Terrible fuel consumption

[Robertino]

Good evening gents,

 

I`m only getting average 38 mpg (going by dot matrix) from mine. I have been trying to drive like pensioner past two weeks, in Eco mode, being very light on accelerator, not revving etc. 38 is best I can get. That is 80% city driving. When driven without extra care, normally, it goes down to 27 mpg.

 

No errors or warnings on dashboard, engine sounds normal, no smoke. What should be my action now, to find a problem? Book at local Skoda for diagnostics?

 

Thank you.

Edited 10 July, 2017 by Robertino

[SC03OTT]

Engine? Doesn't sound abnormal if you're in the city constantly. 

[Robertino]

1.6 TDI CR, 77kw/104bhp. Factory spec says 60 mpg average. They are never true, but from 60 to 38 - its a long way.

[SC03OTT]

Hmm. When you say city. Are we talking barley moving, stop start traffic?

[Robertino]

I don`t live in very congested area, never drive into central London or sit in heavy traffic. It takes me just 16 minutes to drive 5.1 miles to work in the morning.

[Ootohere]

'Factory Spec' or do you mean EU Testing.

You are not driving on a rolling road in a temperature controlled building with tyres over inflated & diesel in the oil, 

if you do drive like that you might meet the comparison figures.

http://skoda.co.uk/pages/fuel-consumption-statement.aspx 

[Robertino]

I do understand that, but 60 vs 38 is massive difference.

[Ootohere]

It is, where do you get the 60mpg from, and can someone else drive your car and get a better average economy than you do.

Do you use Stop/Start are are you not stopping enough for that to make a difference?

 

?

I take it this is the one you thought was 110ps & turned out to be 105ps,

how did you get on with that mis-selling?

Edited 10 July, 2017 by Awayoffski

[Robertino]

http://www.parkers.co.uk/skoda/octavia/hatchback-2013/16-tdi-cr-se-5d-dsg/specs/

 

https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/skoda/octavia-2013/16-tdi-105-dsg

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201706156473124?maximum-badge-engine-size=1.6&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=New&model=OCTAVIA&radius=1500&fuel-type=Diesel&body-type=Hatchback&advertising-location=at_cars&postcode=ub32hg&minimum-badge-engine-size=1.6&year-from=2014&sort=sponsored&make=SKODA&transmission=Automatic&page=1

 

I don`t think anybody else can be more gentle with it. I wanted to see what is the absolute best possible mpg, just curious how close to factory spec I could get. Such driving is boring as hell and actually hard to be so gentle all the time.

[Ootohere]

Did you not read the Skoda Fuel Consumption statement, it is not factory spec but EU test results and the VW Group were caught out as liars and cheats.

 

I have a 2.0TDI Euro 6 DSG Alhambra and around town all the time it does about 25 mpg, 

and after getting to temp heading on a trip which takes about 15 miles it does 60MPG plus at 60-70 mph type speeds.

[snowjoe]

I think you need to take it on a long journey and see if that brings it up to 50+mpg. I'm not in a dsg but it is 1.6. At the weekend driving around town aircon on high (or low temp) I was just above 40 by the end of it all. Drove 30miles to work this morning and I finished at 63mpg. These are all from maxi dot which I've found to be pretty accurate (1 or 2 out when compared with fuelled) It was trying to regen all weekend to but all my journeys were too short, this always brings the mpg down. I'm also always in sport mode.

[Robertino]

I have driven on motorway and average goes up to 59 (still miles out from 80 listed). On motorway I can get it to max current 68 mpg, driving 60mph, fiddling with pedal like acrobat waling on rope - hard to keep constant pressure on accelerator - I miss cruise control so badly.

 

Would ECU remap help to achieve better mpg?

[Robertino]

42 minutes ago, Awayoffski said:

Do you use Stop/Start are are you not stopping enough for that to make a difference?

 

?

I take it this is the one you thought was 110ps & turned out to be 105ps,

how did you get on with that mis-selling?

 

Don`t use it as I don`t get into heavy traffic or very long stops.

 

Yes this is my mis-sold. Still sending emails to each other. Not received single piece of paperwork as they promised. Pure scam.

[bytterga]

i got the 1.6tdi 110hp manual gearbox and i got 40mpg on mixed driving when it was new. now after two years i get an avarage of 60mpg on mixed driving.

my drivingstyle has not changed over these two years but mpg has..

Edited 10 July, 2017 by bytterga

[Robertino]

That is odd. Mine has 34k miles.

[Ootohere]

There was a reason the engines were updated from 105ps to 110ps.....

[Moosekat]

bugger, I was looking to get one of these. should I stay well away from one then?? 

[Robertino]

As you can see, with super gentle eco driving style I`m only getting average 38 mpg in city driving. Appalling figures to be honest for CR diesel engine of 2015. All those figures are just on paper. I cannot drive for much longer like that, its very boring and I do not enjoy it for a second. But I was curious. Normal driving style returns shockingly low 27 mpg. I paid nearly 11k for it!!! Could have bought something half price with very similar fuel efficiency.

 

Unless there is something wrong with mine.

Edited 10 July, 2017 by Robertino

[vladRS]

That sounds like there must be a problem. I got 40.6mpg (calculated brim to brim) from my tsi vRS at the last fill up and averaged 35.9mpg over 30,000 miles from my previous mk2 tsi vRS.

[IanMary]

2015 1.6CR tdi manual. 31,000 miles mixed driving in normal mode and not trying to be economical, average 55.6mpg. There must be a fault with your car. Get dealer to run some checks.

[Gerrycan]

Constant 5 miles on a modern diesel is not a good journey profile even if it only takes 15 minutes at an average of only 20 mph (which is pretty good for urban London by the way)

1. Diesel engines are notoriously slow to warm up and while you may have warm air coming out of the heater the engine is unlikely to reach its happy operating environment.

2. It is quite likely the DPF is making constant and frustrated attempts to complete a regeneration and burn off collected soot which has a marked adverse effect on consumption.

3. I believe you have been having quite warm weather in London so using an air-conditioner in traffic also has a noticeable negative effect.

4. Has your 1.6D engine had the VW cheat fix applied? A few have reported worse consumption after the update which possibly points to more regens and possibly highlighting a pre-existing issue with the EGR valve.

 

Official consumption tests do not include use of air-con or include a DPF regen so diesel figures can appear optimistic but it must be said that the 1.6D probably has the most optimistic official VW figures. Very few 1.6D owners get anywhere near the  official; figures and those that do are doing a lot more open road driving than you.

 

I know you will not want to hear this but I think you chose the wrong type of engine for your driving profile and should have gone for a small petrol engine (in a low weight car) or better still a hybrid.

 

Compared to what I have seen others post your returns on the open road are not that bad so I don't think there is that much wrong with the engine per se but that possibility cannot be dismissed and can be quite hard to identify the problem.

The 1.6D is reputedly a little unusual for a diesel and does not have a lot of low down torque so if you are driving around like a granny with the revs below the torque range then this engine might not be able to operate as efficiently as it could.

 

I sympathise with the lack of cruise control, When I was younger it was never a problem but after a few years of being spoilt by cruise control it has come as a bit of a shock having to drive our small 2nd car over a couple of recent 500+km trips without it.

 

 

[Gabbo]

excellent post as always Gerrycan.

 

Driving 5miles in city traffic from cold is never going to give you 60mpg. 30mpg sounds about right to me & probably if you drive another 5miles the economy would increase to 40mpg.

A diesel needs to be warm to return its best fuel economy figures & is not really suited for short regular commuting unless longer journeys are occaisonally involved.

As you can achieve 60mpg on the highway, I'd say the fuel economy is fairly normal & your short driving profile is the cause of the reduced figure.

 

I've driven the 1.6TDI a few times & thought it was a great engine.

I returned >60mpg cruising 400miles on the highway in clear traffic & many owners on the forum achieve reasonable consumption figures.

Edited 11 July, 2017 by Gabbo

[Robertino]

I have been thinking about fuel consumption vs cold engine. Oil and water temperatures get up to levels quickly, half way to work.

 

Regarding DPF - I have seen no lights, errors or any indication of regeneration happening.

[SC03OTT]

Hmm. I'd be surprised if your oil is up to full operating temp within 2 miles. 

 

Im agreeing with the above though, which was the basis for my initial questions. 

[Robertino]

6 hours ago, Gerrycan said:

4. Has your 1.6D engine had the VW cheat fix applied? A few have reported worse consumption after the update which possibly points to more regens and possibly highlighting a pre-existing issue with the EGR valve.

 

My one is not affected by emissions cheat, checked with Skoda.