expected miles per tank 1.4 mpi ?

[robs5230]

just wondered how many miles per tank / fill anyone was getting ? thanks

[TMB]

Mine's brilliant on a long motorway run, but around town it does about 28 mpg. It's a very old-fashioned engine which dates back to the 1960s, so economy isn't going to be a strong point. At least they are pretty reliable and simple and there is no timing belt to snap.  Make sure your air filter is good and that your thermostat is working properly (temp gauge needle in the middle).

[Alexandru]

The mpi engine is bullet proof, but it doesn't run cheap on petrol. It doesn't really mater at which rpm you change gears, the mpg will be the same. The wheels and tires have a major impact on the mpg as well as the air filter and the thermostat TMB mentioned. As an answer for your question, I filled up a few days ago, my trip computer said somewhere about 325 miles left right when exiting the petrol station. In reality, I'm doing about 255-260 miles with a full tank of petrol. There were times when I made only 200 miles. I changed my tires and I will recalculate my fuel consumption from now on, I will be replying to this topic a few months later. 

[Updown789]

Mine was awful, £20 would get me 70 miles of mixed driving along national speed limit roads and villages. Thats the only reason I sold it, as I couldn't afford to keep filling it up. My 1.4 mpi ibiza (vw engine) is much better and can do roughly 100+ miles on the same amount of fuel with a roof rack fitted. Shame really, as the fabia was a nice car, but if it had a 16v engine it would have been perfect (better performance, better economy etc)

[Alexandru]

Ok, tehcnically speaking (or typing), 30% of the mpi models have issues with the preheater of the pre-catalyst O2 sensor, causing the engine to burn more fuel until the sensor gets to the correct temp (400-ish Celsius degrees as far as I understood). It is a flipping resistor which gets faulty. Replacing the lambda probe or fixing the preheater resistor significantly improves mpg and performance also.

Mine has a faulty O2 probe, but I'm not planing to replace it too soon. It can still do 100 flat out with 2 on board and a full boot, so I have nothing to complain about it. I'm pretty good with the current performance vs cost balance. 

Edited 16 May, 2015 by Alexandru

[faradaycage]

Mine was awful, £20 would get me 70 miles of mixed driving along national speed limit roads and villages. Thats the only reason I sold it, as I couldn't afford to keep filling it up. My 1.4 mpi ibiza (vw engine) is much better and can do roughly 100+ miles on the same amount of fuel with a roof rack fitted. Shame really, as the fabia was a nice car, but if it had a 16v engine it would have been perfect (better performance, better economy etc)

My 16v 1.4 is weird,some days it wakes up in the morning and will rev and perform like a race car other days it wakes up grumpy and drives like a bin lorry going uphill in a force ten gale.

Its getting gradualy better the more...ahem..cough..cough...italian tune-ups its given but i'm still having days when i'm searching for the hole in the engine where the 86 horses might have escaped from. :|

[Alexandru]

Try to run a diagnostic scan on the engine section, you might have a few things to service. 

[robs5230]

thanks for the replies chaps. i dont really have any worries with fuel consumption. my last fill got me 265 miles down to between 1/4 and red. the majority of that had been done with a faulty thermostat and temp sensor which has now been renewed along with a new stat housing. i fitted a new air filter at the same time too. tyres are like new and pressures are correct. i'm optimistic of getting considerably better mpg on the current tank. the question was just out of curiosity and it seems i'm not doing too bad.

cheers rob 

[Alexandru]

You should have in mind the age of the tires as well, not only their wear level.

Edited 16 May, 2015 by Alexandru

[transfreeze]

Ok, tehcnically speaking (or typing), 30% of the mpi models have issues with the preheater of the pre-catalyst O2 sensor, causing the engine to burn more fuel until the sensor gets to the correct temp (400-ish Celsius degrees as far as I understood). It is a flipping resistor which gets faulty. Replacing the lambda probe or fixing the preheater resistor significantly improves mpg and performance also.

Mine has a faulty O2 probe, but I'm not planing to replace it too soon. It can still do 100 flat out with 2 on board and a full boot, so I have nothing to complain about it. I'm pretty good with the current performance vs cost balance. 

 

Interesting post, Alexandru.

I have a 1.4 MPI and the fuel consumption is not that good.

Where is the preheater  resistor and how can I check it?

Is the Lambda probe expensive to replace?

[Alexandru]

I filled the tank at 176648km (109764miles)...it was showing a range of 500-ish km (310miles)...at the moment of speaking the odometet being 176882km(109909miles).

With a bit over half a tank of petrol, my best guess would be that I've burned about 20 liters in 234km (145miles). This would lead to an average of 8.5ish l/100km (33mpg). I was driving only around town, mostly at night I can say, with only one passenger, without any load.

@transfreeze:

About the lambda probe/o2 sensor, if you don't have the check engine light on or you don't have it at all as in my case, run an emissions test as for mot. If it's dead or not working fine, you will get an excess of hc and co. You can also run a test with a diagnostic software ( I use my laptop with vcds). It has a set of tests that you can run, for both lambda probes and for catalyst a well. As far as I learned, it seems that these sensors can get faulty once the car passes 100.000miles (160.000km). A good sensor can get up to 85..maybe 90pounds, give or take. There might be some universal things that you can fit, cheaper, maybe like half that price, but I wouldn't do that.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TMB]

I'm jealous that Alexandru has a trip computer. Mine doesn't have that

[Alexandru]

Replacing the windscreen wiper lever with one that has a trip computer button and activating it via VCDS might work, IMHO. If retrofitting cruise control is possible, why this wouldn't be ?

[TMB]

Replacing the windscreen wiper lever with one that has a trip computer button and activating it via VCDS might work, IMHO. If retrofitting cruise control is possible, why this wouldn't be ?

 

It may be possible but I don't fancy messing with it

[robs5230]

just an update here..

since fitting the stat housing/stat/temp sender and a new air cleaner, my fuel economy seems ok. since the last fill i have done 310 miles and the gauge is now down to showing 1/4 tank. i dont think thats too bad

[AdamJonezy]

I managed 300 miles to a full tank this week that was petrol light to petrol light, that was half country roads/town driving and half on the motorway. My trip computer was sitting between 30mpg and 35mpg

[robs5230]

330 miles and still no fuel light but surely cant be far off. dont think i'm doing too bad for a 15 year old car

[Alexandru]

I'm no longer alloying it to go under 1/3 of a tank, I'm refilling it right away. I don't really fancy getting the mess from the tank into the fuel lines or burning the fuel pump (it's being cooled with fuel and if you're running low on fuel, it might over heat and go dead).

[TMB]

I'm no longer alloying it to go under 1/3 of a tank, I'm refilling it right away. I don't really fancy getting the mess from the tank into the fuel lines or burning the fuel pump (it's being cooled with fuel and if you're running low on fuel, it might over heat and go dead).

 

The fuel filter is too fine to allow any crap through. Also, I should imagine the fuel pump is more than adequately designed to function with a low fuel level. It could be somewhat of a disaster if that thing overheated inside the petrol tank.

[Alexandru]

I wasn't referring about that kind of heat that coud get you into real trouble. I saw at least 3 or 4 situations when then fuel pump died just because the driver was running frequently on low fuel (an older version of BMW 3 series, a Mk4 Polo, Mk1 Ford Focus, my Daewoo Matiz xD).

 

 

ontopic: 

 

 

last ~300miles stats:

 

 

my current fuel consumption (based on the last ~10.000 miles):

 

http://www.spritmonitor.de/en/detail/614528.html

Edited 30 May, 2015 by Alexandru

[badgerdisco]

I thought I'd have a look to see if there was discussion on this. I've had mine for a couple of months now and through some small changes (replacing temp sensor + wheel bearing) and learning to drive it well, I've seen the MPG increase steadily. I usually reach 350-380 but on this particular tank I did a large journey to the airport and back (Cambridge to Gatwick) and then shorter town driving. You can drive 80-90 on the motorway as long as you don't floor it to get there.  Really like this car! 

[TMB]

^ The mpi is pretty quiet at 70mph isn't it. Just some tyre roar.

[indars]

'2007 1.4L 16V 74kW BBZ, manual, 98th Neste petrol, 230k km (143k mi) on clock.

 

Fresh calculations after 711km (442mi) drive, with most sure method "full tank at ...km / full tank again at ...km / bit' of algebra".

2 adults & 2 children in cab, a bit' of luggage in trunk, no roof box, no trailer, no AC (sorry, haven't it).

1/2 of drive was highway 90...110km/h (56...68mph), 1/2 was mixed drive (city & slow roads with 60...70km/h (37...43mph)).

 

Average 5.7l/100km (49.6mpg).

[badgerdisco]

On 8/3/2017 at 19:21, TMB said:

^ The mpi is pretty quiet at 70mph isn't it. Just some tyre roar.

Yes it is! I quite enjoy the growl at 80-90 ; ) 

[badgerdisco]

On 8/3/2017 at 20:37, indars said:

'2007 1.4L 16V 74kW BBZ, manual, 98th Neste petrol, 230k km (143k mi) on clock.

 

Fresh calculations after 711km (442mi) drive, with most sure method "full tank at ...km / full tank again at ...km / bit' of algebra".

2 adults & 2 children in cab, a bit' of luggage in trunk, no roof box, no trailer, no AC (sorry, haven't it).

1/2 of drive was highway 90...110km/h (56...68mph), 1/2 was mixed drive (city & slow roads with 60...70km/h (37...43mph)).

 

Average 5.7l/100km (49.6mpg).

 

Good work! I drove my parents Mk2 with 1.2 TSI and was struggling to get over 50mpg on a long journey.