A2 fuel economy

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mark - 21 Mar 2006 13:53 GMT

I bought my A2 1.4 diesel about 5 months ago and I've been getting a fairly consistent fuel usage of about 45mpg with a mix of urban and motorway miles.

Now, 45 isn't exactly poor, but I've been led to expect figures way in advance of that (like 60 or even 80 mpg from the diesel model)

It's been in for a full service and had the filters changed with no noticeable improvement. Can you think of any reason I'd be getting such bad performance from it?

It's done less than 40,000 miles.

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Peter Bell - 21 Mar 2006 14:55 GMT

> Now, 45 isn't exactly poor, but I've been led to expect figures way in
> advance of that (like 60 or even 80 mpg from the diesel model)

Fairly normal, I would say. My wife's A2 TDi is used mainly off
motorway, and she gets just over 50 mpg (using BP Ultimate - which
gives slightly better mileage than Shell). I find that the consumption
drops quite dramatically as road speed rises - at 70mph the DIS shows
around 45mpg. If you keep the speed down to 60mph, then you can easily
achieve well in excess of 50mpg.

We have owned the car from new, and it has around 30k on the clock.

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mark - 21 Mar 2006 15:02 GMT

Thanks for that. I guess I just need to slow down a little then :/

>> Now, 45 isn't exactly poor, but I've been led to expect figures way in
>> advance of that (like 60 or even 80 mpg from the diesel model)
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
> We have owned the car from new, and it has around 30k on the clock.

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billmywall@yahoo.co.uk - 22 Mar 2006 16:35 GMT

> Thanks for that. I guess I just need to slow down a little then :/

Well I'm not sure about that. I get 50 - 55 mpg from my 1.9 TDi A6 so
I'd expect you to get more than what your getting.

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mark - 22 Mar 2006 17:19 GMT

>> Thanks for that. I guess I just need to slow down a little then :/
>
> Well I'm not sure about that. I get 50 - 55 mpg from my 1.9 TDi A6 so
> I'd expect you to get more than what your getting.

Trouble is, I've no idea what would cause it to be abnormally low. Engine management unit? Aircon?

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billmywall@yahoo.co.uk - 22 Mar 2006 22:18 GMT

> >> Thanks for that. I guess I just need to slow down a little then :/
> >
> > Well I'm not sure about that. I get 50 - 55 mpg from my 1.9 TDi A6 so
> > I'd expect you to get more than what your getting.
>
> Trouble is, I've no idea what would cause it to be abnormally low. Engine management unit? Aircon?

Sorry I can't be any help. All I know is that I run my A6 with air con
on and get 50-55mpg. The petrol version of the A2 is supposed to get
your reported mpg so either there's a problem somewhere or you've got a
really heavy right foot. :(

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Peter Bell - 22 Mar 2006 18:43 GMT

> > Thanks for that. I guess I just need to slow down a little then :/
>
> Well I'm not sure about that. I get 50 - 55 mpg from my 1.9 TDi A6 so
> I'd expect you to get more than what your getting.

A lot of A2 owners would love to know how!

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Dave - 22 Mar 2006 23:04 GMT

>> Well I'm not sure about that. I get 50 - 55 mpg from my 1.9 TDi A6 so
>> I'd expect you to get more than what your getting.
>
> A lot of A2 owners would love to know how!

I'd like to know how! Our A4 1.9TDi only averages around 40MPG and the best
I've seen is 46MPG over a 560 mile which was 90% motorway/dual-carriageway.
Annoyingly DIS reported almost 52MPG which is pretty pants considering how
accurate the fueling is supposed to be. You'd think they'd be able to make a
trip computer that actually got close the the real mpg.

A neighbour of mine got an A2 TDi when they first came out. He boasted of
getting more than 80mpg on a motorway run while sitting at about 65mph so
I'd think that 45 is quite poor unless the journeys are normally quite
short.

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Peter Bell - 23 Mar 2006 00:35 GMT

> A neighbour of mine got an A2 TDi when they first came out. He boasted of
> getting more than 80mpg on a motorway run while sitting at about 65mph

I suspect that there was a large dose of wishful thinking involved in
this claim!

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billmywall@yahoo.co.uk - 23 Mar 2006 10:24 GMT

> >> Well I'm not sure about that. I get 50 - 55 mpg from my 1.9 TDi A6 so
> >> I'd expect you to get more than what your getting.
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> accurate the fueling is supposed to be. You'd think they'd be able to make a
> trip computer that actually got close the the real mpg.

That does seem low. I'd say I drive 80% motorway and 20% urban. On
motorways I'd drive between 65 and 80mph. I don't put my foot down an
awful lot but wouldn't say I was extra careful either. I consistently
get 50 - 55mpg. Incidentally I used to have an 1.6 A4 petrol and that
used to average about 33mpg.

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Chris Bartram - 23 Mar 2006 10:21 GMT

>>Thanks for that. I guess I just need to slow down a little then :/
>
> Well I'm not sure about that. I get 50 - 55 mpg from my 1.9 TDi A6 so
> I'd expect you to get more than what your getting.

We used to have a 1.4TDi Polo (the same engine as the A2), and got about
50ish MPG out of it, driven quite hard- not thrashed, but accelrating
quite hard. Oddly enough, I get about the same out of my 1.9TDi A3,
which is heavier and more powerful. I just think that the 1.4 is only
very economical driven slowly/gently- but that's no fun.

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william asty - 24 Mar 2006 23:26 GMT

Hi Mark

I also have the same car with 32000 miles on the clock. I have had it for 9
months and have carried out checks throughout for MPG. I fill the tank to
the brim, then drive it until its empty, then refill again. MPG has varied
between 55 and 63.8. I was getting 55 when I first got the car, and I was
'comparing it with other cars', and 'seeing what it would do' over a couple
of weeks. When I 'settled down', the best I was getting, going between on
long motorways was 57 (full up) , the best ever was when I took the rear
seats out and drove it for a week going to work, with no passengers - 35
miles each way on A and B roads. The fuel cost me pennies under £25.00,
giving me the 63.8 MPG.
So questions to ask;
Are you a really careful driver.
Do you carry excess rubbish in the back.
Do you give the car too much welley all the time.

>I bought my A2 1.4 diesel about 5 months ago and I've been getting a fairly
>consistent fuel usage of about 45mpg with a mix of urban and motorway
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>
> It's done less than 40,000 miles.

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Peter Bell - 24 Mar 2006 23:46 GMT

> the best I was getting, going between on long motorways was 57 (full
> up)

That seems quite remarkable - what speed were you cruising at on the
motorways?

The 'official' extra-urban figure of 78.5 is very difficult to
understand when the DIS (which has a tendency to be optimistic) gives a
reading in the low 50s when cruising at a steady 70mph. Push it to over
75 and the reading definitely drops below 50mpg.

In general I tend to be a reasonably economical driver - the average
consumption on my RS6, having covered 24k miles, is better than 23mpg
(most people report figures of less than 20mpg).

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william asty - 25 Mar 2006 23:18 GMT

Peter

Cruising was around 75. I tend to travel on motorways from 7 pm as its much
quieter then with minimum slowing down then building up your speeds again. I
have tried various makes of diesel, and I prefer shell, although the local
Tesco invariably goes in between the 3/4 monthly long trips. I has a long
haul to get cruise fitted a few months ago, and was stuck in traffic for
about twenty minutes getting there. Coming back at around 75 to 80, I got
61.8 with the rear seats removed, the rear cover and the false cover. Its
quite surprising how nippy the car is when you travel without those items.
In general, with the odd town driving and weekend visits to other local
towns via the motorway, with two up, and the seats back in, it varies
between 57 and 59. What I have found that cruise certainly helps to keep
your speeds down overall. I certainly do not trust on board computers.
Filling the tank up, and taking your time...as it takes ages, is the best
method to establish MPG. The previous owner of the car also advised it
provided excellent economy, but he could not provide any figures.

Bill

>> the best I was getting, going between on long motorways was 57 (full
>> up)
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> consumption on my RS6, having covered 24k miles, is better than 23mpg
> (most people report figures of less than 20mpg).

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