Or it's pathetically small as it only seems to hold 45 litres from empty.

That's normal, when the gauge says it's empty it far from empty.... I've never got more than 46 litres in mine, and that's after driving 20 miles with the gauge on empty and the range on zero.....

On my Maxi dot it tells me how much fuel I can get in the tank if I fill up,

Try venting the tank. My 45 litre Ibiza tank can hold just over 50 litres when vented. Push the little black leaver in the fuel filler neck. 

Try venting the tank. My 45 litre Ibiza tank can hold just over 50 litres when vented. Push the little black leaver in the fuel filler neck. 

 

There is no 'little black lever'

On my Maxi dot it tells me how much fuel I can get in the tank if I fill up,

 

I have that too and its far from accurate.

I have that too and its far from accurate.

 

So I'm told, 1 gallon or 5L out I believe   :yes:

Lucky boys. I regularly only get 40 litres in it when range is 0 on the computer. That's ridiculous my mk1 mx5 is more accurate and does not have a empty light pop on!

Octavia 3 petrol:  I put in 47.7 L on my last fill up (2nd click) after 790km on the tank, the needle on the gauge had just gone onto the Reserve and MaxiDot was estimating I had enough left for 120 km.

I am one of the lucky ones I guess.

Biggest I've managed so far was 49.84 L but, yet again mines petrol.  I think VAG are very conservative with the diesels as its such a PITA if you run one dry whereas the petrol is far less of a problem.

Because we do more Miles to the gallon than the petol boys we don't need a big tank    :no:

Yes its a funny one, VAG market the newest CR engines as being wildly efficient (well in excess of 60mpg) yet after 8k miles my 2.0 CR 150 Estate manual is rarely bettering 50mpg on a run, better but not massively so than the Mk2 vRS TDI. The reduction in tank size has seen the cars useful range plummet from an easy 500+ miles to 450 becoming a real stretch. Feel like I'm filling it up a lot more often and struggle to get much more than £52 in each fill where as the old Mk2 vRS TDI estate would regularly take a good £65 quids worth.

The 5 litres do seem to make quite a difference in useful range for sure....Quite disappointed at the moment but hoping things improve a bit with more mileage and some longer runs.

Edited 6 September, 201411 yr by pipsyp

Yes its a funny one, VAG market the newest CR engines as being wildly efficient (well in excess of 60mpg) yet after 8k miles my 2.0 CR 150 Estate manual is rarely bettering 50mpg on a run, better but not massively so than the Mk2 vRS TDI. The reduction in tank size has seen the cars useful range plummet from an easy 500+ miles to 450 becoming a real stretch. Feel like I'm filling it up a lot more often and struggle to get much more than £52 in each fill where as the old Mk2 vRS TDI estate would regularly take a good £65 quids worth.

The 5 litres do seem to make quite a difference in useful range for sure....Quite disappointed at the moment but hoping things improve a bit with more mileage and some longer runs.

How far do you generally drive without stopping for a break?

Edited 6 September, 201411 yr by Miz

Yes its a funny one, VAG market the newest CR engines as being wildly efficient (well in excess of 60mpg) yet after 8k miles my 2.0 CR 150 Estate manual is rarely bettering 50mpg on a run, better but not massively so than the Mk2 vRS TDI. The reduction in tank size has seen the cars useful range plummet from an easy 500+ miles to 450 becoming a real stretch. Feel like I'm filling it up a lot more often and struggle to get much more than £52 in each fill where as the old Mk2 vRS TDI estate would regularly take a good £65 quids worth.

The 5 litres do seem to make quite a difference in useful range for sure....Quite disappointed at the moment but hoping things improve a bit with more mileage and some longer runs.

That's pretty poor, my vRS regularly hits 55mpg on anything over about 15 miles.

I'll get about 560 miles to a tank, averaging about 52mpg (worked out manually - not the maxidot), and will often fill up about 46-47 litres without going too far on '0 range'.

Octavia/Golf's undersized fuel tank is a product of excessive weight saving and the designers believing low speed test fuel economy numbers rather than real life ones. It also does not help that the fuel tank vent arrangement is different, as you cannot use the extra expansion capacity on diesels.

 

As it stands today, a diesel Rapid (admittedly with vented fuel tank giving extra 9l of capacity over stock 55l, total 64l) has 30% longer range than Mk3 Octavia.

I highlighted it when Mk3 Octy was introduced, to suitable amount of flaming posts in return. But the fact is, for long range / high speed travel it is better to either buy a Rapid or a Superb, Mk3 Octy is the least suitable.

Yes its a funny one, VAG market the newest CR engines as being wildly efficient (well in excess of 60mpg) yet after 8k miles my 2.0 CR 150 Estate manual is rarely bettering 50mpg on a run,

My average over the first 7300 miles is about 54mpg. On long journeys over 60mpg is no problem.

That's pretty poor, my vRS regularly hits 55mpg on anything over about 15 miles.

 

 

My average over the first 7300 miles is about 54mpg. On long journeys over 60mpg is no problem.

 

How do you get these numbers? I can barely get 50... maybe its the DSG

 

How do you get these numbers? I can barely get 50... maybe its the DSG

I was going to get a DSG but then I saw it murdered fuel consumption.

I do a mix of motorway and Peak District driving, don't think 49.5mpg is too bad for dsg

Or it's pathetically small as it only seems to hold 45 litres from empty.

Surely if it had a hole it would take more to fill?

In fairness on a reasonable run I can see low/mid 50's, best I've seen is 58. I do (well did until very recently) undertake quite a lot of short runs (10 miles each way to work), my car also regent quite a bit which I guess hurts the economy. It's long term average always tends to sit around 47/48 mpg.

The fuel economy given the types of journeys I do and the way I drive is acceptable and also know the manufacturers figures are generally best case tosh, my main complaint really is that the car isn't that much more efficient real world than the car it replaced (Mk2) and the reduction in tank size has reduced it's useful range by what I estimate to be a good 50/70 miles or so.

that said I have my suspicions that the car does actually have a pretty big reserve so when the car says it's running out of fuel (and practically zero range) the reality is that it probably still has a good 50/60 miles left in it; don't t have the nerve to try it out though!

The reduction from 55 to 50 litres isn't a problem at all - I definitely get more than ten percent better MPG compared to my Pd140 mk2.

What is an issue is not being able to reliably use all 50 litres. On my Bravo when it said zero miles remaining it was much closer to empty than the Skoda is so I could use nearly all the available range.

Looking at my current tank of petrol which was filled to second 'click' of the pump I have done 480km and it is showing just over half full and estimating range at 430km with (this fill) average consumption of 5.8 L/100 (or 17.24 km per litre). This corresponds to a tank capacity of near 53 Litres.

My Maxidot consumption is almost identical (even 0.1 L/100 pessimistic) to Fuelly entries.

I cannot guarantee to run the tank down to zero (even for the greater good) because fuel prices here in Australia fluctuate by about 15% over a 2 or 3 week cycle and of course I try to fill at the low point.

Most previous Skoda tank capacity figures have been at least 5 litres more than quoted, and I would be surprised if the Octy 3 is not the same.

Having said that, the conservatism of the diesel fuel gauge readings that you are justifiably complaining about is down-right ridiculous

My VRS TDI DSG I get 49+ driving like i stole it and the country lanes and 55 on the motorway, I don't think the deg makes a massive difference to be honest.