MPG tips

[macmillions]

Evening all,

I've recently bought a Superb Greenline Estate Elegance, which I love. But this is my first ever diesel, having previously owned an Octavia vRS TFSI and currently two Mk2 Golfs, so mpg has never been hot topic.

However, a new job and 140 mile commute per day meant I needed to chop in the vRS for an economical diesel.

Oddly, I am now receiving enjoyment through mpg figures. I drive through town for about 10mins before hitting duel carriageway/motorway and don't stop or hit a roundabout until 5 minutes before I arrive at work. Currently I'm sitting with cruise control set to 65mph and due to leaving for work so early, I don't often have to disengage it. The car is returning around 59mpg at the moment. Great, compared to the vRS of course, but I'm itching for more.

 

Anyone got any tips for eaking out those extra miles per gallons? For info, it's the M11, M25 and M1 that I drive on, just in case some of you know the roads well!

[SuperbTWM]

More mpg will come when the weather warms up a bit. Making sure the tyres are the correct pressure or buying ones with a higher efficiency rating can make a small difference aswell.

Using your foot instead of cruise control will help too

[alextan]

Tyre wise, best ones I had in matter of consumption were (spring/summer) 4 x goodyears eff grip performance summer tyres with A for wet and A for fuel, got a maximum of 58-59 MPG's on motorways (cruising at max 75-80mph) but again, mine is a 2.0 170 4x4 so they were pretty good I think. Now I have Nokians Weatherproof (all season) and if I get to 50-51 MPG's on a longer journey than 20 miles, I quietly cheer and party inside but as said, the weather its an important factor aswell.

Good luck

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[Danny 57]

Cruise at 60.

[jonathan.tong]

As above, unless the entire journey is flat, use your foot instead of cruise control. I think it's better to use constant throttle rather than constant speed for best efficiency. After all, I presume you don't mind if you slow down a little whilst going up a gentle incline.

[psycholist]

Drive very gently indeed until the temperature needle gets off the bottom of the dial. For some reason a very gentle start to a journey seems to improve the figures a lot more than anything you do after that. Sitting at 50 mph in 6th gear returns much better figures than you'll get at 65 too - this is where you have to trade off time against fuel cost, so pick something acceptable to you and go with it.

 

The cruise control on the Superb 2 is quite flexible on staying at the set speed compared to the cruise on the Octavia 2 I had before. As annoying as this variation is if you like to pass speed cameras at exactly the speed limit without worrying about drifting 1 or 2 km/h over if it's downhill, running cruise control this way does give economy comparable to manually adjusting the accelerator.

[lichfielddriver]

keep RPM between 1800 and 2200 all the time, stir the box to stay under the speed limit but up on the torque, 6th isnt always the best for MPG ...

[Superb170]

Plan your braking and acceleration especially coming up roundabouts, traffic lights etc.  Accelerating up to junctions and hitting the brakes hard does impact on mpg.  Keep on eye on tyre pressures are mentioned above.  With varying air temperatures the tyre pressures will change slightly too.  Try not to have air con on when not required.  Anything that causes extra drag on the car - windows open, roof box etc.  The Greenline sits 15mm lower to improve drag

[SuperbTWM]

Drive very gently indeed until the temperature needle gets off the bottom of the dial. For some reason a very gentle start to a journey seems to improve the figures a lot more than anything you do after that. Sitting at 50 mph in 6th gear returns much better figures than you'll get at 65 too - this is where you have to trade off time against fuel cost, so pick something acceptable to you and go with it.

 

The cruise control on the Superb 2 is quite flexible on staying at the set speed compared to the cruise on the Octavia 2 I had before. As annoying as this variation is if you like to pass speed cameras at exactly the speed limit without worrying about drifting 1 or 2 km/h over if it's downhill, running cruise control this way does give economy comparable to manually adjusting the accelerator.

 

Cruise control sticking to a speed better will make the ecconomy worse not better.

 

If you see a hill coming up you can gently apply the throttle more over a distance to maintain speed, the cruise control can't see what coming up so in order to maintain speed it has to open up the throttle a lot more aggressively so it can maintain speed. This is the whole reason why cruise control uses a little bit more fuel in the first place

[psycholist]

The cruise control on the Octavia 2 I had is very aggressive at keeping the car exactly at the set speed, cruise in the Superb 2 is flexible on speed to the point where I often end up giving it more gas myself rather than leaving it a sit under its set speed on long climbs. This means that for me leaving it on cruise would be more efficient than using the accelerator. Older cruise control systems that hold speed very rigidly will use more fuel however.

[SuperbTWM]

The cruise control on the Octavia 2 I had is very aggressive at keeping the car exactly at the set speed, cruise in the Superb 2 is flexible on speed to the point where I often end up giving it more gas myself rather than leaving it a sit under its set speed on long climbs. This means that for me leaving it on cruise would be more efficient than using the accelerator. Older cruise control systems that hold speed very rigidly will use more fuel however.

 

I get what you mean now although I have the opposite opinion. My old Passat used to loose speed and sometimes overshoot the cruise setpoint where as I have found my Superb to be bang on.

[psycholist]

Interesting - the 1.9 PD cruise control held speed exactly (Unless it hadn't enough power or engine braking), while the CR170 in the Superb will often sit 1 or 2 km/h above/below where it's been set on steep descents/climbs. I've never seen an overshoot when coming back to set speed on either of them though. The Superb limits it's fuel consumption to 15 l/100km (18 mpg) when pulling back to set speed too. Based on the way the Octy went it may well have just gone full throttle...

[Jevpls]

Someone suggested you to drive slower (65->60 mph). I think you should try that. Reducing speed will cost you ~10-11 min per day but fuel consumption could be lower.

About 6th gear. I think that it comes handy at high speeds only. I've tried it at 2000 rpm (a bit over 120 kph or so) but 5th gear was more efficient.

[macmillions]

Thanks for the tips so far. Currently the car is running on Continental Sport Contact 2 tyres (all brand new). I'm under the impression these are quite grippy and not 'eco' tyres, like Michelin Energy's for example? I've stopped using cruise control and that has added another 1mpg or so over the course of the journey.

I have my climate control just set to auto. I tried driving at 60mph, but found myself driving st the same speed as the lorries, which I don't like so whilst there's any nearby I'll drive at 65, when it's open road I'll sit at 60 and see what difference that makes, plus accelerating on the flats, rather that on inclines.

Also, I know the tyre pressures are set to what the manufacturer recommends, but does anyone runs slightly higher just to reduce friction? Or is that very much frowned upon?

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[eagerv]

All good points above.

 

I noticed my tyres had dropped about 4 psi with the cooler weather.

 

My winter MPG is about 5 MPG or so less than summer, warm up times taking longer and also extra friction on roads with all the salt and wet.

Keep AC off unless needed. Only use cruise if feeling lazy!

 

Also try taking off your shoes! Gives you better feel of throttle.

[silver1011]

Just remember that maximising MPG can have longer term adverse affects.

 

The EGR needs a good blast out every so often to stop it gunking up and the DMF won't appreciate being laboured (high gear + low RPM) i.e. when rigidly following the in-dash gear change advisor.

 

The few quid you save on fuel can quickly vanish when faced with a repair bill for anew EGR or DMF a few years down the line.

 

No issue on a PCP or PCH but if the car is a keeper it's worth thinking about.

[psycholist]

I'm a fan of running the car to the red line under full load at least once a week - it makes the turbo vanes move through their full range, cycles the EGR etc., but my car spends heading for half the time it's driven for on cruise control at 100 km/h in 6th. I haven't found that overall MPG on a long drive is noticeably worse as a result of a few hard overtakes. Just don't do it while the engine is still cold as it will hammer the overall MPG and possibly knock years off the engine life.

[Colin170CR]

I drive 40 miles down the M1 (14 to 4) daily with a bit on either end. Most of it is limited to 60, 50, 40 or, like this morning, stationary with engine off for 20mins between 8 & 7.

My 170 DSG combi Elegance hits 56-58mpg near the end of each run & is currently averaging 54 mpg overall which includes my local weekend trips (MFD readings which are probably a bit optimistic).

However, for an auto luxo barge that ain't bad. I leave it in D most of the time but do override with flappy paddles  or use manual shifts by changing up earlier if I can & backing off the throttle on on downward inclines.

 

Most of my journey is fixed to 50 or 60mph by cameras & even if they are turned off I rarely go over 65-70 except for quick blasts up to 80 for overtaking three abreast lorries. I also find the middle lane moves faster & more smoothly than the stop start outside lane which is normally full of BM's, Merc's & Insignia's blasting past at 90 only for me to pass them on the inside 1/2 a mile later.

As strange as it may seem my journey home north up the M1 seems to return marginally better overall mpg than south in the mornings. Probably 1-2mpg in it.

 

It has become a bit of a challenge to try & break 60mpg by the end of each daily journey which is proving more difficult in winter with Xenons on all the time both ways, front & rear screen heaters & warm up / defrost time in frosty weather etc. However, it's game more & more of us play each day to while away the time on the commute.

[brad1.8T]

Thanks for the tips so far. Currently the car is running on Continental Sport Contact 2 tyres (all brand new). I'm under the impression these are quite grippy and not 'eco' tyres, like Michelin Energy's for example? I've stopped using cruise control and that has added another 1mpg or so over the course of the journey.

I have my climate control just set to auto. I tried driving at 60mph, but found myself driving st the same speed as the lorries, which I don't like so whilst there's any nearby I'll drive at 65, when it's open road I'll sit at 60 and see what difference that makes, plus accelerating on the flats, rather that on inclines.

Also, I know the tyre pressures are set to what the manufacturer recommends, but does anyone runs slightly higher just to reduce friction? Or is that very much frowned upon?

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Turn off the AC / climate control if weather permits.

 

Run 36-40psi in the tyres

 

Don't use cruise control

 

Make sure the outside of the car is clean.

 

Get the wheel alignment set at a conservative setting

 

Remove roof bars & any un-needed interior crap (my old man drives around with a tool kit & all his car cleaning gear in the boot).

 

Read the road / traffic conditions as far up the road as you can see and anticipate stoppages / red lights / etc.

 

Think about getting a remap - they really do help save fuel.

[Nathanio]

Or just enjoy driving the car and don't worry about saving a 1-2MPG here and there. The cost savings of doing it really don't add up unless you are doing truly insane mileage. 

 

Anticipating the road ahead will yield far better results in the long run and can be done without really changing from a smooth comfortable drive. 

[johnE]

Interesting comments about cruise control. My wife never uses it. I use it all the time. My wife always gets poorer fuel consumption than me. I can always tell when the cruise control is on as the car is very smooth whereas on maual I can feel the tiny dap on the throttle followed by coast as my wife attempts to keep a steady spead. It disturbs my sleep.

[eagerv]

 

 

 

As strange as it may seem my journey home north up the M1 seems to return marginally better overall mpg than south in the mornings. Probably 1-2mpg in it.

 

 

 

I find the same. Usually better travelling North, probably because the wind is normally from the southern sector.

 

Recently I travelled south for about 200 kms into a storm. Car was fairly heavy and would not pull sixth gear, sometimes even fifth was a bit of a struggle on the motorway gentle inclines. Got the worst MPG ever, about 40.

[JamboDave]

For best efficiency you need to have the engine producing maximum or near maximum torque at the lowest R.P.M possible and going by lichfielddriver he's right it should be between 1800-2200 R.P.M as can be seen in this graph,  http://www.quantumtuning.co.uk/ecu-remap-chip-tuning-performance-results.aspx?type=Cars&make=Skoda&range=Superb&model=%201.6TDI%20-%20105BHP I would say ideally as close to 2000 R.P.M as possible.

 

I remember seeing on fifth gear I think, about you should accelerated as quickly as possible, but change gear at 2000 R.P.M seemingly this uses less fuel than labouring your acceleration.  You get to your cruising speed quicker.

 

Inflate you tyres to the correct pressure. 

 

Keep the correct distance from the car in front of you so you can anticipate what they and the traffic in front are going to do, that way you can limit use of the brakes and coast rather than brake, accelerate, brake, accelerate.

Limit what you carry in the car, including your fuel level, fill up less and often as opposed to full and less often.

Mae sure the outside of the car is clean, windows closed, AC and Cruise control off.

 

More tips can be found here: https://www.eta.co.uk/driving-tips/

Also if you are interested do an advanced driving course. 

Edited 20 January, 2016 by JamboDave

[Stinker]

The further you put your foot down the more fuel you use - simples!

Try staying in the gear that minimises how far down you have to put the accelerator pedal to maintain speed.

Usually it's not top gear unless your going over 55mph or are under light load, e.g. going downhill.

[Stinker]

Just remember that maximising MPG can have longer term adverse affects.

 

The EGR needs a good blast out every so often to stop it gunking up and the DMF won't appreciate being laboured (high gear + low RPM) i.e. when rigidly following the in-dash gear change advisor.

 

The few quid you save on fuel can quickly vanish when faced with a repair bill for anew EGR or DMF a few years down the line.

 

No issue on a PCP or PCH but if the car is a keeper it's worth thinking about.

Good advice from Silver as usual....