I have a Skoda Fabia classic 1.4mpi on an 2002 plate with only 32000 miles on.What would be a reasonable mpg expected from this car.Im getting around 30mpg at best .This is doing my run to work which is 20miles. Mainly a steady 45-60mph b roads and motorway speeds = steady 65-75mph..To me the 30mpg seems low???????

Expected to be honest.

I was lucky to get 40mpg out of mine on a run - most times for shorter runs i'd get around 35 max, and if my right foot was feeling heavy it could quite easily drop to 25.

Cheers Chris.But your figures do seem higher than mine ( apart from the heavy footed loonacy of course ).

It is a pretty old engine tbh. It is basically the same as the one used in the Favorit and Felicia bored out to 1.4 and some other differences.

Sounds more or less right.

Check the usual things. Spark plugs, oil, filter, air filter, and that the thermostat is ok and not stuck open etc.

Phil

Have a look on Fuelly.com there are real measured figures on there.

Looking at a couple of 1.4mpi i found 33.8 and 28.4 so 30mpg sounds spot on.

Cheers all.Yeah have taken a look around and 30mpg seems to be about right.

Anybody want a Fabia????

Seems about right. See below.

Also agreeing with Phil. Air filter is due replacement IMO if never touched. I'd also consider replacing the spark plugs for the hell of it cause they don't cost much. Also a good throttle body clean won't go amiss.

As mentioned thermostat is a common item to fail. If your heaters aren't getting warm in a few miles this could be an issue.

Edited 4 December, 201213 yr by anewman

It's low for that kind of driving. I purchased a I got a '99 (Y) with 21k on the clock, previous owner had serviced it annually every 2k, it's averaged 41.42mpg over the last 14,000 miles (since Feb this year) and I have a heavy foot. I do tend to do 90 miles a day in it 5 days a week if i'm not using the bike but it also does shorter runs during the weekend etc. fully loaded. If you keep it at 65-70 it should return 40mpg.

As you're getting more like 30mpg then check the obvious stuff, a lot of which has already been mentioned by anewman, tyre pressures OK? Is the temp gauge getting up to the 12 oclock position within a mile or two? It may take longer in the low temp's at the moment. If not check the thermostat and temp sensor, both parts are cheap and easy to replace but were common failures. I'd also check when it was last serviced and what was done, the service book shouldn't be relied on though, the first thing I normally do with any car I buy is a full service, oil/filter, plugs and air filter, change the brake fluid and pads/disc's if required, de-gunking the throttle body is also worth doing. I gave up on the likes of redex etc and now run a tank or two of vpower/BP Ultimate through, not for the extra performance, you won't see any on this lump, but for the extra detergent package they use.

Also try not to focus on the fuel cost too much, it's only part of the overall cost per mile, a lot of people fall for big mpg figures without ever looking at the true costs and that can quickly kill off any fuel savings. My DSG Leon Sport is the prime example of that, insurance is expensive, tyres are expensive, belt changes are expensive, DSG fluid changes are expensive, normal service costs are expensive but it does manage 55-65mpg depending on how it's driven and where. The mpi isn't fun to drive (I ended up with an mpi because it was cheaper than an engine rebuild in a fun car), it's low power, slightly lower mpg and higher tax band, the truth is it's reasonably reliable compared to the 1.4 16v and 1.2 HTP, inexpensive to insure (though ironically it's twice as much as my modified roadster was) cost's next to nothing to service (£20-30 every 10k) and is easy to work on, it's chain driven so 130k intervals and no turbo to go pop. I'm not saying they're for everyone but they can be as cheap to run as a diesel, that said I still miss my 1.9 PD100 DSG Octavia II. Stupid drunk and uninsured polish idiot took it out while it was parked :(

It's low for that kind of driving. I purchased a I got a '99 (Y) with 21k on the clock, previous owner had serviced it annually every 2k, it's averaged 41.42mpg over the last 14,000 miles (since Feb this year) and I have a heavy foot. I do tend to do 90 miles a day in it 5 days a week if i'm not using the bike but it also does shorter runs during the weekend etc. fully loaded. If you keep it at 65-70 it should return 40mpg.

As you're getting more like 30mpg then check the obvious stuff, a lot of which has already been mentioned by anewman, tyre pressures OK? Is the temp gauge getting up to the 12 oclock position within a mile or two? It may take longer in the low temp's at the moment. If not check the thermostat and temp sensor, both parts are cheap and easy to replace but were common failures. I'd also check when it was last serviced and what was done, the service book shouldn't be relied on though, the first thing I normally do with any car I buy is a full service, oil/filter, plugs and air filter, change the brake fluid and pads/disc's if required, de-gunking the throttle body is also worth doing. I gave up on the likes of redex etc and now run a tank or two of vpower/BP Ultimate through, not for the extra performance, you won't see any on this lump, but for the extra detergent package they use.

Also try not to focus on the fuel cost too much, it's only part of the overall cost per mile, a lot of people fall for big mpg figures without ever looking at the true costs and that can quickly kill off any fuel savings. My DSG Leon Sport is the prime example of that, insurance is expensive, tyres are expensive, belt changes are expensive, DSG fluid changes are expensive, normal service costs are expensive but it does manage 55-65mpg depending on how it's driven and where. The mpi isn't fun to drive (I ended up with an mpi because it was cheaper than an engine rebuild in a fun car), it's low power, slightly lower mpg and higher tax band, the truth is it's reasonably reliable compared to the 1.4 16v and 1.2 HTP, inexpensive to insure (though ironically it's twice as much as my modified roadster was) cost's next to nothing to service (£20-30 every 10k) and is easy to work on, it's chain driven so 130k intervals and no turbo to go pop. I'm not saying they're for everyone but they can be as cheap to run as a diesel, that said I still miss my 1.9 PD100 DSG Octavia II. Stupid drunk and uninsured polish idiot took it out while it was parked :(

+ 1 with this Avalon Our 1.4 mpi Classic almost certainly returns late 30's or + 40 on a longer run. Ours is a sound little motor & we've learnt to live with it's short comings. Having the estate version gives us more carrying space but it's horses for courses really.

Avalon - good to hear you on the site as hadn't seen any or many posts from you recently

It is winter as well, so the MPG will go up a little in the summer. I don't think anyone is saying there is anything wrong with 30ish mpg. The Fabia is about the same size as a MK2 Golf and that got about the same economy. The only petrol cars that are significantly better have quite small engines and are lighter, eg the Fiat 500.

Wife's 1.4 MPI is doing around 32-34 as an average. The longest run this gets is 34 miles of steady rural driving to her work and back three times a week.

No motorways and all rural. Lots of short journeys (3 miles each way). Quite a bit in town.

Don't think your figures are that far out.

Ours has been a bit ropey the last couple of weeks according to the missus (shes been driving it). Thought I'd check it out today so went for a run. Before even leaving the drive, the engine management light didn't go out, so thats not good! :think: No obvious signs of trouble, so went for a spin. Water temp didn't rise even slightly after 10 minutes driving. :wonder: Came back home through town, so a fair amount of traffic, which made it rise to around 70 for a minute or 2, then dropped back down as soon as I got on the open road. Idle was slightly up and down, but kinda put it down to being a 3 pot and out of sync so to speak. Anyway, took the inlet off, and the TB was pretty coked up, although not massively so, but idles much better now after a spray with some carb cleaner. Took the oil cap off and thought, "oh ****!" slight mayo. I asked her how long the water temp had been like that for, she said "oh yeah I noticed that about a month ago!" (fair to say I don't often drive it!) She only does short journeys tbf, and with the stat (which I'll come on to) stuck open, its likely its been running dead cold for god knows how long. Took the stat housing off anyway, and the spring and a clip fell down into the bay! The plastic retaining clips for the spring retainer are nowhere to be seen, and the seal has disappeared too! Who makes a stat out of plastic anyway ffs! Anyway, got one ordered so will fit it monday. Still doesn't explain engine management light, and don't have diagnostics either. :(

SWMBO's Fabia needed new head gasket - probably caused by the same clip disintegrating, running round the cooling system & attacking the head gasket.

All good now though.

Suspected that the coolant temp wasn't getting quite high enough for a while and this was probably a contributing factor.

Think I need to have a look at her throttle body (the car, not SWMBO) and maybe clean that now the head gasket is all sorted.

Not sure why the EML is on though. Sorry.

Head gasket is a known issue. Some were fitted with an inferior head gasket, and those fitted with the improved one did not have the head bolts tightened enough.

I had the characteristic mayo and coolant loss. Added some radweld plus to the coolant (the one in the gold bottle) and this seemed to instantly stop the mayo on the oil cap.

As for who makes a stat out of plastic. Good question, before any VW involvement, Skoda made them of cast aluminium, and if anything ever failed it was just the stat. VW brought their technical expertise in and "improved" them by making them plastic. Then everyone has multiple orgasms over how Skoda's "were crap" but are "great now because they're made by VW", yawn

I hope its not caused a HG issue. Its obviously been like it for a couple of weeks minimum, but fingers crossed anyway. Its not a huge problem if I have to replace it, although never touched chains before, so worst case I'll have to get a haynes manual for torque settings and a pictoral guide. Possibly need a head skim too so will be off the road for a short time. Oh well, here's hoping!

My old fabia used to get about 25mpg nearly everywhere i went. partly due to my driving, and also to the fact both lambda sensors we dead. I replaced one (with one from a breakers ) and the other i never got round to changing as it wasnt quite dead yet! :p

Sean it's about a fiver for a vcds lite compatible cable, assuming you have access to a laptop or netbook then it's a great investment to identify the cause of the EML. I'd not worry about too much about the HG, short runs like that are usually the cause of the mayo unless the coolant has dropped or has a film on the surface. Replace the stat and the housing and read the codes and see what happens.

Still about Rob, just not online as much

Cheers Av, yeah I may as well get a generic ebay cable tbh. Used to have one of the hand held u281 code readers, but let it go with my Golf3, it was an awsome bit of kit.

I've got the same engine, same age (2002), but 118k on the clock - I get roughly around 40mpg out of mine on a 40 mile round trip every day for work (a good 70% of which is motorway driving @70mph)... slightly higher at the height of summer, and slightly lower at this time of year when it's all cold and horrible.

I don't thrash it though, the engine's not up to much in terms of power so I've gotten used to being patient with it

Edited 10 December, 201213 yr by Thecko

I've got the same engine, same age (2002), but 118k on the clock - I get roughly around 40mpg out of mine on a 40 mile round trip every day for work (a good 70% of which is motorway driving @70mph)... slightly higher at the height of summer, and slightly lower at this time of year when it's all cold and horrible.

I don't thrash it though, the engine's not up to much in terms of power so I've gotten used to being patient with it

Quick update to the above, I did a 340 mile round trip from Warrington to Pontypool yesterday, with a car full and 60mph all the way on the outbound journey and one passenger 70mph on the return leg, filled up again when back in Warrington at the same pump and calculated 48 mpg (340 miles, 32.25 litres to fill it up again)

Impressive, best I have managed was 55 mpg but it was a one off, in most cases it'll be followed by a low read due to fill differences/air locks. Yesterday I managed 52mpg over a 70 mile trip but it's over such a small range it's not that accurate.

The last 16k I've averaged 41.23mpg or 14.8p/mile in fuel, mpi's aren't exciting to drive but I still reckon they're about as cheap to run as an oil burner when you include total running costs (tyres, servicing, insurance, tax etc.).

I've found the best way to get a decent return out of my car is to let the engine pick up speed at the rate it wants to rather than forcing the issue with high revs and late gear changes, you can't really get that much extra speed out of it anyway when revving it above 4k before changing gears .... I'm sure it's frustrating for cars behind me, but that's not my problem ;-) and I tend to be very generous on motorways, if I'm about to overtake on the motorway if there's someone coming up to overtake me at the same time and there's not a good gap for them to pull in to on the outside I'll wait for them to get past me before pulling out.

When I get around to replacing it next May (I'm looking at a 5 year old Octy 1.9 TDi or similar) the extra performance is going to feel unusual lol