Hi I am new to a Petrol Skoda Fabia estate, having come from 2  2.0L  turbo diesel Octavia estates. I did look at on line reviews regarding performance and more importaintly MPG figures.

I am somewhat dismayed at the actual MPG figures i am getting from my 2016 car with 34000 on the clock . Taken from the onboard computer the figures are showing Long term :34mpg.

Since start 23.1 ( short 1/2 mile journey ) Since refule 36.0 mpg these all seem extreemy low compared to what is showing on the auto trader website for the same age and engine car. Have i bought a bad car, it goes ok apart from the mpg, Or should i have gone for the 1.0L 3 cylinder engine version. As this little 1.2 petrol engine Skoda is doing about 20 mpg less than my old 125000 trusty Octavia estate. Hopefully somebody can shed some real world MPG figures. Thanks 

Alan, if you're coming from a Skoda you should know better than to fully trust VW computer figures (though some say they're not far out).

 

Coming from a diesel to petrol you might need to adjust your driving style, you probably don't notice or realise you're driving the petrol quick (not necessarily faster) but as you know you won't see the same MPG regardless.

 

The only way to get a reasonable average MPG for one fill to the next is to fill the tank to the first click of the petrol pump, zero your trip and at the refill fill to first click of the pump, note the mileage and litres put in, divide litres by 4.546 to get gallons and divide the gallons into mileage for MPG (average on that fill).

 

34/36mpg (even allowing for lying German computers) sounds low but there are so many variables that comparing one car and driver to others gives wide variations, my wife would always get better mpg than me unless I was on a mpg/car performance check journey.  Not in a Fabia but I once did 50mph for about 100 miles up the M6 my wife begged me to speed up, I did for the second half of the journey and literally halved the mpg whilst doing so, keeping up with a mate's Honda S2000 that had joined us.

 

Printed figures for other drivers in other situations must be taken as a rough guide only, you don't know the accuracy of the submissions or if more hypermilers have submitted than average or lead-footed drivers, you and your car are what matter how you and the car can increase your mpg. 

 

A 2016 car with only 34k-miles on the clock is low annual average mileage, this isn't always as advantageous as many think so time dependant, rather than mileage, servicing and maintenance is even more important.  You will want to know , or get done, full car servicing (not just engine oil & filter changes).  Simple things like engine air filter and spark plug changes can make a big difference to performance.

 

Do you know if the car sat around for a time before you bought it (probably the battery has been changed recently) if so after servicing the car properly then fill up with a couple of tank fulls of Shell V-Power, Tesco Momentum, Esso Synergy Supreme+,  Jet Ultra, Texaco Supreme, BP Ultimate, all for their additive page of additional cleaners and give the car a few good blowout runs (higher revs over some distance not fuel-saving runs). - petrol.pdf

 

Do a tank to tank refill and see how your maths compares with the car's computer and check what actual servicing and maintenance work has been done on your car and if there are any faults with it.

 

Edited 8 April, 20233 yr by nta16
clarifying

Thanks for your reply, i realise there are a million and one variables when it comes to mpg , I was just trying to find out what other fabia drivers were getting to the gallon. Also is the 1.0L 3 cylinder engine better than the 1.2l  4 cylinder engine ?Thanks once again.

Hello Alan, SWMBOs Fabia (3-pot, 1.0, 110 TSI) averages between 40-45 mpg doing mostly short runs. I suggest running a check on your fuel computer readings by doing as NTA16 says with a tank to tank run. When was the air filter last changed?

I prefer my Octavia's 4 cylinder 1.4 to her Fabia 1.0, 3 - mostly for the extra, low down torque. The Fabia is more 'chuckable' however.  

(Warrior193 posted whilst I was still one-finger typing)

 

Fair enough, but I'd have thought you'd also want to know how they achieve their mpg figures and why you don't.  There will be plenty of threads on here about MPG and hypermiling but not sure if they cover the models you're concerned with.  Some on here show Fuelly stuff on their signitures(?).

 

There have been recent threads about the 1.0L 3 cylinder against the 1.2l  4 cylinder engine not sure if they included mpg.  I've seen posts where people don't understand how to work out mpg and don't understand the variations to why mpg varies so much (plus perhaps some willy-waving figures).

 

Quite recently some poster on here (forget which model) was getting 20mpg and he followed simple advice and was up to 40mpg within a few posts.

 

@Alanhipperson25, we rented a 1.2 litre Vauxhall Corsa when we visited the UK last September and the long term consumption for the last 6k miles under previous rentals was 22mpg!

We averaged about 60mpg over about 2k miles and that included some inner and outer urban London driving so I would not take any notice of your long term figures and follow the good advice of others and find out what you actually get.

 

I find it hard to believe how anyone could get that bad consumption in a 1.2tsi Fabia unless:

Towing a caravan, or racing at Brands Hatch, or only ever doing 2 mile journeys to the shops!  

 

Other threads comparing the 1.2tsi to the later 1.0tsi suggested that the latter was slightly more economical but the former was nicer to drive being smoother and offering better low rev torque.

 

As already suggested checking the car's bits like the air filter, spark plugs, tyre pressures, and for binding brakes will not do any harm. Another possible thing to check is the units of measure selected for the display as there is a (very) remote possibility that smaller US gallons have been accidentally selected instead of larger Imperial gallons?

 

Be interesting to hear the results of your investigations

I will just check the us/ imperial setting now 

Yes it is in imperial (UK) mpg I will take it on a decent run tomorrow, and see what i get .

Normal advice for improving economy -

- Imagine you have an egg between your right foot and the pedal.

- Accelerate gently.

- Look ahead and anticipate traffic.

- Remember, unnecessary braking wastes fuel (see notes 2 and 3), try to 'coast' up to red traffic signals. 

- Use highest gear possible suitable for current speed, while still allowing proper vehicle control. 

  

Yes i am a economical driver, but somewhat alarmed coming from a 160bhp octavia 2.0 turbo diesel getting up to 60 mpg , to getting high 30's low 40 mpg 

@Alanhipperson25 can you maybe say what power of 1.2 TSI it is, how many miles has as it done, how many miles you have done in it.  Has it got new spark plugs, a new air filter and what tyres are fitted, size and type and set at what pressure,?  And is the car empty apart from you?   All rather important stuff in the economy in the not be dry cold Norfolk even this winter.    Any published Economy figures are pre WLTP and just as much fiction.  They were done in a building on a rolling road with a car that had at least 3,000 km on the clock. 

Edited 8 April, 20233 yr by toot

Ps as to suggestions of higher gears or the likes.  It is a DQ200 DSG.  It is a case of into D or into S or between the 2 as and when or manual shifts, but really the DSG is working to achieve economy and getting to the higher gears asap unless in S. Then it is at a higher RPM before changing up. 

'Since refuel' is the only one to take any notice of as far as I'm concerned, check it against your maths from MPG refills to see how accurate it is and then in future if you want to you can rely on the adjusted (or ignore adjustment) 'Since refuel' figures.

 

I don't know what device you view on but Gerrycan has a Fuelly fing in 'is signature(?), as below. -

 

38 minutes ago, toot said:

how many miles has as it done,

 

12 hours ago, Alanhipperson25 said:

2016 car with 34000 on the clock

 

Thanks.  So if a FMDSH or just a FSH then are the spark plugs changed already.  And had the airfilter even been looked at at the last services? 

6 hours ago, Alanhipperson25 said:

Yes i am a economical driver, but somewhat alarmed coming from a 160bhp octavia 2.0 turbo diesel getting up to 60 mpg , to getting high 30's low 40 mpg 

I think you will have resign yourself to the fact that the Fabia will not match the diesel consumption or performance for certain journeys. Have to say your reports for your vRS are better than the average reported for the type though.

@Alanhipperson25 a different model with different issue but much of the same basic advice was given to this thread originator with a car new to him and following up on the advice he's beginning to see why it was given. - 

 

 

Well did a longer run 14 miles into and out of Norwich and the MPG cameup to 45mpg since start, which is a improvement,the car is saying it is due a service in 25 days time , so will see how it improves after that .Oh the Tyre pressures are now correct, they were all over inflated .Suspect the plugs and air filter need replacing .

I hope you are not paying the ridiculous price a main dealer charges to replace the spark plugs.

As to the air filter you can look at that if you read the thread on here with someone asking why not easy.  It is not that difficult and £35-45 charged by a main dealer for something that is around £15 is just too much IMO.  

They should be checking them at each service and not leaving as long as 6 years because that say that is 'the schedule'. 

Edited 9 April, 20233 yr by toot

17 hours ago, nta16 said:

 

I don't know what device you view on but Gerrycan has a Fuelly fing in 'is signature(?), as below. -

 

 

I had no idea my old signature was still viewable as I could not see it, and I had not put any entries in Fuelly for a few  years now anyway.

The average consumption per refueling (which I do calculate) is still about the same even though my wife does most of the driving in the car these days.

 

Went in to view my account settings and the action of just viewing my signature appears to have deleted the Fuelly reference which is probably the right thing since it is such old data.

1 hour ago, toot said:

I hope you are not paying the ridiculous price a main dealer charges to replace the spark plugs.

 

 

I remember a Skoda master technician who used to post here saying that it was important that spark plugs were orientated correctly in direct injection engines.

So someone needs to know what they are doing when screwing them in rather than just screwing up  

Edited 9 April, 20233 yr by Gerrycan

3 hours ago, toot said:

I hope you are not paying the ridiculous price a main dealer charges to replace the spark plugs.

As to the air filter you can look at that if you read the thread on here with someone asking why not easy.  It is not that difficult and £35-45 charged by a main dealer for something that is around £15 is just too much IMO.  

They should be checking them at each service and not leaving as long as 6 years because that say that is 'the schedule'. 

 

That makes interesting reading , I thought i would have a quick look at the air filter on my Fabia ,what a pain I gave up after getting the  the 1st air hose off, it was a piece of cake on My Octavia to check/ change the air filter , I might have another go at it. I use a inderpendant Skoda garage formy servicing .

My wife's car is an August reg'd Polo 1.2TSI, so I have that "treat" coming my way in a few months!  I did buy a small rack type tool to open up these large strong clips, it works very well for that job which was I think, I've intended target job - it is also very handle for releasing heater hoses on B8 Audis and no doubt in other cars/places.

 

Getting the spark plug electrodes in exactly the correct orientation, ha ha, must need special tools!

4 hours ago, rum4mo said:

 

Getting the spark plug electrodes in exactly the correct orientation, ha ha, must need special tools!

 

A GPS equipped long extension socket wrench accurate to within one degree??