mpg, does it get any better

[lol-lol]

Friends,

how many of us can truly afford to fill up the tank these days?

At my local petrol station, I used to smile to myself when some people would only buy £10 or £20 worth of fuel.

Nowadays I'm doing exactly the same thing!! In any case why waste money filling your tank, when say, half a tank will do? I am of course speaking about local driving. Think about all the extra weight you're carrying. While I was motorhoming, I would drive between campsites, with my water tanks empty!!

When I go on a long run, then of course I shall fill my tank.

Frank.

When filling up my private cars I always try and work out how much fuel I think I will need to get me to the next credit card period becuase I think petrol is partially prices with an uplift for the credit card charge ie 1.5% or so. Also it is important I feel to use a credit card which gives cash back so I use Tesco Finest card or Am EX Blue which gives 1.25% cash back. So by doing these things I can get about £250 back per year if 40-55 days credit ie £20 cash back each month.

Also Tom Tom live helps with eco routes and cheap petrol sites.

But it is company car fuel cards that is the best way to avoid the high petrol prices, worthy its weight in platinum.

Edited 22 May, 2011 by lol

[mrhankey]

just to give an update i got 40 mpg on the trip coming up the road from newcastle last weekend. full car of luggage, me the missus and little one.

was sitting at just under 60 coming up coast in cruise.

quite good.

oh and thanks for all the replies even the ones that went in a bit too much depth

[chrispy 2]

lol, has your head not exploded with constantly trying to work out the cheapest way to do things. I like to know thr cost of stuff be you can take it to far. Do you have your boiler set at 50 degrees for your hot water. Because hotter than this you need to add cold to bath in it. Can you see how very boring life can be. Just enjoy your nice cars. Jump in put on the air con fire up the octy and go for a good thrashing with some of your favourite tunes on and see what the lowest mpg is that you can do. This will put a massive smile on your face. You only live once enjoy it...

[TsvRS]

At what point does this thread gain legendary status?

The likes of Plato Vs stalker!

Whether mpg does or does not get better I dont know but there is still lots of mileage left in this thread.

I got over 43 mpg brim to brim (twice) doing steady 60 mph on long trips. I guess a 39 mph "cruise" would do better still but one has a life to lead.

0-60 in c.7 seconds, 145+ mph top speed - the vRS is not one's first choice as an economic runabout but it washes its face pretty well on all counts.

[TsvRS]

Offical extra urban figure is at an average speed of 39mph I believe to put things in perspective.

I think that is true also but the whole test cycle from cold start to completing the extra-urban test covers the equivalent of only 11km. If I drive sedately then the engine is barely up to full working temperature in that time and certainly on a long trip and at a steady speed the consumption 1 figure does get better and better. This thread gets worse and worse of course . . .

[shane_saintsfc]

Im lucky to get over 30 MPG. You lot must drive like grandads

[lol-lol]

I'm back.

Seems like mpg does get better, at least on the computer. Took the 1.8 TSI DSG to London yesterday, filled up at Tescos Perivale for 132p/litre and, wait for it, 54 mpg on the computer, range on the computer after doing 120 miles, 555 miles. Yes it was mainly at 55 mph, was knackered after the long day so just sat there in the slow lane with the lorries.

Yes it probably only was 50 mpg ish in reality with the over reading but still pleased with that.

Fuel cards, really hydrocarbon cards as I put oil on there as well as petrol. Like to stick one or 2 one litre of oil on the "fuel" card just so I always have some to hand as there seems to be shortages of it sometimes. When buying fuel for company car I try to use Tescos so I get the points. When buying private fuel use AM EX card which gets 1.25% cashback (after first £7K in a year) but also get the points, double bubble.

Form 87 from HMRC you put fuel on it ie £11K a year say and then the works miles say 36,000 BIK ie £10,500 taken off so tax code only shifts 50 points ie next to no tax hit. Fuel figures will come from my HR dept so should know their figures soon, including the oil costs.

Need new tyres soon so perhaps fuel consumption will get worse as new tyres will have greater circumference so probably lose an mpg or 2 on the computer.

Happy motoring.

[chrispy 2]

Oh forgot to say got new Tsi yesterday first journey on a mix of roads A's B's and motorway 35mpg over 65 miles looks good to me

[BigW]

Ok, I have just pruned 131 posts out of 189, I should have just closed the bleeding thing, however there was some good discussion at the start.

This thread is NOT about vRS vs this that or the next thing, it is NOT about Petrol vs Diesel and it is not about HMRC issues, the OT and chit chat is the place for talking about everything else.

This thread covers what is stated in the title, please keep it to that!

If your post has been deleted and you feel hard done by, my apologies, it may not have been suitable or OT, or it may have got caught up in the crossfire, but thats the way it is, so lets move onwards with the thread in hand.

[juan27]

I've filled up a few times over the last couple of weeks and it's cost almost £70 and I just think **** me that's expensive

Me too! (I bet that surprised you!)

Me saying economy is not my top priority is not the same as saying I'm not concerned about the price of fuel

(ie If I said boot space is not my top priority it doesn't not mean I'd buy a Smart Car to cart stuff back from Ikea!)

[juan27]

I feel as though half my life has been deleted....

40mpg is about as good as it gets...maybe 43 if you drive very very gently. End of story I think

Edited 5 June, 2011 by juan27

[frankman]

Hello Friends,

have had my Octavia just over 3 weeks now. I'm still not quite sure how the trip computer works, I need to study the handbook a bit more!

THis morning I took my car to the dealer to have the rear sensors fitted. I drove at approximately 55mph, with trip being less than 7 miles. By the time I reached the dealer, my computer said I achieved 46.5mpg - and I'm happy about that. My Doblo 1.9JTD does between 50-53mpg, by driving at a similar speed, or keeping the rev counter at 2000 revs or just under.

Next week I take a trip to Newport Gwent, to help my son, ferry 9 people home for his wedding. So on the return journey home, my car will be full, with a bootful of luggage. At least it will be more comfortable than the Doblo, which I still love by the way! Put diesel in it this morning, to discover another damn scratch near the filler cap!!! :wonder:

Frank.

[prolfe]

******* h*ll I feel as though half my life has been deleted....

40mpg is about as good as it gets...maybe 43 if you drive very very gently. End of story I think

That's a few hours I'm never getting back!!!!

40mpg is about right, or get a CR and boot it as much as you want and still get 40mpg.

[chrispy 2]

That's a few hours I'm never getting back!!!

40mpg is about right, or get a CR and boot it as much as you want and still get 40mpg.

Wheres the last 2 days gone? Its like it never happen lets hope everybodys memorys have been wiped just the same.

Anyway will the mpg improve by using 98 ron? Obviously the cost will be higher but does it balance out against economy?

But more importantly WHERES LOL? I think i'll pm him to come back with photographic evidence and to give him some gentle ribbing..

[lol-lol]

Wheres the last 2 days gone? Its like it never happen lets hope everybodys memorys have been wiped just the same.

Anyway will the mpg improve by using 98 ron? Obviously the cost will be higher but does it balance out against economy?

But more importantly WHERES LOL? I think i'll pm him to come back with photographic evidence and to give him some gentle ribbing..

98 Ron fuel is no advantage in the EA888 engine that is the TSI VRS or 1.8 TSI, simply does not need the higher octane, in fact it will run on 91 octane with only a slight loss in power. Different for 1.4 twin charge 135 Kw engine which is designed for 98 octane and for Mk 1 VRS engine which again runs a bit better on 98-99 octane. When the price difference was only 2 or 3p we felt it was worth it when SWBMO and I ran our (yellow) Mk 1 VRS and SEAT Cupra together ie Cupra did about 33 mpg and Mk VRS did about 36 mpg, odd since they had the same 135 kw engine and SEAT had 6 gears against Skoda's 5. Skoda was more aerodynamic of course.

Have some pcitures but do not know how to post and I thought you needed to be a freedom member. SWMBO is a freedom member but does not want to get involved for some reason.

[TsvRS]

Hmmm.

I thought based on entirely unscientific and largely, ok entirely, opinion-based research:

BP Ultimate 97 (my local filling station) gives better economy than its own 95

Shell V-Power 98 gives slightly better power and definitely better response and economy than BP 97 - this is my preferred fuel but I have been using . . .

Tesco Momentum 99 which seems to do same as Shell but over a long term economy suffers and becomes worse than any of the above.

I can't prove any of the above but I do watch my consumption quite carefully on exactly the same long trips month in month out.

[chrispy 2]

98 Ron fuel is no advantage in the EA888 engine that is the TSI VRS or 1.8 TSI, simply does not need the higher octane, in fact it will run on 91 octane with only a slight loss in power. Different for 1.4 twin charge 135 Kw engine which is designed for 98 octane and for Mk 1 VRS engine which again runs a bit better on 98-99 octane. When the price difference was only 2 or 3p we felt it was worth it when SWBMO and I ran our (yellow) Mk 1 VRS and SEAT Cupra together ie Cupra did about 33 mpg and Mk VRS did about 36 mpg, odd since they had the same 135 kw engine and SEAT had 6 gears against Skoda's 5. Skoda was more aerodynamic of course.

Have some pcitures but do not know how to post and I thought you needed to be a freedom member. SWMBO is a freedom member but does not want to get involved for some reason.

We,ve had a leon fr 1.8 20v turbo which seemed loads better on 98ron then a octavia vrs tfsi which was again slighty better to drive on 98ron. But the new tsi only says 95 ron on fuel cap. Thanks for the info lol. I would have thought the leon would be lighter and more aero dynamic than the mk i octavia. Therefore more efficient.

[g_tee]

I have a 1.4 TSI and am lucky to see 38mpg indicated

However, it sounds nice and goes like a rocket :-D

Oh yes, it needs 98RON too.

[lol-lol]

We,ve had a leon fr 1.8 20v turbo which seemed loads better on 98ron then a octavia vrs tfsi which was again slighty better to drive on 98ron. But the new tsi only says 95 ron on fuel cap. Thanks for the info lol. I would have thought the leon would be lighter and more aero dynamic than the mk i octavia. Therefore more efficient.

I think the leon was lighter but the octavia has a lower drag coefficient. The Leons was quoted as 142 mph top speed but Octavia Mk1 can manage 146 mph with the same engine. Longer body and more gradual frontal surfaces help consumption.

The same is true with the 200 hp TSI engine with the FL VRS managing over 150 mph where as other golf variants manage several mph less and even some of the 210 hp golf variance do not manage as high a top speed as the FL Octavia VRS.

Drag Coefficient of FL Octavia is 0.308 I ssem to remember which is pretty low and does help mpg as well as highly efficient TSI engines.

Edited 28 May, 2011 by lol

[Aspman]

Just to dredge this up.

I've done another brim to brim test on my TFSI which I've not done for years.

My last tank I got 37.06mpg.

Long term ave on the trip shows 35.1mpg.

Using super, with tbh pretty favourable driving conditions 60mph roads, little stop starting or urban driving and me trying to be careful with fuel.