Need a bit of help please guys.

I have noticed that my fuel consumption is very poor on my vRS. I filled her up last Friday with shell v power like i always do (first time i have filled her in a while) as i was using the car for a 150 mile drive down to edinburgh. I was using the car about town up with me for a couple of days before i came down to edinburgh yesterday. I reset my trip on the dash like i always do to see what i can get to a full tank. My gauge is now showing only a quater of a tank left and i have only covered 210 miles which i think is fairly poor. I haven't been driving the car hard and it was only serviced about 1000 miles ago where all the filters and oil were changed.

I don't really use the car much these days as i have a work van it only really gets used at the weekends but as i am off for 2 weeks it has been used more often. I am just a bit concerned that this level of fuel consumption is pretty poor i know the car aint a diesel but would expect at least 350 miles to a tank but there is no way i will get that now as i have a quater of a tank left.

Any suggestions what could be causeing it. Possible sticky brakes maybe as the car sits through the week, i never leave the handbrake on though while its sat idle through the week always just left in gear.

Cheers

Paul

Hi ya. Several things, we have has Mk1 and 2 petrol VRSs. A lot of it is down to the fuel computer not being linear I have found.

We have a TSI VRS and TSI 1.8 DSG currently and on the right conditions one can get over 500 miles out of a TSI VRS tank and nearly 600 miles out of the 1.8 TSI which is only half a second slower to 100 kph than the TSI VRS. We had a Leon Cupra 1.8T and that only did 31-32 mpg ie about 2 or 3 worse than the Mk1 VRS!

Firstly it is difficult to know you actually have 55 litres in a full tank. Fill the last litre or two slowly as its filling can be slow as it rises through the expansion chamber.

Once you know it is actually full then it is clear to me that the fuel gauge and estimate of range left is not quite linear. You can get over a hundred miles in the petrol VRS out of the last quarter I reckon as it always seems to appear more economical in the last quarter!

There is loads of info all over this website and others about drving economically. Clearly there could be an issue with disk brake drag etc and worth trolley jacking the wheels and giving them a spin. Tyre pressures drop in the colder weather and worth checking they are up to the right pressure.

Where you are Winter tyres would really be worth it. Running 16 inch wheels on 205 rather than 225s would really help consumption if your insurance company will allow the change for no charge and still cover you properly.

Petrol VRS is quite low geared compared to other Octavias ie 25 mph/1000 rpm, it is a sports vehicle of course but should average mid thirties and give you about 400 miles range in mixed driving though I have filled up our TSI VRS and seen 295 miles range showing after it has been mainly thrashed round town and been doing about 25 mpg but that is what we have the Fabia for now. Octavia is a fairly big and heavy car and that has a price to pay. Thankfully the 3p a litre on petrol is not going on from New Years Day as that would have hurt. Hope you get it back up to a livable fuel consumption soon.

Edited 28 December, 201114 yr by lol

Has the temp gauge been alright? It will use more fuel if the coolant temp sensor is messing about. You would notice that through wierd temp gauge readings, possibly a fault code if it gets worse.

No leaks in the exhaust or manifold, or problems with the cat?

And rear brakes can bind, the guide pins corrode so the pads get stuck on, you would normally see blistered paint on the calipers though or loads of heat from the rear wheels if they've got really bad

Temp sender was changed last year mate for the newer green version. The exhaust was changed for a blueflame CAT back system last year could possibally be leaking at the sleeve where it is welded to the cat dosn't sound like its blowing or anything.

The car is in for a mot next week so maybe something might pop up.

Thanks