Hi guys!

since a while now im driving a very nice 2015 fabia 1.2 TSI station. now i have seen it advertised as averaging 20.3 km/L in various places. now on day to day trips with considerable distance i stuggle to average 18 km/L. now i consider myself to drive very efficiently. i use my cruise control whenever possible, i dont accelerate like crazy, the whole shabang.

now i am well aware that the 20.3 km/L figure is generous but i wouldnt expect it to go down so significantly. i was wondering whether this is a know issue.

and im sorry if this is a dumb thing to ask here. im just wondering where the problem lies and i want to improve it from there.

20.3km/L = 57.3 (UK) miles per gallon (mpg)

18 km/L = 50.8 (UK) miles per gallon (mpg)

If you want to just get a higher mpg figure then there are many things you might be able to do how much better this will be for you and the car overall is another matter. Then are you comparing apples with oranges, is the car and driver being used and driven almost exactly the same as you, same engine, gearbox, fuel, carrying the same, over the same type of roads and environment, same air-son and electrical use, cars equally serviced, maintained and repaired, are the same methods and accuracy of measurements being used.

There are loads of threads and posts on here and elsewhere, apps and dedicated sites(?) about fuel consumption so lots of information.

To me 50.8 mpg for my wife's 2015, 1.2, 90hp, 5-speed sounds good for her use but I'm sure many others would find it on the lower side.

It depends on how long you want to keep the car but always driving very steadily and in a way to get more mpg is not good for the engine and the car, the engine needs some occasional blow-out "Italian tune-up" runs otherwise things get clogged up sooner (that will also reduce mpg).

Best tuning for the car is timely servicing, maintenance and repairs of the whole car and driving techniques. As you have not owned the car from new are you sure about the car having had full and proper whole car timely servicing and maintenance at least in the more recent times. In the Fabia Mk3 forum there are lots of posts showing servicing and maintenance information, as cars get older some/most owners carry out less servicing and maintenance so the car's efficiency drops even lower even allowing for aging, this does not need to be so but generally is. An older car in different hands might be better running than when younger.

Hope that helps.

You should be aware that the advertised fuel economy figures are not derived from actual driving conditions.

Using Cruise Control will not usually give you the best fuel economy.

29 minutes ago, Warrior193 said:

You should be aware that the advertised fuel economy figures are not derived from actual driving conditions.

Using Cruise Control will not usually give you the best fuel economy.

I can get 40 mpg utilising lift and coast and free wheeling when safe to do so, cruise control does not get anywhere near these figures (2014 Fabia 1.4 tsi VRS) it will be helped as I use 99 ron fuel

If I drive in a spirited manor I can get it circa 17mpg 😅

Edited 3 February3 Feb by Crucian

I used cruise control in the 1980s or 90s and didn't like it so have never used it since.

With modern cars though with all their computers and sensors (to go wrong) then (non-active perhaps) cruise control would save fuel if used on a motorway that's not too busy and without too many or steep rises.

We have a 2015 1.2 TSI 110bhp Fabia DSG, my partners car, she gets around 45 mpg on mainly short 4-6 mile trips, which does include many 1/2 mile 70 mph dual carriageways, but she doesn't usually do more than 55. When I have taken it on longer runs its (70 mph motorways) it can manage 50-55mpg, but not usually any better. Tyre pressures make a difference - the higher ECO pressures, which we use, can get an extra 2 - 3 mpg. I think anything above 55 mpg would require a steady 50 mph for a whole journey.

11 minutes ago, thamestrader said:

We have a 2015 1.2 TSI 110bhp Fabia DSG, my partners car, she gets around 45 mpg on mainly short 4-6 mile trips, which does include many 1/2 mile 70 mph dual carriageways, but she doesn't usually do more than 55. When I have taken it on longer runs its (70 mph motorways) it can manage 50-55mpg, but not usually any better. Tyre pressures make a difference - the higher ECO pressures, which we use, can get an extra 2 - 3 mpg. I think anything above 55 mpg would require a steady 50 mph for a whole journey.

Oh wow. Thats already quite a bit better than what im getting. I got the 90 bhp manual variant. And its the stationwagon variant. 90% of the time i do 8 mile trips with plenty of 50 mph roads. Which means 90% of the trip the cars chills at 1.5 - 2 k rpm (using cruise control of course). Doing all that gets me 42-44 mpg. Although right now i have to suffer with winter tyres which might be slightly to blame.

(I am calculating these numbers from km/l and km/h so they might be slightly off)

With the 110 bhp the DSG changes up very early and gets into 7th by 40 mph (65kph approx). The 5 door saloon is lighter than the station wagon, winter tyres, cold weather don’t help. Our Fabia is low mileage 21,000 miles from new, always use Shell V Power super unleaded 99 octane. Have you had the spark plugs changed recently and the air filter. I’m guessing if you are running winter tyres you are in a cold climate so oil takes longer to warm up and is thicker until warm.

5 minutes ago, thamestrader said:

With the 110 bhp the DSG changes up very early and gets into 7th by 40 mph (65kph approx). The 5 door saloon is lighter than the station wagon, winter tyres, cold weather don’t help. Our Fabia is low mileage 21,000 miles from new, always use Shell V Power super unleaded 99 octane. Have you had the spark plugs changed recently and the air filter. I’m guessing if you are running winter tyres you are in a cold climate so oil takes longer to warm up and is thicker until warm.

I live in the netherlands. So it isnt exactly tropical. I use E10 fuel and i dont think the sparkplugs were changed recently. That might actually be worth a peek. And as to the air filter im thinking about installing a cold air intake for the hell of it. But yeah. Your DSG is definitely lighter and i think more economical as a whole. So no wonder youre getting better mileage😅.

48 minutes ago, Milan15 said:

Oh wow. Thats already quite a bit better than what im getting. I got the 90 bhp manual variant. And its the stationwagon variant.

Are you carrying unnecessary weight in the car, have a roof box or bike rack still on it.

50 minutes ago, Milan15 said:

90% of the time i do 8 mile trips with plenty of 50 mph roads. Which means 90% of the trip the cars chills at 1.5 - 2 k rpm (using cruise control of course). Doing all that gets me 42-44 mpg.

That would only just about fully warm the engine for the last mile or two perhaps, look at your engine oil temperature not the coolant gauge you want the oil at 90+C for as long as possible on the journey.

1.,500 to 2,000 rpm isn't best for the engine all the time, perhaps it need a good blow out run (after the engine has been fully warmed at 90+c oil temp), an Italian tune-up. You can clog the engine up but taking it too easy all the time.

56 minutes ago, Milan15 said:

Although right now i have to suffer with winter tyres which might be slightly to blame.

Yes a bit.

5 minutes ago, Milan15 said:

I use E10 fuel.

Try a couple of tankfulls of E5 with extra cleaning additive package.

7 minutes ago, Milan15 said:

and i dont think the sparkplugs were changed recently.

They should have been changed a couple of times at least by now, possibly more depending on milage on the car. You also want your engine air filter and air filter box to be not too dirty, that should have been changed at least once by now, if not more depending on use of car and environment. As I put before you want the whole car to be in a reasonable condition for it to run well and give good performance (fuel economy).

On 03/02/2026 at 13:35, nta16 said:

Best tuning for the car is timely servicing, maintenance and repairs of the whole car and driving techniques. As you have not owned the car from new are you sure about the car having had full and proper whole car timely servicing and maintenance at least in the more recent times. In the Fabia Mk3 forum there are lots of posts showing servicing and maintenance information, as cars get older some/most owners carry out less servicing and maintenance so the car's efficiency drops even lower even allowing for aging, this does not need to be so but generally is. An older car in different hands might be better running than when younger.

20 minutes ago, Milan15 said:

And as to the air filter im thinking about installing a cold air intake for the hell of it.

On a standard car at least that would be a waste of time and money and might even give worse performance than factory fitting.

22 minutes ago, Milan15 said:

Your DSG is definitely lighter and i think more economical as a whole.

With your year at least the DSG model 90 TSI is heavier not lighter than the manual gearbox 90 TSI and depending on how it is driven a manual gearbox might get better fuel economy than a DSG. Take little notice of the gear selection recommendation on the dash of your car instead drive to circumstances and anticipate the road ahead with what gear you use and you will get better fuel economy.

Are you a fairly recent driver?

ETA: my wife's 2015 90 TSI 5MT gets a little bit more than 42-44 mpg and most work days is usually driven on journeys of 3 miles (5km) or less town driving but that is a different car to yours, driven by a different person, in a different country and weather, without winter tyres, timely servicing and maintenance.

But only timely servicing and maintenance and not more than that (other than changing the gearbox oil, and to better than VW use and changed the "lifetime" coolant and using a good engine oil when I done the last two engine oil changes). I don't waste anymore of my life on looking after the car than is necessary to keep it running (reasonably) well.

21 hours ago, Milan15 said:

I live in the Netherlands.

Are you driving up all those hills? 😄

Only got 55 MPG / 5.1 L per 100km from my last tank.

2016 5 DR Hatch 90PS 1.2 TSI 5MT 94K miles, Winter Tyres. E5.

But my regular journey is 12 miles / 19 Km in the country.

Oil can take most of this journey to warm up fully.

Bedankt. AG Falco

I was surprised to get just over 60MPG on our morning rush hour 10 miles commute to "child mind" our older grandson today, car is a 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI 110PS 6MT 58,000miles and E10 fuel, fitted with Michelin Alpin winter tyres, "winter support kit" in the boot and the ambient temperature was 4.5C.

That figure is easily achievable in warmer weather when on summer wheels/tyres and no "winter support kit" in the boot - but not normally gets over/past the 60MPG in winter time.

Edited 11 February11 Feb by rum4mo
added "today".