Why the heavy fuel consumption???

gavcav

gavcav

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having switched over from japanese coupe's, i'm loving my 2001 A3 1.8 T sport..apart from the fuel consumption!....out of a full tank (55 litres?),i've only managed to get 280 miles!..there must be something wrong?. my previous jap v6 coupe gave me 350 mpg.

i've been driving very conservatively, mainly work commutes of approx 12 miles and around town with the odd dual carriageway/motorway short trips.

is this normal mpg for this model?..the info i read up on prior to buying stated an average 30-35 mpg for normal driving.

it's my first ever audi, so i'm literally nowhere near up to speed. can anyone tell me if there is anything i could check?. my car runs like a dream, has only done 52k miles and full audi history with one previous owner.. i'm really suprised to get such bad mpg.
 
Has you car been remapped?

I've found that you'll only get 35 mpg from a constant motorway journey, I'm lucky if I get 280 miles to a tank but I do mainly short drives, work is only 4 miles away.

Some people have said they get slightly more mpg with a brand new fuel filter and running on shell v power petrol.
 
That sounds about right. mine does the same on its short journey to work. if its run on the motorway i can 400 miles to a tank but that is keeping at 70...... :ermm:
 
I get around 220miles on a full tank £65 to fill up
 
Turbo cars are completely different to naturally aspirated cars... also depends on how you drive and the roads you drive.

I work 15 miles away and my rat run includes twisty B roads full of the '28mph crew' and a few steep hills, I get around 280 miles to 50/55ish ltrs average running a BT...

Keep it off boost then its fine, start using the boost and it goes... quickly...

Trickier on a std car tbh as they are designed to boost early...

2 things I use to help my mileage is a boost gauge and cruise control :)

<tuffty/>
 
thanks for the replies so far fella's...well, it looks as though i'm about average mpg then?..i must admit i was hoping to get similar figure to 'sportquattro' to be honest.
sorry if it's a dumb question, but i've never had a car with a turbo before. how can i tell if my car is running off boost without a boost gauge?..do i just drive like a spinster and hope for the best?
one definite thing i'm going to get done is the wheel tracking and balancing, i am getting some off track and bit of vibe. hopefully i may see a difference.
anymore mpg's for this model would be interesting to hear and anymore useful tips such as the turbo off boost comment would be a big help..thanks
 
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Does your car show MPG on the dash? just use lots of part throttle and change gear as you feel the boost come in..

...and drive like a spinster too lol... just don't surprised if I overtake you though ;P

<tuffty/>
 
..yep, got the mpg on DIS. to aid mpg do you reckon it's best to have the average mpg or 'live' mpg displaying? i have been displaying average mpg...doesn't seem to be too accurate neither!...34-35mpg? i don't think so!
 
Gav, how much are you filling up between fills and how many miles? In your first post, you say 55litres and 280miles, is that accurate? If so, then you are getting 23.14mpg which is crap. I get 22mpg from my heavier S3 running 250bhp(well, my last RR print out says 231bhp) driving around town, 25/26 mixed driveing 30+ motorway only.
 
hi jojo..yep..pretty crap. like i mentioned, i'm filling the tank up to max, which is supposed to be 55 litres? and the mileage i got was 280. this is the first time i've checked it as i've only had the car a few weeks. filled it up again and i'm currently counting the miles to see how it compares.
the previous owner never mentioned whether or not he had it chipped or not, so i'm presuming it's standard?
 
The 1.8t is not particularly wallet friendly I must say. For the past 4months I do 80mile round trips to work daily. Given a full service too, new sparks, fuel filter, air filter, oil filter. My mileage can vary wildly.

All on full tanks:

If nannied for the entire week, I can see 380, that is sitting at 70 all day everyday.

If I fancy a lie-in that week and i sit at 80 interspersed with dispatching of "obstacles" when required, i see 340.

If driven a few days on the mway, a few days around town i see 300-320.

One thing I have found is cold running really really hits the economy on this engine. I havnt done it but lots of town driving/short spurts/engine cold driving would probably run me into the 250-275 territory.

If you want economy get an oil burner simples.
 
gavcav said:
hi jojo..yep..pretty crap. like i mentioned, i'm filling the tank up to max, which is supposed to be 55 litres? and the mileage i got was 280. this is the first time i've checked it as i've only had the car a few weeks. filled it up again and i'm currently counting the miles to see how it compares.
the previous owner never mentioned whether or not he had it chipped or not, so i'm presuming it's standard?
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How much fuel are you putting in though, the tank maybe 55 litres, but are you putting 55 litres in? If you give me a more accurate figure, then I can give you a more accurate mpg figure. My figures are from brim to brim figures, where I reset the ODO between fills to calculate. My DIS tells me I'm doing 27.9mpg and it never moves lol.

Maybe you have a knackered MAF(Airflow) sensor, but I still feel you mpg figures are low for a 1.8T, but I also have no idea how you drive. :racer:
 
gavcav said:
..yep, got the mpg on DIS. to aid mpg do you reckon it's best to have the average mpg or 'live' mpg displaying? i have been displaying average mpg...doesn't seem to be too accurate neither!...34-35mpg? i don't think so!
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Don't forget to reset it every time you fill up... if you don't it will give you the average since the last reset.

Reset the average mpg and/or speed by selecting it with the rocker and pressing the button under the stalk.

Keep it on the live mpg and you will soon tune your foot into decent mpg... you will be surprised how little throttle and the odd hill or two can change the way it reads..

Also, don't coast downhill or other wise... classic mistake.... apart from it being a traffic offence (IIRC) keeping the car in gear with the throttle closed (foot off pedal) uses no fuel, coasting out of gear uses fuel as the ecu has to make the engine idle....

<tuffty/>
 
i think i put in 49-50 litres on my last fill?..i've not done the reset as you explained so i'll do that and see what i get next time i fill up.
 
MAF seems to be okay? .. that's signified by sluggish acceleration isn't it?, so it can't be that because it accelerates too efficiently!..i'm really driving very sedately, so i've not got heavy foot syndrome.
from what i'm reading it sounds the crap mpg is normal..just can't get my head round my previous jap v6 coupe has better mpg than my a3 t sport!..i've still got the V6!...
 
jojo said:
I'm curious what Jap V6 Coupe you to get this awesome mpg figure? lol :)

You probably meant 35mpg no?

I'm guessing MX-3, can't think of another V6 that would give you more than 30mpg.
Click to expand...

Jo, you're so anal, you spot al the typos ;)

He might have meant 350 miles per tank? Maybe it was a boring Mitsi FTO
 
tufftybloke said:
Does your car show MPG on the dash? just use lots of part throttle and change gear as you feel the boost come in..

...and drive like a spinster too lol... just don't surprised if I overtake you though ;P

<tuffty/>
Click to expand...

Yeah and while you're at it you may as well sell the 1.8T and buy a Smart to really rack up the mpg! :lazy:

At the end of the day surely we all bought these cars in part for their performance so we may as well use it, right? Sometimes I find myself becoming obsessed with my mpg reading and working out how far I'll have gone before I need to fill up again. Then I pull away, hit 2nd gear and forget all about it again! :icon_thumright:

My good fortune though is that I have a 12-mile journey to work through some great country roads so I'm never stop-starting and regularly see around 360 miles per tank. Average mpg is 30.5. That's with an APS stage 1 remap and ALWAYS with V-power.
 
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westle..jojo....i'm a knobber!..can't believe i made the classic typo ****-up...tail between my legs.."i'll get me coat....."

and yes, it is the FTO...of which i am still very attached, and still have parked in my garage.:rolleyes:
 
yeah, i see your point 'doc'....think i'll try with some higher ron fuel and see if there's a difference. i've been using sainsbury's motion lotion for the nectar!..yeah i know..
 
I see just under 300 miles on a tank of V Power. And thats town driving...on a run on the motorway cruising at motorway speeds I see a fair few more. According to my DIS I average 29mpg, happy enough with that.
 
i owned a 2.0 206 gti 180 before my a3 and i averaged 29.1 mpg i get the same mpg out of the a3 and it has a turbo aswell :D so 29mpg is all good with me.
 
Ye shouldn't really fill a tank up to max. You are using more fuel with a full tank as the car will be considerably heavier. Better to fill half way.
 
Yeah but I feel rich when its brimmed...ha ha.
 
lol I only ever fill it to roughly half way and refill around the quarter mark . I thought a S3 & A3 had a 62 litre tank
 
S3 Nattie said:
Ye shouldn't really fill a tank up to max. You are using more fuel with a full tank as the car will be considerably heavier. Better to fill half way.
Click to expand...

S3 Nattie said:
lol I only ever fill it to roughly half way and refill around the quarter mark . I thought a S3 & A3 had a 62 litre tank
Click to expand...

I doubt very much the half tank of fuel is going to make much of a difference in fuel consumption, it's an extra 30kg of weight or there abouts, and the S3 is hardly an F1 car when it comes to weight lol.
Filling half way means more trips to the fuel station, so more journeys and queuing up for the fuel pump, which is more wasted fuel.... full tank everytime for me! :)
 
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