Fuel Economy - 184 TDI (FWD)

a3_phil

a3_phil

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Now that I'm over 2,000 miles in, I had expected to be getting better fuel economy figures, but I'm still averaging around 54mpg driving mainly on flowing a-roads between 50-60mph with a short stint at 70mph on a dual carriageway.

What sort of figures are other 184 (FWD) owners seeing?
 
The economy of my 150 increased noticably after about 10-12k miles. I'd imagine the economy will improve gradually over time but diesels do seem to take quite a while to fully loosen up.
 
I've just clocked over 15K so far, and my average economy is ~45-48mpg. I can (according to the DIS) apparently get ~60mpg on some long runs. - NB I say apparently as I don't believe this, and when I do a brim/brim fill up I've not cracked 50mpg yet. A bit disappointed tbh, as I got over 50mpg without too much hassle in my old TT TDI (which I know had a lower drag coefficient!).

I was talking to a Audi Techie a couple of days ago however, as he was refilling the car (was in for some rattle fix), and the fuel light had come on. A full fill was 44L - 6L remaining in the tank with DIS stating it would only go a further 20miles. Dial had said the car had done 470miles - so might have cracked 500/tank - but not seen it in normal driving. Just shows how much they massage the car and figures in the lab tests
 
Yeah, I'm starting to regret just assuming I'd beat the book figure because I had in the past.

I think the effect of things like stop-start have had a huge effect on the test cycle, but not so much in real life if you never end up triggering it.
 
My stop start always kicks in. Its odd - going into london a couple of months back, and I had over 60mpg showing on the DIS - about 25/30miles distance to get where I was going. Up to my folks a couple fo weeks ago, and the best i could manage was ~48/50 despite being a steady 70ish all the way/no queues - go figure..
 
Spoke to an Audi tech today who said my figures were fairly typical and that I should expect them to keep improving possibly as far as 16,000 miles!
 
Sounds promising. Looks like you have a fairly easy work run though, with avg speeds of 50-60, which has long been thought to be the most economic speed..
 
When you say 184(FWD) do you mean 184 FRONT Wheel Drive or 184 (FOUR Wheel Drive). A better description would be 184 or 184Q (for quattro) then there would be no mistaking which version you mean.

I'm normally getting around 45-48mpg from my 184Q with the majority of my driving. I'm retired so do not have to go out at 'rush hour' times and my driving consists of some fast motorway and some quick country lane driving. A lot of my driving is just for pure enjoyment hence the quick country lanes. My 184Q has now done just over 10,000 miles.

I recently went to Germany for a two week holiday and did around 3000 miles, 1500 miles getting there and back and between the two hotels. I did some very fast (120-130mph) autobahn driving and also a lot of just driving through the countryside and villages. I stayed at the limit of 60mph on all the roads other than the autobahn. The overall mpg for the whole holiday was 53mpg. Some days when I was just driving around and not going over the 60 limit the mpg went up to around 60mpg.

Personally I'm more than happy with this level of fuel consumption. If the mpg was important to me I would not have bought the 184Q.
 
It's a 184 non-quattro!

At the minute I think there's no chance of me achieving 53mpg with that kind of autobahn driving and the non-quattro is suposed to be better on fuel.

Still, if you're 10,000 miles in, there's hope for me yet.
 
Ditto.. mpg wasn't the driving force for me either, and I do tend to drive quite fast sometimes:laugh:. I do also find a difference in how the car performs with fuel types as well. If I'm using premium fuel, it seems (at least to me), that it starts quieter and runs smoother. I seem to get ~20-30miles more per tank as well. I discussed this with the audi techie, and he said that generally their best results were from car's running the premium stuff..
 
audi upgrades
FWIW, if I keep to 70-75mph on the motorway, my 150 will happily do 60mpg :)
 
I'm getting the following from my 184 FWD
Around town 44-46 mpg
A roads 50ish mpg
On a long run 55-58mpg
When having fun 30mpg

It's got 6,500 on the clock now
 
I know it's off the point a bit - you guys are talking about diesels, but the one really disappointing thing for me is the economy.
As you can see from my signature I have a 1.4COD. It is brand new, but I really did expect to improve on my previous car.
I had a 1.8 petrol Avensis and in my normal driving pattern got 38mpg.
I have been driving the A3 much more carefully, the stop/start has been kicking in and the 2-cylinder mode pops up quite frequently. But I'm only getting 39.5mpg.
I was expecting a bit better than that.
 
a3_phil said:
Now that I'm over 2,000 miles in, I had expected to be getting better fuel economy figures, but I'm still averaging around 54mpg driving mainly on flowing a-roads between 50-60mph with a short stint at 70mph on a dual carriageway.
Click to expand...
Sounds about right. You ain't getting anywhere near official figures no matter what anyone says. With start/stop added to official tests it adds 10mpg to the figures which is obviously totally unrealistic.

I have the 184 and I'm a few hundred miles in, so not far at all, and I'm still well within the process of loosening it up and running it in. I spend about the same per week on diesel as I did on my old 1.6 Astra in the summer, except with winter setting in I've been using the heated seats, the heaters and I've been getting stuck in traffic a lot more as well so trying to use the stop/start when I can. Mid to late 40 mpg. Not too bad really under the circumstances.

You can't really tell with any car, but particularly a diesel, until you get at least 10,000 miles in.

If you had the 1.8 petrol, with an equivalent amount of power, you would have been filling up long before you have so look on the bright side. Those with 150 diesel engines aren't really going to get any better economy.
 
RichardT said:
As you can see from my signature I have a 1.4COD. It is brand new, but I really did expect to improve on my previous car. I had a 1.8 petrol Avensis and in my normal driving pattern got 38mpg. I have been driving the A3 much more carefully, the stop/start has been kicking in and the 2-cylinder mode pops up quite frequently. But I'm only getting 39.5mpg. I was expecting a bit better than that.
Click to expand...
Well, you're probably still running it in remember. Having said that though, the economy figures they quote for that 1.4 petrol are the biggest work of fiction of the lot. They try and make it sound like you can get close to diesel economy with it.
 
cilurnum said:
Well, you're probably still running it in remember. Having said that though, the economy figures they quote for that 1.4 petrol are the biggest work of fiction of the lot. They try and make it sound like you can get close to diesel economy with it.
Click to expand...

Depends on your driving. On longer runs granted a diesel will always offer better economy but, for urban driving with a lot of stop/start/acceleration/deceleration, I doubt there's much in it at all. I'm switching to petrol this time around as 90% of my journeys are short urban trips of a few miles. Diesels are hopeless at this as they don't have a chance to warm up and offer awful economy. They may still beat a petrol but it won't be by much and I'm betting the cheaper fuel will cancel this out anyway. We'll see.
 
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cilurnum said:
Well, you're probably still running it in remember. Having said that though, the economy figures they quote for that 1.4 petrol are the biggest work of fiction of the lot. They try and make it sound like you can get close to diesel economy with it.
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They're wrong, I get better mpg than my diesel ever did, and the fuel is cheaper...
 
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Checking the DIS, my 2.0TDI150 has averaged 41mpg over the last 5200 miles at an average speed of 25mph which gives you some idea of how much of that is urban trips in traffic.

We'll see how the 1.4COD compares over time.
 
Mine is all urban and I only reset when I go on a long run, currently at an average of 39.2mpg...
 
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cuke2u said:
They're wrong, I get better mpg than my diesel ever did, and the fuel is cheaper...
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I don't think you are an authority on MPG figures, let us put it that way and I don't think we need to pollute the forum with that tripe again..........
 
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6a4ada1935f5058b5868391149863016.jpg
 
cilurnum said:
I don't think you are an authority on MPG figures, let us put it that way and I don't think we need to pollute the forum with that tripe again..........
Click to expand...

Surely the guy knows what mpg he gets from his own car?
 
steeve said:
Surely the guy knows what mpg he gets from his own car?
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Absolutely correct but it seems we have one or two intolerant owners in here. My mpg has sat at the same since I got the, aside from longer runs where I average 57mpg...
 
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Given how many other threads we have to argue in, I had kinda hoped we could stick to the original question in this, i.e. what mpg figures are 184 (non-quattro) owners getting. A forlorn hope I realise...
 
Agreed. I will try to check brim to brim for the next couple of tanks and post accurate figures if it would be any help
 
a3_phil said:
Given how many other threads we have to argue in, I had kinda hoped we could stick to the original question in this, i.e. what mpg figures are 184 (non-quattro) owners getting. A forlorn hope I realise...
Click to expand...
My apologies I will not refer to my car's mpg again...
 
Just filled mine up and worked out that I'm averaging 48.4 mpg. This is mainly urban and 3 longish drive outs. I'm more than happy with this
 
This isn't specific to the 184, but out of pure curiosity - what's the furthest anyone has got on a tank of fuel with a new A3 8V TDI? For example, mine is the 184ps, which according to Audi has an extra urban fuel economy of 76.3mpg. With a 50Litre fuel tank, this is 11.36 gallons (@4.4L to the gallon), thus giving a theoretical range of 867miles (yeah right!) Now I've never got close to this, but then I haven't taken it on a really long trip yet with a large proportion of motorway driving (best I've managed is plymouth and back in half a tank).

Any takers?

PS this isn't about hypermiling or anything, just pure interest only.
 
Well I've got about 1,000 miles to do this weekend from Cambrideshire up to Aberdeen and back (ish) so I'll report back with some figures.
 
that's what a call some long distance driving!. I can certainly relate having to do reading to aberdeen this year (not in my car though!) on the way up to the Shetlands..
 
It's certainly not my usual weekend mileage! Bit of a road trip with a mate whose emigrating so we thought we do a bit of a grand tour ; Leave my place in Cambridgeshire, pick him up in Leeds, up to Edinburgh through the Northumberland national park stopping in Peebles. Two nights in Edinburgh taking in the sights and hopefully the grand prix in a pub on Sunday followed by trip up to Aviemore via various destinations in the Cairngorms and then back home on Tuesday.

A good test for the car!
 
436 miles done with 30 left according to dis. 45 litres filled, so 42.7 avg mpg
 
I get the impression you're disappointed at getting over 50mpg in a car with 184PS and 380 lovely NM of torque? When I first got mine I had a 17 mile commute up the A1 and from around a thousand miles or so was averaging 56mpg. I was delighted by that. Especially considering my old 2009 115bhp TDCi Focus used to average 44mpg on the same run.

I've now moved to a job only 7 miles away though, and whilst I still do have 5 miles of A1 driving, due to the current roadworks and average speed cameras it's very start stop with a 40mph maximum. Now in currently averaging 42-43mpg, now with almost 10k on the clock.

I'm probably in to 1.4COD territory now but will stick with the TDI for now.
 
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