2.0 TDI Air Filter/MPG Questions

[RSW46]

Just a quick question, if I were to buy an aftermarket air filter like a Pipercross or K&N, would I expect to see better MPG? Any advice from people who have fitted them to the 2.0 TDI 140 BKD engine would be appreciated! Thanks

By the way I have tried searching and not found anything.

 

[Rhyso]

Nope. Not unless yours was clogged!!

Expect a bit more noise and not much else. I fitted and ITG filter to my 170 which gives a fairly decent sound for a diesel!!

 

[RSW46]

Nope. Not unless yours was clogged!!

Expect a bit more noise and not much else. I fitted and ITG filter to my 170 which gives a fairly decent sound for a diesel!!

Thanks for that! It's just I'm not sure if the MPG I'm seeing is about right or not. I only bought the car recently and was hoping for more than I'm getting which is around 40mpg in town and about 46mpg on the motorway, cruising at anywhere between 70 and 90mph normally. Does that sound about right?

 

[Rhyso]

Thanks for that! It's just I'm not sure if the MPG I'm seeing is about right or not. I only bought the car recently and was hoping for more than I'm getting which is around 40mpg in town and about 46mpg on the motorway, cruising at anywhere between 70 and 90mph normally. Does that sound about right?

Sounds ok to me. Diesels are rubbish around town as they are inefficient when cold

Maybe worth giving it a good service and replace the oil and fuel filters. Most people replace the fuel filter as per the manufacturers recommendations which is every 20,000?? I replace mine every 10K when I drop the oil. Filter is only £15 or thereabouts and is very easy to replace

 

[Keram]

Search google for BKD "performance" air filters. There was made an experiment and people found out that so called sport filters weren't good at filtering and they did not bring so much more HP (so in that way better MPG). Buy MANN or another well known brand filter.

 

[Lukeyb]

Our silver 3 door BKD gives similar figures on the DIS to you and our blue 5 door BKD gives higher figures going into the 50s on the DIS, we do similar driving and distances on the same amount of diesel though so I try not to pay too much attention to what it says

 

[SmithyAG]

IIRC stock air filters on the BKD are good for 240bhp, so they definitely aren't restrictive enough to make a difference in stock form or even stage 1 or 2.

Aftermarket filters are snake oil in my opinion.

 

[Gazwould]

It's all to do with the size of the panel filter.

Some older turbo cars have small air boxes thus small restrictive filter.

 

[RSW46]

Thanks for all this, think I'll just keep the standard filter in then and forget about the mpg, all sounds normal! Treated the car to some BP ultimate diesel today so that might improve the mpg a bit but the price increase doesn't make it economical :-o

 

[SmithyAG]

Yep, the larger surface area the better the flow.

As said before, the BKD engine has a big air filter as standard, so upgrading really isn't necessary.

 

[SmithyAG]

Thanks for all this, think I'll just keep the standard filter in then and forget about the mpg, all sounds normal! Treated the car to some BP ultimate diesel today so that might improve the mpg a bit but the price increase doesn't make it economical :-o

There are varying opinions on the "premium" diesels out there. Some claim it makes no difference and some claim a marked improvement when using the more expensive diesel.

I haven't done any thorough testing, but I drive to Scotland a few times a year, each time 200+ miles in one go. I usually use Shell V-Power Diesel for the long runs to give the car a treat, and can guarantee I will see 52-56mpg depending on how much stuff I'm carting about.
I recently did the run up to Scotland and the girlfriend had kindly filled my car the day before when she borrowed it, however it was Morrisons diesel, and we only saw 48mpg and that was actively trying to drive gently.

 

[RSW46]

There are varying opinions on the "premium" diesels out there. Some claim it makes no difference and some claim a marked improvement when using the more expensive diesel.

I haven't done any thorough testing, but I drive to Scotland a few times a year, each time 200+ miles in one go. I usually use Shell V-Power Diesel for the long runs to give the car a treat, and can guarantee I will see 52-56mpg depending on how much stuff I'm carting about.
I recently did the run up to Scotland and the girlfriend had kindly filled my car the day before when she borrowed it, however it was Morrisons diesel, and we only saw 48mpg and that was actively trying to drive gently.

Yeah I've read a lot of different things about using premium diesel, but I thought I'd give the car a bit of a treat today just to see how it is. To be honest on long runs I haven't been that impressed by the MPG so far having only had the car a couple of months and only done around 2000 miles. I do a lot of long distance motorway driving between Essex and Somerset, and I'm doing it again tomorrow so I'll see if using BP Ultimate makes much of a difference to the 46mpg ish that I usually see. I hope it bumps up to 56mpg, that's more what I was expecting to get when I bought the car! Thanks mate

I did use BP Ultimate a couple of times in my last car, a Corsa 1.3Cdti and this made a difference for quite a while to the mpg, even when switching back to Esso which I usually use.

 

[SmithyAG]

No worries, check your tyre pressures too, and don't carry more than you need to if you're going for an economy run. For all it's faults the BKD engine can actually reward you with some decent MPG figures, as I said before, 50+ should be easy on a run!

 

[RSW46]

No worries, check your tyre pressures too, and don't carry more than you need to if you're going for an economy run. For all it's faults the BKD engine can actually reward you with some decent MPG figures, as I said before, 50+ should be easy on a run!

Yep I normally keep an eye on the tyre pressures and never carry too much if I can help it. If I can start seeing 50mpg plus I'll be happy for now

 

[DJ_26]

I get on average 60mpg from my A3 2.0TDI BKD and that's purely motorway driving. This was calculated from the distance covered on one tank of fuel (around 11 gallons). When driving at 70mph, the TRIP 1 readout indicates around 55-56 mpg. At around 60mph, it's 62-63mpg. TRIP 1 is not entirely accurate but I feel it just gives a good indication of real-time economy. I have managed to get some absurd readings from the trip meter though with some careful driving.

Plus that's not the highest I've seen on the trip meter either...

EDIT: I use Shell VPower diesel, but lately I've been trying to use Shell Fuelsave as it's pretty low at the moment (130.9p)

 

[Orange225]

I managed 68.8 on a 200 mile journey last week and average around 44 during the week on a 20min commute to work. I use 2 tanks of v power then 1 normal diesel