MPG not exactly what it claims to be

[thefunkygibbon]

Supposed to be 38 mpg combined (28 urban, 47 extra urban
Driven about 100 miles across the region where i live over the past (first) few days, and my trip computer is telling me i've got an average of 22mpg
This is including some (small amount of) motorway driving, a bunch of B roads and city routes. Launch mode tested once (wow!).

Granted its a new car and i've only just had delivery so i'm messing around trying out what it can do, but thats about the same MPG as I was getting on my ST220 a few years back.

And before anyone says the inevitable "if you care about fuel consumption you shouldn't have bought a performance car"... yes i know. I don't care THAT much, it's just a little excessively different to what I was expecting.

 

[Buck]

I'm guessing you've bought an S5?

Mine's an A5 and 6-700 miles in it is still below the "advertised" MPG but I did notice that it was markedly better on the second tank of fuel vs the first.

The dealer told me it'll take 1000+ miles before it settles down and the MPG is more realistic but I still don't expect to get near their claims!

 

[thefunkygibbon]

Ah, yes, sorry I should have said. Yes its an S5 (and UK based.. no idea if the US etc have different specs)

 

[RAF_S7]

Manufacturers stated MPG bear no relationship to real world MPG.

 

[Lawrence7]

Same as RAF_S7 said...the real world MPG is not even close. I'm lucky if I get above 18MPG around town in sport mode. I just base everything on smiles per gallon and it excels all the time

 

[Simonb1975]

Doesn't this apply to virtually every car. As a rule the first thing I do is knock 10mpg of.
Mpg is an average and a true figure needs a few 1000 on the clock to give a good reading. It's all about averages, not the last journey.

 

[DrEskimo]

Directly from Audi's website:

"*Please note the above figures are Standard EU Test figures for comparative purposes and may not reflect real driving results."

They are not figures representative of what to expect when you drive it. They are figures obtained during a very strict and unrealistic testing procedure so that you can suitably compare cars across manufacturers.

Why? Because MPG is so variable based on roads, traffic, driving style, temperature, road surface, tyres, A/C on or off, weight, etc etc etc...

Standardising the test is the only way to get any measure of difference between cars. Should the test be more realistic, say with faster speeds and faster levels of acceleration and braking, perhaps. Still wouldn't represent any one particulars real world MPG given all the above.

Oh, and if this is measured by the DIS in the car, then expect the real real MPG to be a little lower too...! My trip computer says anything between 18-30MPG, but when I tracked it using Fuelly it was constantly 22MPG.

 

[thefunkygibbon]

Fair enough. Maybe I was just being naive. As I say, I was coming from a Mondeo ST220 which didn't have great fuel efficiency and thats a 10+ year old car. And last car was a Cupra 280 which I was getting around 38mpg from (listed MPG is about 42 IIRC) so that wasn't too crazy a difference.

cheers for the replies.. to be honest I wasn't expecting as many given that this place appears to be a bit of a graveyard

 

[Chimp]

In my S5 I find weird mpg's alot. If I accelerate normally and manage to get into 8th gear around 50 or 60mph then the instant mpg shows about 35-39 mpg (indicated). But the reported MPG is still at 25-30 for miles and creeps up slowly.

If I am achieving 30mpg and then stop at traffic lights and then pull away again the mph reported goes down sharply by say 10 mpg and again takes ages to rise.... not really average.

If you are doing 50mph in 6th it's much lower indicated realtime mpg... go into 8th and much better.

With 1500 miles on the clock it is a bit better though.

 

[thefunkygibbon]

cool, yeah i do see some odd readings in the consumption bar like when i'm braking or slowing down for a traffic light or something i check the consumption and its down by the 10mpg level... i mean surely its not using that much fuel when i've not even got much pressure on the pedal.. (even if at all)

 

[DrEskimo]

Yea the live MPG readout can give some indication of what driving style promotes the best fuel economy, but generally it's so variable that it's not all that helpful at indicating what to expect on average.

Really the only sure fire way is to brim the tank at each fill up and take note of the mileage and amount of fuel put in. Over time you will get a accurate indication of true MPG.

I did this using that app for about 3,000 miles and every time it was 22MPG.

Stop caring after that and haven't looked at MPG since!

 

[thefunkygibbon]

yeah, i need to stop looking/caring at the readouts to be honest. i mean its not as if i can't afford the fuel else i wouldn't have considered (another) performance car. but i think the gamer in me subconsciously wants to make a game of trying to get the best mpg. there isn't much else to go on, stats-wise in this car, much less than the older Cupra, which is a little disappointing. but hey ho.

 

[DrEskimo]

yeah, i need to stop looking/caring at the readouts to be honest. i mean its not as if i can't afford the fuel else i wouldn't have considered (another) performance car. but i think the gamer in me subconsciously wants to make a game of trying to get the best mpg. there isn't much else to go on, stats-wise in this car, much less than the older Cupra, which is a little disappointing. but hey ho.

Ha yea I'm a numbers geek too (my job is in statistics...!), so know what you mean!

I do about 100miles a week, so fuel costs really aren't a concern for me anymore!

 

[thefunkygibbon]

Actually just driven 60 miles sensibly down the a1 and managed to get 34mpg. not bad, but i did drive very sensibly indeed. (ie put speed limiter on 70mph)

 

[cuke2u]

http://www.dft.gov.uk/vca/fcb/the-fuel-consumption-testing-scheme.asp

 

[thefunkygibbon]

yeah, i know. I've read that before and understand what it entails. my point was that previous cars seem to be a lot more accurate than this car.
never mind.

 

[cuke2u]

https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/

 

[Joetidman]

With my S3, it took a fair while for the engine to fully bed in and get more sensible mpg. For some time it was high 20's even on motorway commutes, but now its much more likely to be mid 30's. On a sensible journey back down from the lake District, last week mostly on the M6 and M1, where there were some 50mph average speed checks etc, it averaged 41mpg!! So 3 years in it just shows what is possible even with a 300hp engine. Diesel drivers will laugh, but I never bought the car (or my imminent S5) for fuel consumption. If its reasonable, then it's a nice to have, but I honestly don't really give a toss ultimately, since the performance is why I buy the cars. If I ever decide not to buy a performance car, I'll probably get a Diesel RR Velar!

 

[thefunkygibbon]

Pretty cool. As I said, I'm used to mid to high 30's with the Cupra which is running about 300bhp. So it's def possible for performance cars to have decent consumption. I've got the car on a 2 year lease so if it beds in soon then good, but its not the end of the world if it doesn't. It'll still be 2 years of happy driving

 

[chanlon1]

With my S3, it took a fair while for the engine to fully bed in and get more sensible mpg. For some time it was high 20's even on motorway commutes, but now its much more likely to be mid 30's. On a sensible journey back down from the lake District, last week mostly on the M6 and M1, where there were some 50mph average speed checks etc, it averaged 41mpg!! So 3 years in it just shows what is possible even with a 300hp engine. Diesel drivers will laugh, but I never bought the car (or my imminent S5) for fuel consumption. If its reasonable, then it's a nice to have, but I honestly don't really give a toss ultimately, since the performance is why I buy the cars. If I ever decide not to buy a performance car, I'll probably get a Diesel RR Velar!

I am exactly the same with my 3yr old S3.
I've been tracking the consumption since day 1 with an iOS app and it's showing 30.1 mpg.
That includes everyday A road traffic and weekend "spirited driving"!