I get 55-60 on my comute of 30miles on A303 and country roads according to the trip readout.

What will increase it ?

tyres ? Chips ? or is it all down to driving style keeping the throtle light and the turbo off and crusing at 60mph.

Any ideas will be good.

Also I changed the oil and paid loads for the oil as the man in the shop said it has to be this but it lasts for 20,000 miles (in a diesel really !!!) I will do the old rub between the fingers test and when it feels gritty I get some new stuff.

Look forward to doing a cam belt before not too long (the last one was a Renault Espace which had most of my knukle skin around it in the end).

Well had the car a week and impressed so far.

Hi and welcome aboard.

Hello Keith and welcome along

Hi Keith,

How's it going?

I have a diesel Fabia II but it's got the 1.6l engine so is not quite the same. However, the usual things all help.

Keep the car empty of rubbish which adds weight (include unwanted companions!!) so consider NOT filling the fuel tank for normal trips as a full tank is around 80 lb.

Check that the brakes aren't rubbing. There's a simple trick for this. Find a quiet road or flat car park. Stop car and apply brakes firmly. Then roll the car forward at 3-4mph and wait for the car to come to a stop. It should do this without any jerk. If there is a slight jerk then one or more brake is sticking. Repeat the process with the handbrake.

Keep the tyres at the best pressure. The handbook figure is a good start but adjusting the pressure a little (up to 2 psi either side of handbook but not more) allows you to get the best from the car. You don't want it sliding about on corners (as you have to slow more) and neither do you want the tyre drag any higher than necessary. However, having the rear tyres on a fairly empty car a little bit soft can make the steering more neutral (less understeer). This is down to persomal preference and wouldn't stand up in court so keep the details to yourself and take care when experimenting.

Drive so that you don't have to brake if you can avoid it. Braking just throws away the car's kinetic energy (=fuel). Lift off early when approaching corners and speed limits. Basically the car uses its kinetic energy to keep rolling and this amounts to free miles.

Driving. diesel engines with turbo chargers actually give the best economy when the turbo is up to speed giving a good boost. The reason for this goes back to Dr Diesel. If you burn the fuel with a high compression ratio and giving the hottest possible temperature you get the best efficiency. A boost gauge would be nice for this but basically keep the revs up so the turbo is working. An 18:1 compression ratio becomes - in effect 36:1 if there is a 1 bar boost from the turbocharger.

Consider energy efficient tyres (Michelin Energy?) when changing them. If your car is giving a good mpg, better tyres make a surprising difference.

Try to keep the engine warm in cold weather. Diesel engines are not efficient when cold and their good general efficiency means they take longer to warm up than a similar petrol engine. You can get plastic covers for the upper and lower grill for Fabias. Be careful of overheating though. Good water and oil temperature gauges are advisable. An oil pressure gauge would be nice as well.

I hope these ideas help

Welcome Keith

Welcome to Briskoda.