Did a 45 mile trip yesterday in my 1.4 petrol. Used circa £7 worth of fuel (as it was nearly empty and I put a £10'ers worth of fuel in).

 

it could be that petrol costs have gone up, but it does seem to be costing me an awful lot more in fuel these days.

 

what sort of mileage are others getting 

So money's tight then!

 

The only way to be certain about fuel consumption is to fill it up each time, that way you'll actually notice if economy falls, the gauge is nowhere near reliable enough with such tiny amounts in the tank.

My Polo (1.4 16-valve) has averaged about 43mpg over the last couple of years. (90% of my driving is a 5 mile each way commute, so pretty bad for economy).  Not sure what that works out to in miles per tenner, depends how much your fuel costs locally.

 

I think yours must be an MPI/8-valve, Wench?  They're known for being a bit thirsty, but shouldn't be massively worse, maybe mid-high 30s?