Hi,

I have a 2011 vRS Estate with 14k miles and drove a few hundred miles south yesterday to visit family, 90% of the drive was motorway, M6 > M1, left early so no traffic and tried to a keep consistent 65-70mph. Two adults and a 4 year old in the car + Christmas presents + two small suitcases. Car not particularly loaded with weight. I've done the same journey many times with similar weight in the car and achieved MPGs well in to the 40s. But yesterday the trip got up to 37 mpg as I was driving the 10 miles or so from my house to the motorway and whilst the engine was warming up. But when on the motorway instead of improving, the MPG was stubborn at 37 and was in fact slowly dropping. Driving conditions were pretty awful with it raining heavy all the way.

At this point I was worrying about a low oil level or tyre pressures having an affect on MPG. I'd checked both two weeks or so ago and topped up accordingly. While driving I flicked over to the Oil temp a few times, it was sitting between 92-94 degrees, which is pretty normal I believe?

What else could have a dramatic affect on MPG? The external temp is the highest it's been all month currently, so should have a positive affect on MPG and engine warm up.

The car was serviced a few months ago, I've driven another 2000-3000 miles since the service.

Oh and to add, I checked the oil yesterday after the journey and it did need a slight top up, but nothing major. I've been putting in Castrol Edge 5w30 since buying the car. Used up the last drops of the 4l bottle I've kept in the car, so will pick up another bottle later today.

I've been reading lots of posts about what oil to use and I'm thinking of trying 5w40. I don't think I have a consumption problem compared to some on here, my car seems to use more or less what the manual suggests it might do.

Headwinds?

Standing water resistance? Air con on?

Edited 23 December, 201213 yr by dirty hari

I rarely drive with air con on. I guess there could have been an affect from wind, driving north to south. But a big enough wind affect to knock off 5-7 mpg?

mfd tells lies , the only sense you will really get is fill to fill

Surely heavy rain creates as much drag as wind?...plus colder weather, wipers /other electrics on.

Perhaps also you were a bit faster than previous trips,constant 70 rather than 60 makes a big difference.

I reckon its the rain. Don't think the vRS likes the rain as my economy is quite low in it too. Drove to Goodwood in the wet and got 34mpg, home in the dry was 40+mpg

260 miles yesterday, 2 up and luggage,

4.5 *0 C, All in rain, very flooded roads, lights A/C etc etc. 5w 40 oil showing at 86 o* C

7.5 Gallons, = 34.6 mpg.

today.

return 260 Miles solo and in the area of Max National speed limit. (well, sometimes)

Oil showing at 92 o*C

9*0 C, dry roads and never held up or used the A/C, lights on.

5.5 gallons, = 47 mpg and a bit.

Tesco Momentum & no usage of the Castrol Edge that requires a top up.

george

Headwinds?

Almost a certainty; makes a huge difference.

Tony

BTW Merry Christmas

Wind.

Fabia VRS has a Drag Coefficient of 0.37, not good, very suceptible to headwinds I find.

Must say that in a Fabia i have never noticed Headwinds,

& thats from driving in very windy conditions.

Never really ever driven constantly in a straight line towards a howling gale.

The car does what it does for MPG,

Been aware of wind, gales etc in many other types of vehicles, but mostly thats side winds, buffeting and blowing off line..

A vRS at least, runs quite smooth in the most stormy of weather IME.

*If vehicles going in one direction are driving into a headwind, then the others in the other direction will have a tailwind hopefully.*

If you can do 50 mpg driving through the air at 70 mph,

then will a bit of an increased head wind make that much difference driving into it at 50mph?

george

yup, for a typical passenger car at speeds of 50mph, wind drag accounts for around 50% of overall vehicle drag (wind, drive line, rolling resistance) and continues to increase exponentially with speed. you use 15-25% more fuel to maintain speeds at 80mph than at 70mph. so a 20mph headwind at 50mph road speed will eat a chunk out of your fuel economy for sure.

Hi,

I have a 2011 vRS Estate with 14k miles and drove a few hundred miles south yesterday to visit family, 90% of the drive was motorway, M6 > M1, left early so no traffic and tried to a keep consistent 65-70mph. Two adults and a 4 year old in the car + Christmas presents + two small suitcases. Car not particularly loaded with weight. I've done the same journey many times with similar weight in the car and achieved MPGs well in to the 40s. But yesterday the trip got up to 37 mpg as I was driving the 10 miles or so from my house to the motorway and whilst the engine was warming up. But when on the motorway instead of improving, the MPG was stubborn at 37 and was in fact slowly dropping. Driving conditions were pretty awful with it raining heavy all the way.

At this point I was worrying about a low oil level or tyre pressures having an affect on MPG. I'd checked both two weeks or so ago and topped up accordingly. While driving I flicked over to the Oil temp a few times, it was sitting between 92-94 degrees, which is pretty normal I believe?

What else could have a dramatic affect on MPG? The external temp is the highest it's been all month currently, so should have a positive affect on MPG and engine warm up.

The car was serviced a few months ago, I've driven another 2000-3000 miles since the service.

Just done 400 miles today

Motorway, bad weather and high winds traveling at between 60 and 80 2 up with loads of luggage and only managed 37 mpg.

Will be interesting to see on way back with a lot less weight in it, will post back.

I drove from plymouth to Nottingham today, 261 miles with a 3 adults and 1 child, a boot full to the top of the roof lining, with HEAVY traffic between Newton Abbott and Bristol and managed 41.8mpg. Pretty happy with that considering the weight that was in the car and the stop/start in the traffic. Average speed for the whole journey was 54mph. Before xmas when i drove to plymouth, I was pretty late and averaged 37mpg for the same journey.

Now obviously since ive had my car back from APR, it has been getting "tested" regularly, and ive taken loads of guys out in it to show them its performance. My average over the previous 750 miles has been 37.4mpg. Thats a return journey to plymouth and about 180 town miles.

not bad for a heavily laden 250hp car.

In winter having headlights/wipers/heater on makes a difference. You are convering fuel into electricity.

Standing water creates drag too which impacts on MPG.

My best MPG is recorded in the summer - The worst in winter.

Completed the journey back today, 170 miles from Bedfordshire to Greater Manchester area, 48.2 mpg according to maxidot

That was religiously sticking to 60-70, encountered some traffic further up the M6, I'm pretty pleased with that MPG.

I have found the new shape Fabia to be quite significantly more susceptible to head/side winds. Definitely feel more buffeting than in the old one.

30 mile return journey to Mallory park and 70laps of the track and still managed an average of 22mpg lol

I can report that extreme heat will also affect fuel consumption. Admittedly with the a/c on fan level 2, the uphill run that I managed in 6.8L/100km used 7.5L/100km yesterday. Air temperatures ranged from 39-41.5 Celsius during the drive, and oil temperature touched 100 degrees on a slightly uphill section during "normal" driving.

Edited 30 December, 201213 yr by OzFabia

Just done 400 miles today

Motorway, bad weather and high winds traveling at between 60 and 80 2 up with loads of luggage and only managed 37 mpg.

Will be interesting to see on way back with a lot less weight in it, will post back.

Same journey today in good weather and about 40kg down and managed 44mpg. I guess it's rain and wind that are the largest factor

I've had my vrs since June 2011 and have noticed an average drop in mpg of aroung 4-5 mpg during winter months. I do a lot of driving early in the morning when air temp is colder so may have something to do with longer warm up times but not sure

I have been getting 42-44mpg on average (30mph town driving etc mainly). But from November to now my mpg has been at best 34mpg. I have made a very similar comment on a seperate thread about a sudden drop in mpg. I put it down to winter months. Check tyre pressures too as they can drop considerably in winter. I will do a full check on mine again as the months get warmer and see how it goes.