I was interested to read in the drivers manual it recommends that you should change from 1st o 2 nd gear within a cars length of pulling away. This is not the easiest challenge and could surely be a less than safe action particularly at the lights if the car behind goes straight up your backside.

Yeah like me! I leave it in 1st till the red line...

A S2000 from Honda with well over 9000rpm red-line uses more like a train length!!! I'm likely only a couple cars at 6,000-6,400rpm...

1.9tdi Elegance estate. Usually 55mpg. Best ever was 64mpg on a 40 mile run.

Hi, just recently bought a 1.2 12v level 2. So far after 3000 miles over two tanks have managed 41.9 mpg for the first and 42.3 for the second.

I don't think modern gadget-laden cars are capable of delivering the maximum fuel economy. Between 1994 and 1997 I owned a Vauxhall Nova 1.5 TD. That had a 67 bhp Izuzu engine and regularly topped 63-66 mpg on a mixed route of A and B roads, and over 70 mpg on longer trips. It was quick too.

I'm surprised there is so much variation in the fuel consumption of the 1.4 tdi, maybe being tuned to give low emissions means that pushing it has a greater negative effect on economy.

Just a thought.

Did 300 miles this weekend, as normal.

Avg, a bit better than normal, 53MPG, normally closer to 47mpg but I was a little "lighter" with me right foot. :P

2002 1.4 MPi 8v Fabia.

My better half just reported 63.3, best trip average so far.

I'm reading some of the results and wonder if people are really that light footed ... or the computer is a "little" bit out, I suspect the latter!

On my old 1.9 the computer tallied with the "brim" figures and came out over 82k driving at about 55/56 - on the current one its reading over by about 7/10% and I'm getting around 57mpg, though its showing in the early 60s.

Don't rely on the computer for accurate figures - the only way you can do it properly is by brimming the tank and preferably using the same fuel pump...

1.4 TDI

Just re-fuelled for the second time and the figure gives 55.08 for the first tank of fuel. Just completed about 170 miles on the second tank and that predicts 67.0 mpg. I am quite happy with this and on the motorway doing about 65-70 mph there seem sto be lots more power left. total mileage is about 630 miles

I'm now getting an average of 60mpg with 2k miles up.

Had a 35 miles run this afternoon and the average was 60.8 mpg.

604

1.9 td 3 nice run to the coast sat avg 58 mpg happy with this,NOT happy with diesel price! ! !

1.9td 3 estate now done 517 miles since picked car up last week, mixed driving of 75 miles round trip to work each day and first brim to brim fill up got 50.38 mpg.

W reg 1.9sdi with 39,000 on the clock, 65 mpg, 70 on a long journey!!

Drum roll please......................

70.4 mpg

ta da!!!!

30 mile mixed roads commute with 10 mins of 1st 2nd gear crawling at the end. it was 71.2 before I hit the snarl up.

Engine has definitely freed up a lot recently.

1.4 TDI 80 BHP

Just put in third tank of diesel and second tank did a reported 55mpg. Pleased as there seems more than enough pulling power with it.

I have been testing mine - standard and not standard

1.9tdi VRS 130 - surprisingly good.

Standard - normal driving round town, in a tame manner but not always sitting at exact speed limit but not going mad at all just over 51mpg

Not Standard - tried to maintain the same driving style as above, around the same town and I managed about 57mpg

Most of our driving is round town and in a lot of cases running the kids, here there and everywhere, but when I have got out of town and driven in a tame manner, the trip computer has shown over 70mpg on a fairly flat route.

overall tame driving with a few squirts of acceleration thrown in for overtaking - on a decent run I would expect to get just under 60 mpg, although I think more would be fairly easy to get if I didn't overtake anyone, but where is the fun in that

Thought I'd bring this one up again!

Just filled up for the second time after 807 miles. First tank was probably about 50% on long runs and 50% round town. Car says 54.5 mpg.

Second tank was 20% long run and 80% round town. Car says 52.1mpg.

My drive to work in the morning provides a few surprises. Its just under 2 miles (yep, I'm lazy:rolleyes:) but because the first 1/4 mile is down hill, and there isn't much uphill. it does gives me some impressive figures. Worst (when not stuck in traffic most of the way) is about 50mpg. Usually get 54-57 and once when I only hit 1 red light, I got 65mpg!!!

Coming back obviously involves a lot more uphill so not quite so good (38-45mpg) but still impressive to me!!!

One thing I've found that helps in town driving (especially in jams) is that the masses of torque allow me to use a kind of creep function like an automatic.

Basically, I get it rolling in 1st and then pop it into 2nd and slowly lift off the clutch. It will then hold about 10mph without touching any pedals. Can also do this in 3rd (about 15mph) and 4th (23ish).

Anyone else tried this? I guess it uses the minimum amount of fuel for that speed.

Don't think it does any harm to the engine/gearbox/clutch as I'm not putting anything under load or bogging down. If I'm in 3rd at 15 and need to pull away, I'll drop it to 2nd before I do anyway.

Used to be able to do this to some extent in my old Zafira 1.8 petrol but would only do it on a flat surface (or slightly downhill). The Fabia doesn't seem to mind even a slight incline!

Oh, and I haven't worked out the fuel economy doing a brim to brim yet as I feel that it will probably be less than what the computer says and I'm happy with the figures the computer says:thumbup:

...especially compared to my Zafira (25-27 round town, 38-40 on a run with a best ever of 43mpg)

...and my car before that - a Ford Explorer with a 4.0V6... 14-16 round town, 18-20 on a run and a best of 22mpg! Just think, in town driving that's 220 miles on a tank and then £85 to £90 to fill up again.

Would still love something like that again (though preferably with a V8 'cos they sound better) but with these fuel prices there is no-way I could justify it...

...unless I moved to the States :P

TDI 80BHP

Just filled up for the 4th time and it stated to have returned 58 mpg which once again is a mix of driving but mostly on the motorway around 70mph. Not displeased with that and at only 1600 it will get better. My wifes cooper I use a bit too and I have started to use the read outs on the dash which are beter than the maxidot (just). I have to make the point that driven fast it also returns abou 46mpg (petrol) which on comparison is very good and does indeed bring into question the 3 cylinder versus the 4 cylinder debate the latter seemingly performing with greater ease.

Trawling through these posts so far (for which many thanks all round), it seems to me that most people get around 55-60mpg from either the 1.4/80 or 1.9 TDi engines when driving with fuel economy in mind. Surprisingly there doesn't seem to be any really appreciable difference between them on the economy front.

Given that the 1.9 is definitely better/more relaxing to drive, as long as the initial cost is not a significant factor, and the ongoing VED cost is not a deal-breaker, I think it probably makes sense to go for the 1.9 engine.

For people concerned about greenhouse gas emissions, even though the rated CO2 output of the 1.9 is about 8% higher the actual emissions will be directly related to the amount of fuel used. So if they deliver the same economy then the emissions in practice will be the same.

Why are they the same, something which is rather counter-intuitive? I can only imagine that the 1.9 is a more efficient design for some reason, and it must be more efficient at converting fuel into motion. This could be because the gearing is higher so the engine is running at more efficient rpms at any given road speed. Also possibly it is less necessary to drop down a gear and use higher revs when increasing speed.

All of this positive effect must presumably outweigh the negative impact of the greater weight of a four cylinder block compared to a three cylinder block, which is 40kg (the weight of a large child, to put it into perspective).

My driving style for Fabia Sport 1.2 70

I average 3,000 rpm when changing up, even if the engine is willing to do more.

Average motorway driving 65 mph takes up 3,300 rpm.

I just about the published figures.

Not great is it.

The car is now averaging 54.7 mpg over 440 miles.

1042

My Fabia has just averaged 55.1 mpg for this month. Better than the Panda multijet I have.

My overall average is 58 and climbing.

My daily work average is 71 mpg to work, and 63 mpg from work. Not that I rush, but my home is 400ft higher than my work, so one route has more uphills than downhills!

In a fit of panic about how "bad" my 52 mpg was compared to others on here I stuck some STP diesel injector cleaner in the tank. Have always been very sceptical about this sort of additive but after one tank through the system I am now getting 63.5 mpg on the same 38 mile journey!

Long may it continue

how many miles had your fabia done when you put the treatment in???