, would be lost regarding the A2 if it wasnt for these forums!!

I have a A2 1.4TDI Sport on an 03 plate

Have got the same issue as adrenaline, but have noticed that the MPG has incrreased from average 45MPG to 52MPG during the last week or so.

Two things have changed- One is the driving style, changing gear early short shifting ( quite difficult to do as my other car is a Leon MArk II TDI.)

Secondly the ambient outside temperature has increase from around 5C to around 12-13.5C as per the DIS. The car defintelty feels a lot smoother and power delivery is a lot more smoother. Engine too is a lot quieter. I am getting the car checked hopefully on Monday to isolate any teething problems from an independant just to check if something is on the way out, BUT outside factors such as driving style/ temperature will have a hugh impact on the final MPG figure.

I think this is the only option if you arn't experiencing any major problems as this would be highlighted in the DIS. performance drops in MPG can only be picked up by isolating each factor and/or getting the VAG COM to give raw data.


As one mechanic pointed out to to me, 'you would need to be constantly thinking of getting 65MPG when you are drving the car in order to get something in that region' Hmmmn
 
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