A3 1.6 TDI S-Line 3dr 54-55mpg
Glad someone started a dedicated thread on this. I took delivery of a 1.6TDI S-Line (3dr) early in December Fuel economy has been a real gripe for me having traded in a 2006 2.0TDI (140bhp) 8P and not seeing any mpg improvement yet loosing almost 1/3 of the power. I've been up to to 62mpg on a few journeys now, but across the last 4 tanks I've averaged 54-55mpg.
I had a meeting with the sales & service manager in my local Audi Centre a week after collecting the car where I explained my frustration. Got the usual spiel about how the publised figures are achieved on a rolling road, the car needs up to 10,000 miles to run in etc. In short- there is no fault with the car and the mpg figures publised are only to compare one car against another. They were actually impressed that I was achieveing 50mpg during the first 1,000 miles and implied that I shouldn't expect to achieve 70mpg. Grrrrrrr.
Gave the car another month- still no significant improvememt- so contacted Audi directly through the website. Got this two page reply explaining all the factors that can affect fuel economy (weather, driving style, road surface, extra weight, tyre pressure, vehicle extras....) and the same spiel about how the published mpg for all cars is calculated in the same way for every car sold in the UK (EU Directive 93/116/EC)
I've a theory that the tyres on the S-Line may be a factor. The standard Conti's only get an E-grade for fuel efficiency, compared to a Pireli which is A/B grade. I'm led to believe this could affect fuel economy by up to 10mpg. If I put up with the car unti the Conti's are worn out- I would definately try the Pirelli Cinturato P7 Blue just to see the difference.
Also my 8P came standard with 205/55 R16 tyres. I decided after a year to fit replica 18" wheels with the 225/40 tyres- it really did hit the fuel economy. After a few buckled alloys I changed back to the original 16's and really noticed the difference. It would be interesting to hear from someone with a new 1.6 TDI SE with the standard 16" wheels.