Hello

I have a Skoda Fabia (2001) Estate 1.4 and I'm getting some pretty poor mileage on it. £10 will get me 70 miles tops which works out at about 28-30mpg.

Am I right in thinking this is poor for this model? What am I supposed to get? (the trip mpg calculator is useless btw)

I have 17" tires on it... would that make a noticeable difference?

What else could help my MPG?

Depends upon the type of driving a fair bit.

My old 1.4 (16v) estate would get around 30mpg around town, or about 40-45 on a run and an average of ~40 over a tank full. That was on 14inch alloys with (I think) 185/65 tyres on it.

Is yours an 8v or 16v? 16v's have rear disk brakes, 8v's drums. The 8v's are meant to be worse mpg, but never owned one so can't comment.

17 inch wheels, there's your problem. Gearing goes all to hell.

Depends upon the type of driving a fair bit.

My old 1.4 (16v) estate would get around 30mpg around town, or about 40-45 on a run and an average of ~40 over a tank full. That was on 14inch alloys with (I think) 185/65 tyres on it.

Is yours an 8v or 16v? 16v's have rear disk brakes, 8v's drums. The 8v's are meant to be worse mpg, but never owned one so can't comment.

8v . What do you mean by 'on a run' ... as in a school run?

17 inch wheels, there's your problem. Gearing goes all to hell.

Yeah figures.. will any set of VW steelies fit?

edit: Just double checked.. they're 15", not as big as I thought.

Edited 28 September, 201015 yr by woof

On a run - I meant stuff like constant/near constant speeds such as A roads where it's at 55-60mph pretty much constantly or motorway cruising. (I used it to go to/from university - about 5 miles of town driving max and 15 on A roads. Aylesbury -> Oxford if you know it.)

Hello

I have a Skoda Fabia (2001) Estate 1.4 and I'm getting some pretty poor mileage on it. £10 will get me 70 miles tops which works out at about 28-30mpg.

Am I right in thinking this is poor for this model? What am I supposed to get? (the trip mpg calculator is useless btw)

I have 17" tires on it... would that make a noticeable difference?

What else could help my MPG?

Have you checked your tyre pressures? sorry to try to sound like i'm teaching you to suck eggs but it should be checked when cold and use at least two guages to be absolutely sure one isn't up the spout.

If you want to help your economy i'd suggest changing your air filter every 3 months to start with and try filling up with a better grade of fuel if not already.

As the weather gets colder you will see a worsening mpg

Edited 28 September, 201015 yr by newskoda

On a run - I meant stuff like constant/near constant speeds such as A roads where it's at 55-60mph pretty much constantly or motorway cruising. (I used it to go to/from university - about 5 miles of town driving max and 15 on A roads. Aylesbury -> Oxford if you know it.)

Ah yes. I do seem to get higher MPG on fast roads (especially the motorway).. but unfortunately there's a lot of bends around where I live.

Have you checked your tyre pressures? sorry to try to sound like i'm teaching you to suck eggs but it should be checked when cold and use at least two guages to be absolutely sure one isn't up the spout.

If you want to help your economy i'd suggest changing your air filter every 3 months to start with and try filling up with a better grade of fuel if not already.

As the weather gets colder you will see a worsening mpg

I do check them now and then, they never seem to go down. However, I'm not 100% sure on the PSI to use. The last owner told me 30psi all round, but I'm not convinced...

Ah yes. I do seem to get higher MPG on fast roads (especially the motorway).. but unfortunately there's a lot of bends around where I live.

I do check them now and then, they never seem to go down. However, I'm not 100% sure on the PSI to use. The last owner told me 30psi all round, but I'm not convinced...

go by what is in the manual or should be on inside of fuel cap. 30psi all around is sounds OK in general. You could try putting them upto 32psi especially as the weather starts getting a bit colder.

from previous experience of driving petrol cars, your mpg is normal especially with 17's on.

go by what is in the manual or should be on inside of fuel cap. 30psi all around is sounds OK in general. You could try putting them upto 32psi especially as the weather starts getting a bit colder.

Just as a note, if the sticker on the fuel cap is missing/rendered unreadable, it can be ordered for less than £1

Fuel cap tells you tyre pressures in Bar, you can search the net for a Bar -> psi conversion. Hatch is 32 front 29 rear, estate may be different. And if you have 17" wheels they probably need to be higher than standard pressures.

The 1.4mpi in general is a poor engine in terms of MPG (see below), and this is reflected in the tax band too. At the small petrol end of Fabia's I would say the best option is probably the 1.2htp.

As above best thing to do to improve MPG is keep it well serviced, cleaning the throttle body may help a little, and I think the biggest thing on the 1.4mpi is that you stick to about 65mph indicated on the dash (60mph in reality) which gives a big improvement, keep it at 80mph and you'll see a big hit. Also be aware that thermostat and temp sender problems are common. Often the clips break inside the thermostat. If the car takes a while to warm up, or in normal driving the temp gauge sometimes goes down, you may benefit from a new thermostat. There is a redesigned thermostat available from Jorily which avoids the clip breaking issue.

Edited 29 September, 201015 yr by anewman