Fuel Economy

Nilz

Nilz

Defo worth the wait :)
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Right after reading another thread, about petrols and costs etc, it got me thinking.

I always fill up with V Power and before the gradual price increases in fuel, £60 (full tank) used to give me about 420 miles at a push, now this is normally M'way driving, so no stop start business, however over the years this has got less and less, I was getting roughly 70miles to a tenner, but now im getting just about 50miles to a tenner.

What sort of miles do guys out there get off a full tank or a tenner......

Discuss :)

Nilz
 
Use to get 350 on average, but recently more like 320, all depends on the type of trips im making, driving 5 miles to the local country park to walk my dog doesnt do my mpg any good.
 
55l tank (a3 quattro) about 60l overall and being very very careful about 450 to a tank and about 60-80 miles to a tenner, motorway driving, backwards and forwards to work..... 300-350 to a tank....
 
£30 buys me 150 miles of mixed driving, so I suppose £10 buys me 50 miles of mixed driving.

Christ fuel's expensive!
 
Anyone who fills their car with a tenner of fuel shouldn't be driving an S3! lol
Click to expand...

any1 who fills there tank is adding extra weight and lowering there chances of good mpg.... so a tenner might be more economical than a tank.... yeah thats right... that 45-55l is 45-55kgs... i mean that could make a massive difference.... 0.4-0.5 mpg.... but surely it must make a difference, same as emptying your boot or stripping the interior... has anyone done a direct comparisson of stripped to standard?
 
But then you factor in all the additional trips to the pump, sitting in the queue and whatnot, soon adds up, especially if the fuel station is out of your way.

I always brim my tank, and always drive until the light comes on.

I hate petrol stations, so i'd rather visit once a fortnight or whatever than every few days.

Plus using a whole tank allows you to actually track your consumption, as you have a fixed point (ie full) to measure against, rather than "the light came on, i put a tenner in and now the lights come on again and i've only done 30miles" which is about as scientific as measuring your coolant temperature by feeling the air coming out of the heater vents.
 
I dont fill up with a tenner, thats what i worked out...coz im clever like that!!! :moa:
 
The 1.8t 20v dosn't seem to be a particularly ecconomical engine..... even in standard trim with motorway mileage i find it hard to get the trip computer to give me an average over 30mpg what i have noticed though is driving like miss daisy on the motorway dosn't seem to change anything, if do my commute at 60mph i still get the same sort of mileage as if i do it at 80mph,,,,, sorry i mean 70mph :) i think because the A3 is such heavy car then you can use the momentum to keep your mpg reasonable even at speed .... of course if your driving round town and start giving it the beans on boost then you might aswell have a hole in the bottom of the tank..... what to do though ??? sell up and get a diesel ??? i should have bought one in the first place but if i was to sell my TQS i would get nowhere near enough money for it to buy a similar spec'ed diesel Quattro so i would have to outlay more money.... might aswell keep spending it on the petrol,,,, an LPG conversion looks tempting but again it's another large chunk of money to find..... time to turn to a life of crime me thinks... :) ohh i've just cleaned the injectors and fitted some new plugs so hoping for a marginal increase in MPG in the near future... be hard to tell though the speed petrol is rising in price
 
Its more economical than probably any other turbocharged 4cyl petrol car of its age to be fair.

My computer sais average 33mpg. Get generally between 370-400 miles. Not many if any 250+bhp cars see better than that.
 
Fuel consumption on the motorway is largely a factor of the weight of the car and not much else.

A3 quattro is (afaik) up around 1450kgs. Our A4 Avant is 1500kg, and it will do just over 30mpg on a motorway run, so i'd expect a bit more from an A3, especially as its 4wd system isnt permenant like the A4's.

Its down to how you drive though. Some people will hold their speed at a very consistent 70mph, others constantly speed up and slow down with the traffic, and even if you still average 70, you'll use more fuel doing that.

The 60/80mph thing is more likely down to the engines BSFC ratings at those engine speeds. At 60, your probably running the engine at a slightly less efficient RPM, so when you drive at 80 instead, the additional energy required for the higher speed is offset by the engine being able to extract more power from the fuel injected.

Similar thing happens round town, where driving in 3rd or 4th will often use less fuel than 5th, because in 5th gear at 30mph the engines extremely inefficient.
 
Normal b road driving to/from golf in winter = ~31mpg 340-380m per tank
Normal b road driving to/from golf in summer = ~33mpg 370-410m per tank
Motorway with cruise @68mph = ~37mpg 400-450 per tank
Best ever Oxford to Cornwall and back = 40.1mpg 527m (0 miles left!!)

Cheers
 
My A3 T does 36mpg av every week, mostly rural 60mph roads and town driving, includes a bit of pedal to the floor every now and then (usaually when teaching some Saxo/corsa kid a lesson).
 
i used to get about 33mpg with mixed driving, now im down to 24mpg ish lol, i think mine is down to a ****** thermostat and the car been due a full service, my bad lol.
 
Really cant complain with the economy here, average about 280 to a tank, although hard to gauge as I only use the car on weekends. I do a regular journey from devon to york which is 310miles and im usually left with quarter tank. Thats sticking at 80, tried it at 70 and the mpg didnt really change.
 
Well done Nilz, I love these threads that go on and on and on and on and....

Anyway, I like visiting the petrol station because they also sell cream eggs. :yum:

However, I always fill it up once I only have 1/4 tank left. Always use V-power. Tends to cost me about £60, plus the cream egg of course.

Regarding mpg, most of my driving is on fast B-roads, so I tend to get about 280 miles per 3/4 tank, which the DIS tells me is about 29.5mpg. Depends on my mindset really; sometimes I try to drive smoothly and see what mpg I can get out of it, other times I just like to boot it and enjoy the ride. But ALWAYS with a cream egg.
 
ayfreetee said:
Blyme, someones got a cream egg fetish!
Click to expand...

Yea and the worst thing is, he doesnt even eat them.........leave it to your imagination ;)

I dont know if its the price of fuel or what, but i feel my car has lost economy quite a bit, I did have a major boost leak, which was sorted, had my cambelt done, and also the stat as well, as that was shot too.

I did the throttle body reset and the accelerator reset to see if the ECU would pick up that everything was ok, did a VAGCOM scan and all is clean on that too....

Jo mentioned the CTS may need changing, as that can have an effect on economy, so may do that in the next week, anyone else any ideas??

Driving style and distances have all remained the same.
 
Nilz18t, you may have a knackered thermostat like me, i didnt know though until i changed CTS which then showed the thermostat was dead.
 
finesse said:
550miles to tank, can be done :)
Click to expand...

Is this in your other ride:eyebrows:

flintstone-car.jpg
 
Dani, ive already changed the stat and its bang on 90 all the time now, before it was changed it was up amd down quite a bit.
 
Also how can you check with VAG-COM if the car is over-fueling ?? i changed the plugs last week and the old ones were sooty and black which was always a sign of running rich in my youth.. that said though it had just done a short run whilst cold as it's last journey..... need to check them after a motorway run really...
 
Best ever Oxford to Cornwall and back = 40.1mpg 527m (0 miles left!!)
Click to expand...

best ever on way to liverpool 42.3MPG on the dash and fari play your braver than me about the zero miles i get a bit nervous about getting it that low and then ending up flattening the battery bringing fuel back up to start it.....
 
i average about 31 mpg mixed motorway and town driving during the week.
 
audi upgrades
were all saying about this, my mate who i work with has a 740i sport BMW, 286bhp and the best part of 2.3tonnes.... 0-60 were about the same but he does have abit more in the top... mainly from the 4.4l V8 under the bonnet, 12 around town driving to normal traffic and 22 on motorway usage..... hes never hit 25MPG..... hahahaha
 
On my last tank i got 350 miles, that was too and from work across town, driving very very steady! Display said 37.3mpg.
 
My MK3 Golf Gti 8v gives around 40 miles for a £10. At least you boys have a quick car, mines is slow as fu8k and expensive on petrol lol
 
I tend to put £30 at a time in my car and if driving very carefully, off boost il get around 100-110 mile which equate to about 21-23 at £1.41 which is rubbish I think around town considering im driving very carefully.

Normal driving I will get 80-90 miles for the same £30 of V power. Rubbish car on fuel mine is.
 
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