Hi all I've had my car about 3 weeks and the fuel figures are well below what I was expecting. I've got a 2010 1.6 tdi with 48000 on the clock full main dealer history. I travel about 8 miles to work main roads and 2 miles motorway. I drive really steady and I sit around 60mph on the motorway and I'm getting like 39mpg for the week. This dosnt seem right at all. My mate who encouraged me to get one works as a taxi driver and he gets a good 45mpg all the time! Please what can I do to sort this? The car seems in good nic and my old battered bmw was getting comparable figures. II'm really fed up because the mpg was one of the reasons I justified spending 9grand on the car! I feel like selling it :'( please help! Thanks n advance Damian

Are those mpg figures based on brim to brim refills or the trip computer?

Does the car have a DPF? If so MPG drops of if it needs regenerating, take the car out and give it some stick pulling more than 2000 rpm for at least 10 minutes.

Car is probably running cold whereas the Taxi friends car would be at proper operating temp.

Did you buy it private or from a dealer? Of the latter I'd take it back and get them to check it over. Couldn't be something simple like a clogged air filter?

Hi all thanks for the quick replies. They are computer figures which I know shouldn't be trusted but still seems   low. I'm gonna do brim to brim and a mate in work just suggestedbite the bullet and get skoda dealer to put it on the computer. Any other suggestions? What would you all do first?

You really don't know what the actual fuel consumption is until you have carried out a brim to brim check. Do that before you do anything else - and let us know what the figure is.

Check the air filter is clean then check the oil level before you give it some welly in every gear for a few minutes then a decent run up the motorway for at least half an hour. Fill it then run over the week preferably until empty. Fill again and calculate mpg. Dont rely on the computer as its just a guide.

Bear in mind the car wont even get a chance to heat up with only 10 miles to work.

The 1.6 TDi is a good motor but you are hardly going to get good MPG on such short journeys.

 

Are you looking at the trip 1 or 2 on the computer ?

aim having the estate in about 2 weeks time its a 1.6 tdi cr se model would like to more about the diesel thanks pete

The 1.6 TDi is a good motor but you are hardly going to get good MPG on such short journeys.

 

Are you looking at the trip 1 or 2 on the computer ?

Under 40mpg would still be pretty dire for the 1.6 on those journeys.

The wife's dad has got an 11 plate 1.6 TDI with 67k on the clock (company car). He does mainly motorway miles and he is averaging late 50s sometimes early 60s on the maxidot.

my works van has the same engine. 105bhp 1.6tdi, one half hour journey each way to work then stop start journeys all day and im still getting 300+ for half a tank.

 

45mpg sounds very poor

I can get 39mpg going 15 miles to work at 60mph in a petrol VRS so that sounds pretty bad for a 1.6d.

Edited 5 July, 201312 yr by Aspman

Right where's me credit card I'm brimming it tomorrow, ill get the tyre pressures checked and check the air filter, will report back in a week or two thanks ppl 

I downloaded an app on my phone called Road Trip Lite. It's really easy to use and takes the headache out of calculating your MPG. You'll be prompted to enter your mileage, amount of litres purchased and the price per litre.

On doing this a second time, it will calculate your MPG.

I tried to upload an example to show you, but I'm having trouble attaching photos at the moment for some reason.

Good luck.

Cheers will look for the app 

Quick update, I'm a week into my brim to brim fuel trial, and with more careful driving I'm getting much much better results. One question do you think the computer kinda of remembers how the car has been driven previously? I know it sounds daft but I'm getting around 52mpg now and I didn't drive stupidly in the first place that's a massive difference! 

I belive there is some level of 'learning' in car computers but most of the improvement will be in your driving. Like 95%.

You cab reset the learnt behaviour by disconnecting the battery for half hour. This resets all the parameters and begins the learning process. I always disconnect the battery after a long journey do that I can take it out again and teach it the throttle end points etc.

Range is calculated from the driving style over the previous 17 miles. Economy is calculated by distance travelled divided by fuel used.

The trip computer is no more inaccurate as you getting a calculator out. Neither the mileometer, the petrol pump or the trip computer is calibrated to a reasonable accuracy.

Things I would be checking are:

 

Tyre pressures - if they are low then they can make a huge difference

Air filter - these are only due to be changed every 60K miles…. which IMO is madness, I do mine EVERY variable service (around 17K miles)

It is probably due a service as well, fresh oil also makes a difference in my experience 

Are there any brakes that are binding? - look for one wheel getting more brake dust than the rest (the fronts will obviously go black quicker than the fronts) another way to check for them binding is after you get to work feel each wheel in turn to see if one wheel is much hotter than the rest.

 

Wheel alignment being out will also cost your economy.

Good advice Gizmo68.....I did all of that recently and gained and extra 4mpg on my vrs....

Thanks for all the advice everyone B-)

hi guys when you talk about tyres pressures how wolud i get on if the octavia is on 15s then i put 17s on it wot would the fuil figures be like

on a diesel wot do think guys