Hello everyone,

I have a Octavia Greenline 1.6TDI 5 Speed. I bought it with the impression that it's able to do 60mpg+ easily, however it's struggling to hit 50mpg avg while doing 70 on the motorway. It is on 180,000 miles and is due for a service soon.

I do try very hard to be gentle on the throttle and to coast a lot but it still doesn't like going above 50mpg, a bit disappointed as many people getting very good results with the 2.0tdi dsg.

I've noticed that 3rd and 4th gear are very long and demand high revs to upshift smoothly

I have a 1.6tdi octavia and was only getting 50-52 mpg on long steady runs. Was also getting just less than 45mpg around town. It seems to have improved since I serviced it and reset the service interval message. It now does aprox 70mpg on long runs and 50mpg around town. I was wondering if the car was in some sort of limp/limited mode due to the service light being on? I also put a couple of bottles of wynns injector cleaner through a couple of tanks which also seemed to make a difference. Just wondering if the turbo/actuator is working properly on yours. The 1.6tdi is a bit gutless compared to the 1.9tdi I had previously and does seem to need more revs to get up to speed. The 1.9tdi used to accelerate fine in 4th and fifth but I find the 1.6tdi needs to change down to get the power for overtaking etc. Could also be a clogged air filter etc.

Alasdair

I have a bottle of dipetane that I've been using on every fill up (3 fill ups with Sainsbury's then 1 with Shell) and mpg has improved since I've been adding it, I can hear the turbo spooling up when accelerating so I'm assuming the turbo is working correctly. I have no service light on as it says I have 3000 miles left until service is due but I'm doing it soon anyway. I've only changed the air and cabin filter with MANN filters, need to change oil and fuel filters. I suspect the fuel filter hasn't been changed in quite some time as I've stripped 4/6 screws holding in the housing, pretty sure they were tightened by an impact last time it was changed lol.

Interesting thing to note is that the brand on the filters I've removed are Crosland which are very low quality, I assume the fuel and oil filter are of the same brand so hopefully the MANN filters would make a noticeable difference in MPG.

I think these engines are gutless due to the transmission being a 5 speed slop. I don't understand the why the gear ratios are so high in 3rd and 4th, would've benefitted from a 6 speed in my opinion. I've noticed a lack of power when in 5th and going up a slight incline, when I put it in cruise control it seems to be pulling fine

I was also told by a mechanic friend to fill up once a month with premium diesel. He reckons it helps clean things up and improves MPG/performance. Being doing it for the last couple of months and have noticed a slight improvement. The 1.6tdi is supposedly the same horsepower as the 1.9tdi but I found the 1.9tdi had a lot more torque/low rev power and you didn't need to change down as nearly as much. Hopefully a good service will help. My 1.6tdi is a 12 plate so not the greenline as far as I know.

Alasdair

Was yours one of those that were "improved" by a recall during the diesel gate problem? You can tell by a) an extra air straightener in the input air supply and b) a sticker in the spare wheel well.

Engines also had new software which gives a gutless performance requiring higher revs.

I fought VAG to not have the "fix" and won.

My engine pulls well from 1200 revs in 2nd. Best acceleration is in 3rd from above 1500. Acceleration is more than adequate in 5th gear on motorways.

Fuel around town is low 50s mpg and high 50s to low 60s on mixed roads.

Also check if any of your brakes are dragging.

Touch the disks (gingerly) after a few miles and any that are hotter than normal may be worth investigating. 👍