Last week I had my first job of work in Aylesbury and the afternoon job near Reading. That meant I had to drive cross country from one to the other. I had plenty of time, so I thought, why not see how many miles per gallon I can get out of my 2011 VRS tfsi. Now I know the vehicle computer has a margin of error, but on arrival It showed 48mpg. I have compared mpg from one fill to the next and there is only a slight difference from what the vehicles computer states. Made reasonable progress but did not take it above 50mph. Low revs, block changing up, forward planning to keep moving etc. Not bad for the VRS. I felt I could have got a little more, but I did not want to hold up other drivers too much! Did I enjoy the drive, no. But it shows what you can get with a little effort.

My car is a 1.6 TDI so my mpg will be a lot different but the principles are the same.

I find the estate is very draggy at higher speeds. The hatch is probably similar.

Using the readout on the dash, these are the comparisons:

Hard drive on motorways 55 mpg

Cross country on main roads and through towns around 63 mpg

Quiet long straight roads with little traffic and 50 or 60 mph limits (East Anglia) using cruise control, 73 mpg.

Conclusion is that mpg goes down very quickly as you increase speed only a bit. Also variation in speed reduces mpg.

I might add that I also follow the same rules as you for max mpg and in addition this engine has very little braking on the overrun so anticipation pays dividends.

Don't look so much at my figures as the ratio between them.

Finally, I only get about 42 mpg in town on short journeys.

Figures I quote in economy presentations, "part of my job", are- 70mph versus  60mph= 10.9% more fuel.

                                                                                                   75mph versus 70mph= 6.5% more fuel.

                                                                                                    75mph versus 60mph= 18.2% more fuel.

As you say, a small increase in speed is a big increase in fuel use. 

Just thought I would try on one journey at least, to fully practice what I  preach. One of the driver training companys I work for are now going into more fuel efficiency training for company drivers.

Good work in the TSI! They are capable of respectable figures on sensible longer journeys.

I reset mine after a fill up on the way home from work yesterday. 20 miles 75% motorway and fully warmed up, trip showed 44.2mpg which is about as good as I've seen. Cruise set to 70mph.

Yes if you drive boring like I did, you can get really good mpg. If I had warmed it up first, could have got even more. Might try one day to beat my own record, with a warmed up engine before I start off next time. Will have to wait until I feel like driving like a typical pensioner again. 

It's possible to reach high MPG values even with highly powerful cars but you said right - why should one buy TFSI VRS to drive as with Fabia 1,0 MPI...

Proper speed, no unnecessary braking/accelerating etc. is OK but don't turn it into an obsession.

It's possible to reach high MPG values even with highly powerful cars but you said right - why should one buy TFSI VRS to drive as with Fabia 1,0 MPI...

Proper speed, no unnecessary braking/accelerating etc. is OK but don't turn it into an obsession.

Don't worry it's not an obsession. Only giving it a try just to see what sort of mpg I can get out of it. Don't let my age fool you, I don't normally drive like the average older gentlemen does and I use the term gentleman loosely!! 

I find that sometimes using low revs (especially for acceleration) doesn't always help MPG. always better to have it accelerating at 10mpg for 5 seconds, than 20mpg for 20 seconds! With a boot full of equipment and driving on various roads I have a reasonable MPG, though winter diesel always destroys that one.
On my current tank I've had a mix of motorway and country road driving and two trips through the centre of Norwich, so far the readout says 65.1mpg on my 1.9tdi, probably works out around 62mpg real reading.

I must admit the speed vs economy thing doesn't always work, im not sure if its something with the octavia aerodynamics but at 65-75mph the mpg is poor, but when I was over in Germany on the autobahns I was usually doing 85-90mph and getting 60mpg?! (average, not instant). So not sure if something in the aero stalls above 80 to cause less drag or something? Wish I could get rid of the damn roof bars on the estate, reckon that would give me a few more % economy! Well done on the 48mpg with the petrol though, very impressive. Wish I could do that and convert to LPG, would be the cost equivalent of 80mpg+

Wind drag will always affect mpg, so maybe on the autobahn you had a gale blowing behind you lol. Really can't explain that one. You want to see the difference in mpg when you drive a van at different speeds hitting the air. I sometimes use those as well, but I wont bore you all and quote them.

I get a differenceof anything up to 12-15mpg between my actual MPG and the computer display ... worst was computer saying 73mpg but a brim to calculation was 58mpg with the best being within about 6mpg which was computer 50mpg and actual 44mpg ...

I get a differenceof anything up to 12-15mpg between my actual MPG and the computer display ... worst was computer saying 73mpg but a brim to calculation was 58mpg with the best being within about 6mpg which was computer 50mpg and actual 44mpg ...

Brim to brim on two different fuel pumps can easily vary by 10% so 50 v 44mpg is quite possible.

I was surprised at how much you could get from a largish turbo motor. I do a 60mph commute and could regularly get 40mpg plus. I think 42 was the best I did in the TFSI. Not too bad really when the paper figure was 35.7.

 

The new car I have has a paper figure of 70mpg, I've yet to see it get over 53.