I saw that it was a nice evening, and having just given the car a mild clean and refreshed all the black bits (Autoglym Bumper Restorer is godlike stuff) decided to stop off at the local industrial estate and take a few shots Unfortunately I forgot my tripod so they're noisier than I'd like, but enjoy anyway

Car : Octavia Mk1 RS 2003/52

Mods: None whatsoever, unless you count grippier Ferodo pads on the front

Paint: Very badly stonechipped Corrida Red, which must be as soft as dairylea from the factory

MPG: Rubbish, frankly, and I have no idea why. Still worth it though

Tidy! What MPG are getting to call it terrible?

If I'm lucky I'll get 29 on a motorway run, and around town in Leicester's famous stop-start morning traffic it's not uncommon to return 19. Typical day to day urban stuff pulls about 24-25 with a careful right foot. Strangely enough it always seems to return a couple of MPG more with the occasional boot

It went through a main dealer's diagnostics at the last service with me asking them to take a close look at the things that might cause those sort of figures, but they came back with nothing. It runs perfectly well though so I don't think there's anything major going on, but it'd be nice to squeeze a few extra miles out Running it on super seems to make no difference other than a smoother idle.

Hmm that does sound low - I get 40mpg on a long run and have averaged about 30-31 overall since new - even with a remap.

It's odd isn't it? It's absolutely consistent too and, barring incident, I can predict almost exactly what the readout will say by the end of a known journey. I can't think of much that would cause that sort of MPG that wouldn't show up on the diagnostics. My initial thought was that the first lambda sensor might be working fine but biased wrongly because I know the previous owner had it replaced with a third party one, and the guy who did the work said he wasn't sure about the quality of the part. I'd hope that Skoda would have looked at the operating ranges when I asked them to give it the once over though.

It might be worth your while getting your car onto a rolling road and have the O2 level checked in your exhaust gas over the rev range to see if it is fuelling correctly. You ought to be getting another 10mpg out of it so a proper look by a specialist should quickly pay for itself. My Octy with big injectors and big turbo will return 30mpg+ if not driven too spiritedly.

Like the photos with the orange sky!

If I'm lucky I'll get 29 on a motorway run, and around town in Leicester's famous stop-start morning traffic it's not uncommon to return 19. Typical day to day urban stuff pulls about 24-25 with a careful right foot.

Thats sound normal for me lol

What speed do do on the mway, too get 40 mpg you need too be creeping along at 70 really and for a long time.

a proper look by a specialist should quickly pay for itself.

Not a bad idea, that - what sort of place is likely to be able to do that well, and for what kind of price? I take it a normal gas analysis wouldn't do the same trick?

Like the photos with the orange sky!

Cheers It actually wasn't as orange as I wanted when I arrived because the clouds had shifted so there's a fair bit of photoshoppery going on there Still, it's the result that matters

What speed do do on the mway,

I'll get close on 30 if I sit at 70 for about an hour without any major changes. On a run that's mostly 60, eg. between Leicester and Nottingham, I'll get about 28 if the traffic at each end is clear. It seems that it hits that sort of limit and then won't go any further, and it has to be said that I don't have a particularly heavy right boot unless I'm in the mood

Nice looking car dude. Don't worry about the fuel consumption - just enjoy it while petrol is still (fairly) cheap...

and just think...if you drove a hummer you'd be chuffed to bits with 19mpg!!