1.4TSI DSG Fuel consumption

[tomasis1]

To everybody that's reading this topic.

So now, after 5000+ kms driven in my still lovely (dare I say still new) Octavia 1.4TSI DSG, I may want to question its thirst for petrol. Could be my (or my wife's) driving style, but long-term MPG, mostly driven in the Fair City (of Dublin and its suburbs, and motorway as well), was during winter months: 28.2mpg (or 10 litres per 100km), and now has improved significantly (just joking) to 31.4 mpg (9 l/100km)!!!

Anybody with a similar experience?

I'm trying to drive it in a sensible and responsible manner (suffice to say, usually with two small kids at the back, and a vigilant wife in the passenger's seat), so: no hard acceleration, using engine to break, in one word: an EASY driving. But still, short-range driving: I never managed to get over 530 km on a full tank (e.g. 440 km driven and 90 km range displayed on Maxidot when orange low-fuel light goes on). DSG always in D position, and while it always keeps revs very low, in what they call economic range, my experience with high petrol consumption suggests otherwise.

Also, I quite don't understand why after a longish drive (when mpg stats on Maxidot should be settled and calibrated), when car is stationary for with engine idling (waiting for 2-5 minutes at a railway crossing) the AVERAGE consumption on maxidot is INCREASING. Immediate consumption in this situation is shown to be 0.7 l per hour, which is roughly 10-12 times less than what engine would be burning when driven for the same amount of time (i.e. 1 hour) at constant speed (e.g.100 kmh), in which case you would end up with roughly 7 liters per 100 kms per hour (I say YOU, because I personally would end up with 10 liters/100 kmh, sad face). So shouldn't the consumption be improving/dropping during this time when engine is running but idle?

Anyway, this topic was written just to:

1. moan about,

2. warn people intending to buy 1.4TSI DSG and believing manufacturer and salesmen it's higly economical to run,

3. get some advice on how to possibly improve mpg

4. have your pity.....

[eccleshill]

Great moan But look on the bright side - you live in Dublin

Couldn't get my head around your maths on idling fuel consumption - 0.7 litres per hour is nowhere near what you would use driving. At 60mph at 30mpg (for round numbers!) you are burning 2 GALLONS per hour = 9 litres per hour.

edit: just reread your post! The average will increase while you are sitting idling (by increase I assume you mean from, say 8 litres per 100km to 8.2 litres per 100km) because you are burning fuel but not moving. Imagine an extreme situation - if you fill up with fuel and drive 1km then sit with the engine idling for 3 days you will empty your tank and have a fuel consumption of 5,500 litres per 100km

That said your fuel consumption is poor! Knowing the congestion in Dublin I would guess you are stationary much longer "around town" than I am but my 1.8TSI DSG does low 30's around town and 40-42mpg out on the open road. I drive reasonably gently but can't resist the occasional (frequent!) foot to the floor acceleration in S mode. My worst ever consumption over a full tank was 30.5mpg (brim to brim, not maxidot) but that was in the depths of the big December freeze when the roads were gridlocked and every morning the engine was ticking over at least 10 minutes warming up while I scraped the windows and dug out the drive. Overall average is 35mpg on fuel data, 37.5 according to the maxidot.

[CEPi]

On my 1.8 TSi manual 4x4 Scout and quite heavy at 1645kg worst city driving i've done is 8.5 litres, and motorway is 6.5-7.2 litres over 120-160kmh.

There is something wrong here, as DSG isn't a much bigger fuel hog then manual.

Is maybe the 1.4 engine too small for this car? Even for a 1.2 TSi this is high.

[candyland]

My 1.4 DSG has done less than 2,000 miles to date and averaged 35-40 mpg measured brim to brim. Maxidot will read 30mpg on a short round town trip (three miles in traffic) and 48mpg on a longer run. Its actually very close to what I was getting in my previous car a 1.9TDI DSG, but the TSI a whole lot better to drive faster/quieter/less tax. Actually I was really dissapointed with the 1.9 TDI very noisy inside and sudden surges of power, I managed to get 50mpg on long runs a few times but had to drive at 50-60mph not motorway speeds.

Maxidot often records 40 mpg on shorter runs if there is no stop start in traffic and reflects brim to brim calculations fairly closely. My only 'issue' is a faint metallic/mechanical tinkling when I am moving off, the old car may have done this but the engine was so noisy I wouldn't have noticed it! I would be interested if you have noticed the same?

Overall I think the 1.4 TSI is brilliant.

[tomasis1]

Quote:

"My only 'issue' is a faint metallic/mechanical tinkling when I am moving off, the old car may have done this but the engine was so noisy I wouldn't have noticed it! I would be interested if you have noticed the same? "

I remember that sound pretty well, was present in my car well. The sound disappeared after certain mileage (can't recall when exactly, 3-4k kms?). And it's not that I started to ignore the noise, I actually listened to hear it the other day. Matter of history.