Hi,

I've got a 2004 Octy MkI, 1.8T, now with 26k miles.

I always refuel around 1/4 tank, and in this car and an Audi 1.8T that I had, I could always assume I'd get about 100 miles per 1/4 tank.

However, in the last tank, I only got about 270 miles to 3/4 tank, and this tank I only got 250 miles for the same amount of fuel!

I'm thinking that I'll check the following:

1. Air filter for cleanliness - although I read these should be good until about 40k miles, so I don't expect to find much out there.

2. Tyre pressures - just in case they're dropping in the cold and I'm not noticing.

3. MAF - figured I'd take it out and try spraying some IPA on it (not the ale )

4. Driving in a less enthusiasic manner.

Car is on variable servicing and got it's first service last year at about 16k miles, so almost exactly 10k miles ago.

Thanks for any comments or sharing of similar experiences.

Rgds.

Ben

give the air filter a quick vaccum or even buy a new one as these get pretty clogged on 10k, so 40k is going a bit far imho. Also wintertime your consumption goes down as it takes longer to warm up and the air is cooler (and more dense).

Will try the air filter clean-up, thanks.

For winter air, I thought it usually helped with a turbo car as they get more air to burn, but I guess if the air/fuel mix is kept the same then the fuel has to be upped as well, and more is used in total.

I know that power in the higher-spec engines like the VRS benefit from the more dense air anyhow.

Thanks again.

Running more electrics in the winter nights eats fuel typically 4mpg.

mebbe its the rising fuel costs not a heavy foot

Well I certainly notice the cost too, since it was 50 quid for 3/4 tank of BP Ultimate last time. That hurt, especially since I was hoping it would help the poor mpg a bit.

50 quid for 250 miles is positively painful.

My consumption dropped dramatically as soon as it started to turn cold.

roll on the summer!!!

Summer? Thats been banned, we just have one season now.

I have also noticed a drop in miles when iam working so i just presume its the cost of fuel going up and the pain of fuelling up every night for the next day.

But my TDi loves this weather and the cold air going in but does take longer to warm up.

Just had my air filter renewed at 33,000 miles and it was clogged to hell and thick black colour.The car feels much better after too.

The pains of being a taxi stuck in traffic all the time:thumbdwn:

I think you're all spot-on with the cold weather - I turned the aircon off completely (i.e. fan speed down to zero, display reads "OFF") and saw the mpg (viewing the constantly-updated mpg reading on the DIS) react immediately, and give me much nicer figures.

Just shows how much power(fuel) the heater sucks.

I'm going to take a look at the air filter anyhow, and since it looks like I have to disconnect the MAF to get at the filter, I'll give that a look and maybe a spray too.

Many thanks again

Ben

Car seems to be performing a little bit better this week - even though it's icy out there each morning and traffic is bad.

I found my tires were all down to 25 or 26 psi so got them up to 31 on the front and 30 on the back and that definitely seemed to make an immediate difference to the mpg. Probably jumped from mid 20's to low 30's on the instantaneous readout.

I'll know the full story when I refuel of course.

i measured mine today against the summer and it had dropped 10mpg. was 30 today could do the same drive in the summer for a 40-44mpg

i measured mine today against the summer and it had dropped 10mpg. was 30 today could do the same drive in the summer for a 40-44mpg

Might get better with the ice about now as your speed will drop and mpg will increase.

I would imagine