Drinking diesel...

[Big Mikey]

Just lately my car seems very thirsty - don't know if it's the recent poor weather but I was getting pretty much bang on 400 miles out of a full tank before the low fuel light came on - now I'm not getting anywhere near that - I'm lucky to get 300-320 miles before I have to fill up - anyone got any ideas on this? It seems to have been happening really only over the last couple of months, but I wouldn't have thought the cold would affect it that much. Cheers in advance guys... Big Mikey

[Taxi 219]

Have you lost power also?

[Philip26]

I work around the Liverpool area so I assume that I have experienced the same weather i.e. Cold spells before and after Christmas - I recorded a drop of around 15% from high 50mpgs down to low 50mpgs. So, I would say there is no problem.

Now that the temperatures are back in the 8 to 10oC range my mpg has come back up considerably - if yours hasn't I would investigate further when the temperatures are above 10oC.

[Davy-B]

I'm the same - notice a big difference when the temp is below 5 degrees.

Check your tyre pressure as this has a big effect on economy and the cold weather can reduce them significantly.

[Chrispy]

Yup, me too. I put it down to the lower temps, windy weather you have to drive through and wet roads resisting the tyres.

The vRS take about a century to warm up during the winter months and uses much more fuel on cold cycle. Also, cold intake air means more fuel is injected to maintain correct fuel ratio. Basically, it's the cold weather. It sucks.

[Philip26]

Yes, I should have added if you drive brisky (but not to hard!) while you are warming the car up i.e. Keep the revs above 2K you can get better economy in the cold.

I saw 60mpg {about 74mpg on the silly Fuel computer thingy!) for a 15 mile journey when the temp. was 1oC.

[skudmissile]

My maxidot is currently showing 32.6 average over the last 500 miles :eek:

i think this is down to A) the weather is ****e and my speedo needs calibrating

[seano47]

will be the weather back in summer i was gettin very tops 500 miles to a full tank and now its goes a lot faster

[Babs]

for the sake of a fiver, change the air filter

[adamC]

i just had 427 miles from full tank think this is pretty good mainly motorway and a road driving though, reading 50.4 mpg from dash (prob not correct though) but better than my old astra coupe.

[Big Mikey]

Thanks very much for all that advice people - I'm glad I'm not alone in this. There's no loss of power, just the aforementioned poor MPG, but as Philip26 said - now the temperature is creeping back up, hopefully it will go back to normal. Thanks again guys.

[vRSLen]

Over the weekend I did a round trip of 350 miles. In the summer I managed it on a tank that ran for 400 miles, This time i had to refuel after just over 300.

I know mine is a petrol vRS, but it will all be down to the ambient temps this time of year

[Big Mikey]

Cool, thanks for that man.

[MikeW]

I know mine is a petrol vRS, but it will all be down to the ambient temps this time of year

Agreed!

[M12MKD]

yep mine is down to what is was before the cold damp weather. Mine really hates the wet too!

[gecko]

yeah mines the same, was getting 46mpg a couple of months ago ~440 miles per tank, now down to about 40mpg~ 350-380 per tank, similar driving for each.

Have changed air filter and made no difference, so figure on cold temps etc. No loss of power

[Big Mikey]

Mine just seems to have dropped so dramatically, like. I'd say the most I'm getting is 350 out of a tank - no difference in the way I drive (if anything, I'm driving more carefully!). Just seems strange as no other car I've owned has had consumption drop so badly in winter (mind you, this is the first diesel car I've owned...)

[budfox]

My Fabia 1.9TDi estate consistently retruns 5-7MPG more when the weather is mild-ish (above 7 degrees or so according to the gauge)

That's a very accurate figure as I do exactly he same 100 mile returndrive to Bristol every day.

[JohnboySkoda]

Well I do not how you guys get a above 50mpg

I have never achived 45mpg, dealers say that it because it has only done 20k, I think that there may be more there than meets the eye!

55 Plate

John

[Mr Grumpy]

If I use my car to go to work, I can never achieve more than 47mpg, if I take the wifes, no matter how I drive it, I have never got less than 58mpg.

Mine is essentially the same, apart from a few tweaks, but 25% more consumption?

I blame it all on the immigrants, and one legged lesbians, and of course Gordon Brown, and the Russians, and them there Chinese were always a bit suspect, oh, and I can take or leave Greek food as well.

I think that just about covers it.........

[gecko]

I find I can never get better than average of 46mpg according to computer2, but this seems pretty accurate overall based on a few checks between fillups. This is mostly relatively short runs though motowaydriving gets it up to about 50mpg.

[anonymouse]

This time of year (and I always use Millers Diesel Sport 4) we usually average 39+ mpg (brim to brim measurement) and that is for mostly very short trips.

As Babs said I'd change the air filter - at 16k ours was 'grey all through'. Skoda's 40k is way way off the mark.

[Big Mikey]

Damn... I put £20 worth in the other day - I've done 100 miles now and it's already in the just past the marker into the final black zone before it goes into the red. :-(

[Chrispy]

Damn... I put £20 worth in the other day - I've done 100 miles now and it's already in the just past the marker into the final black zone before it goes into the red. :-(

Yeah, but £20 only gets you about 1 litre of fuel these days. :(

So, that's 100 miles on 1 litre of fuel....not bad going!

[r_holmes22]

I'd put it down to the weather too. I drive from Lincoln to Newcastle and back each weekend. In the summer I always got at least 57mpg in both directions (according to the computer, which I know is reasonably accurate because I have verified it with the manual method occasionally). Over the last three months I have been lucky to get 50mpg and the 'average' is somewhere around 48mpg.

The above comments about temperatures (taking longer to get to the right level in winter) and resistance on wet roads seem plausible. Somebody on another thread indicated that the manufacturers enrich the diesel slightly in the winter to accommodate the colder conditions; I don't know how true that is

I'll see what happens when the temperatures improve. Like the OP, this is the first diesel I've owned. It's also the first car with a TRIP computer.