S3 Fuel Consumption Question

emzino

emzino

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Hi there. I'm heavily considering the S3 8L to be my next car after selling my A3 2.0TDI 8P, but I wanted to get my figures right.

1) Roughly how much say £10 last you?
2) I travel roughly 25miles a day, how would I calculate that to work out how much I would spend on the S3 a week on fuel?
3) If driven economically (changing gears say before 2000rpm), would you get good mpg?

Thanks in advance
 
you'l be lucky to see more than 150miles to £30
my S3 used to be averaging about 22-28mpg 28 being on a very good run!!

if you go to buy one all the sellers will tell you theirs does 35mpg but thats utter ********, they know theyre ***** on fuel!!

why are you going from an 8P to 8L out of interest??
 
If you are worried about fuel economy, the S3 isn't for you!, especially with the price of fuel today!! 22mpg is the norm for around town for me, I average 25mpg with mixed driving, and 100% motorway driving between 70-80 is almost 30mpg.
 
Wow that's bad! I'd be doing only town driving so I guess i'd be seeing the 25mpg readout alot.

I'm selling the 2.0TDI because I had plans to mod it upto 250bhp+ but FWD won't be able to cope so until I can continue saving to get a Quattro A3 8P, i'm going to get another car.

I've got a couple of options but this is my dream car... just didn't realise it was so bad!

Thing is, on the 8P section (with a similar thread), an S3 8P owner is getting 29.96mpg...

Now I worked it out using this formula:

Originally Posted by mikey_abz
I drive exactly 60miles per day I average 27mpg on this run.

Therefore: 60mls/27mpg= 2.222gallons or 10.1litres (using 4.545 conversion factor) per day.

10.1 ltrs used/day x fuel price (£0.99) =£9.99p each day! x 5days (5day week)= £49.99p per week :unsure:

Another way to do it is to fill tank to the brim reset distant counter. Drive for your week then in exactly in 7days fill the car again (regardless if empty) record the litres loaded into tank.

With this info you will now have litres consumed per week and also the mileage on the clock.

You can convert litres back to gallons as we Brits love mpg not mls/ltr do this by dividing litres by 4.545

To work out your averaged mpg take the mileage and divide by gallons used.
Click to expand...

So I done:

a) To goto work & home it's 15miles.
b) Go out after work say roughly another 15miles.

15+15=30miles a day

30miles x 2.222 = 66mpg

66mpg / 4.545 = 14.5

14.5 x 1.15 (shell v-power unleaded) = £16 a day

Use the car 5days a week x £16 = £80 a week
Click to expand...

But then I got a reply with:

okay 15+15= 30 miles a day
lets assume your car is doing 30mpg = 1gallon per day x days of week 5?
5 gallons per week x £5.00per gallon= £25 per week

or I fill up tank zero milometer do 350 miles fill tank back up with 53 litres of fuel
350miles divide by 53 litres = 6.60 miles per litre x 4.54 (litres in a gallon)

6.6 x 4.54 = 29.96 miles to the gallon
Click to expand...

Little confused heh
 
those figures are incorrect.

If you drive 30miles/day and you average 27mpg and fuel is £1/ltr.

Would will spend.
30/27 = 1.111 gallons/day

1.111 x 4.545 = 5.05 litres/day

5.05 litres x £1(cost of fuel) = £5.05p/Day x 5days = £25.25p/Week

If you average less mpg due to city driving then you will have to adjust accordingly.

Mike
 
yeah mikey is correct

If you're doing 25 miles a day and gettin 25 mpg then @ 4.54l/gallon and £1.06 a litre

£4.81 a day

£24.05 a week, call it £30 seeing as you wont be running the tank dry. I wouldn't be worrying about the cost of driving a 25 mile round trip every day if i were you, just buy an S3 thats remapped and has the suspension sorted and you'll have something quick and comfortable while you're saving
 
I do a 68 mile round trip to work in mine, I fill the tank on a Sunday night and it generally lasts me a week cruisng at 70 -80.

My Journey is over 60 miles of motorway though which is why im getting good mpg, my average is near 33 mpg :hubbahubba:

Normally getting 350 - 400 miles to a full tank.

Theres been a few times when I have had to detour home through town and the difference in fuel comsumption is very noticable !
 
***, can you really not work out MPG...........? Its simple maths fella!!

Stick to your diesel, at least in that you wont worry about not being able to work it out, as others have said an S3 will do high 20's on a cruise on the mway but an average of 24mpg is about expected.
With current fuel price of SUPER UNLEADED, (S3 8L needs 98 ron) you can reckon on it being 20p per mile.

MPG off the DIS is notoriously optimistic as can the trip reading from the car. I went to Switzerland in mine a few weeks ago, Sat nav said it was 774 miles to destination, the car when I got there read 849! The next week I took the missus's Rover 200 to the same place and it read 775 miles on the trip counter!
Same journey, near 10% difference in mielage from the trip computers.....
 
jojo said:
If you are worried about fuel economy, the S3 isn't for you!, especially with the price of fuel today!! 22mpg is the norm for around town for me, I average 25mpg with mixed driving, and 100% motorway driving between 70-80 is almost 30mpg.
Click to expand...


Just wanted to add that my above figure are brim to brim fuel figures calculated with a calculator, and I'm running AmD stage1 remap with heavy 19" inch rims.
I would say 20p per mile fuel costs is pretty accurate.
 
On the motorway I got 36.7 average which I was very impressed with, a few other times I've managed 32 or low 30's, but I drive mostly in town and it is terrible. 30 litres will get me around 135 miles if I'm lucky.
 
emzino said:
Thing is, on the 8P section (with a similar thread), an S3 8P owner is getting 29.96mpg...
Click to expand...

Maybe on their DIS, but never in real life. I thought common conscensus was that the 8L had marginally better fuel consumption than the 8P? Even though, neither will be close to your diesel.
 
Lets face it....we all knew what MPG we would get when we bought the S3 and I personally didn’t buy it for its fuel economy.

I had a Skoda Fabia 1.9TDi vRS before it and its like chalk and cheese; skoda would do 62mpg on motorway S3 will do 27mpg(32mpg if you drive it like an old man-takes away the fun :( )

This car is supposed to be driven to enjoy it........if you are constantly thinking of fuel costs it will put a huge downer on running such a car.

If your concerned about fuel cost coming from as VAG TDi you will notice the pinch however if you are sensible and have another car and only use on weekends etc it fine.

Mike:icon_thumright:
 
Oh, and I get about 110 miles off £20's worth of V-power at £108.9 per litre in pretty much pure town driving BTW. The car's mapped purely to run on V-power.
 
I'd say £10 would roughly last you about a day doing that sort of mileage especially in these cold conditions. I filled up last sunday with about £60 worth of fuel then had to fill up again this sunday with £48 fuel and I'd done 212 miles. I'll let you do the maths
 
Hmmm that takes me back to the drawing board heh.

Many thanks to everyone for your input, i'm gonna go away do some financial figures to see what I can do...

Just trying to justify whether it's worth modding a 2.0TDI engine with 60k on the clock. Was heavily considering the S3 8L as a replacement since I don't do any motorway miles and that's where the TDI comes to play but with the town driving I do, it still consumes a fair amount (i don't drive like a nutter neither)
 
How much fuel do you put in the car now? I'd say allow an extra 30-40% extra to be on the safe side. If you are worrying about how much fuel you are putting in don't buy the car.
 
Na i'm not worried about how much fuel i'll be putting in. Just trying to work out how much i'll be putting in. Nothing wrong with being prepared =)

Well £10 of V-Power Diesel gives me 120miles and seeing as someone above said £20 of V-Power Unleaded gives them £20, I just need to double my money on fuel...
 
simch said:
***, can you really not work out MPG...........? Its simple maths fella!!

Stick to your diesel, at least in that you wont worry about not being able to work it out, as others have said an S3 will do high 20's on a cruise on the mway but an average of 24mpg is about expected.
With current fuel price of SUPER UNLEADED, (S3 8L needs 98 ron) you can reckon on it being 20p per mile.

MPG off the DIS is notoriously optimistic as can the trip reading from the car. I went to Switzerland in mine a few weeks ago, Sat nav said it was 774 miles to destination, the car when I got there read 849! The next week I took the missus's Rover 200 to the same place and it read 775 miles on the trip counter!
Same journey, near 10% difference in mielage from the trip computers.....
Click to expand...

An S3 only needs 98 ron if it has been chipped to run on 98 ron otherwise either fuel is fine. As for your milage query, you changed the wheels??
I do about 14 miles per day and a tank of fuel lasts me about three weeks. I don't really use it out of work. I'd say 35mpg on a run is achievable without driving like a puff. I have been Revo'd though :salute:
 
I used to get 28mpg from my 8L S3 until I had it chipped when that dropped to 25mpg.

During the fuel price protests of 2000 I drove gently and got 35mpg.
 
my s3 = 28mpg on a tootling around 30mph type journey.
25 miles a day isn't exactly a lot, it will last you two weeks or something.
Go for it!
 
S3 Dave said:
An S3 only needs 98 ron if it has been chipped to run on 98 ron otherwise either fuel is fine. As for your milage query, you changed the wheels??
I do about 14 miles per day and a tank of fuel lasts me about three weeks. I don't really use it out of work. I'd say 35mpg on a run is achievable without driving like a puff. I have been Revo'd though :salute:
Click to expand...

My facelift late 2003 S3 (BAM) shows CLEARLY on the fuel filler 98RON ONLY, also says it on the handbook. It was a 225hp one until I added another 125 to that!
It surprised me as my mk4 18t runs on either as stock, but the S3 was only 98.
 
Mine is an import though, UK spec but from Gibraltar.
 
I've managed to get 400.6miles out of mine once which must be over 30.0mpg, however normally it's around 280-320miles out of a full tank. I've seen it drop to 19mpg under sustained fast driving. If it was mainly motorway (and it has chance to warm up properly so 10miles+) and your driving like a granny it'd be around 28-30mpg. Long journeys at close to the speed limit would be 30mpg+
 
The label on my fuel filler cap says 95-98 ron and iirc shell optimax is 97 and so is bp ultimate the only higher octane fuel i know of is tesco's 99

I've been running mine on 95 for a while now with no problems, at the end of the day the car has knock sensor to deal with the different burn rate.
 
mk1chopper said:
The label on my fuel filler cap says 95-98 ron and iirc shell optimax is 97
Click to expand...

Ermmm shell v power is 99 RON :p
 
simch said:
MPG off the DIS is notoriously optimistic as can the trip reading from the car. I went to Switzerland in mine a few weeks ago, Sat nav said it was 774 miles to destination, the car when I got there read 849! The next week I took the missus's Rover 200 to the same place and it read 775 miles on the trip counter!
Same journey, near 10% difference in mielage from the trip computers.....
Click to expand...

Can't understand that cos mine is spot on for distance. Its 23.5 miles from my home to work and the trip reads pretty much exactly that.

As for MPG I managed 40mpg from a tank (NOT going by the DIS which was 2mpg optimistic). Was 500 miles!

Depends on your route and your style of driving but I seem to get 400 miles fairly easily.
 
when i put £50 petrol in my s3 with mixed driving i average 300miles and about 22-25 mpg
 
I am off to Scotland this weekend for xmas, and I am interetsed to see how the 1.8T does on the motorway...I am hoping for 40mpg.

By the way (silly question coming up). I am running on V-power and have been for 6 months. I realised that there are limited shell stations up North as opposed to the south...would it affect the car negatively if I had to fill up with reguar (say BP) fuel...lol...silly, but I have heard of Kangaroo jumps in some cars when you switch back!!?

Ta.

Clach
 
Clach said:
I am off to Scotland this weekend for xmas, and I am interetsed to see how the 1.8T does on the motorway...I am hoping for 40mpg.

By the way (silly question coming up). I am running on V-power and have been for 6 months. I realised that there are limited shell stations up North as opposed to the south...would it affect the car negatively if I had to fill up with reguar (say BP) fuel...lol...silly, but I have heard of Kangaroo jumps in some cars when you switch back!!?

Ta.

Clach
Click to expand...
No it never affected mine when I mixed fuels
 
Clach said:
I am off to Scotland this weekend for xmas, and I am interetsed to see how the 1.8T does on the motorway...I am hoping for 40mpg.

By the way (silly question coming up). I am running on V-power and have been for 6 months. I realised that there are limited shell stations up North as opposed to the south...would it affect the car negatively if I had to fill up with reguar (say BP) fuel...lol...silly, but I have heard of Kangaroo jumps in some cars when you switch back!!?

Ta.

Clach
Click to expand...

you'll find just as many shell garages as any other, if not more in central scotland, wouldn't worry about it
 
Clach said:
By the way (silly question coming up). I am running on V-power and have been for 6 months. I realised that there are limited shell stations up North as opposed to the south...would it affect the car negatively if I had to fill up with reguar (say BP) fuel...lol...silly, but I have heard of Kangaroo jumps in some cars when you switch back!!?

Ta.

Clach
Click to expand...

Speaking from the Oil capital of the UK, Aberdeen! I'm sure you'll find plenty of Shell Stations selling V-Power and even V-Power diesel.

Shell are everywhere just the same as Darn Saff.

We also have hot running water and electricity:idea:

PS I live 30 miles west of Aberdeen in the sticks and have a Shell garage 2 miles up the road:yes: Don't see you having any problems and you could also use SUL Sainsbury's or Tesco or Ultimate
 
jojo said:
Is it suppose to read 28mpg?

How many mpg you getting from your B5 RS4 Nick? :racer:
Click to expand...

Yup , it was supposed to be MPG!!

At the moment it's doing about 22MPG!!!
 
Ermmm shell v power is 99 RON :p
Click to expand...

but shell optimax was 97, shell v power is there new higher octain fuel which was'nt out at the time the 8l S3 was being produced.
 
mk1chopper said:
but shell optimax was 97, shell v power is there new higher octain fuel which was'nt out at the time the 8l S3 was being produced.
Click to expand...

Really? I thought it was just a re-brand job?
 
I had the 2.0TDi and didn't get really great mpg considering it was a diesel. For combined driving it was max 38mpg, a long motorway run was 40mpg at a push.

Hence I wasnt too bothered when I got the S3 and only saw 26-27mpg for the same daily commute (48 mile round trip, some dual carriageway, mostly stuck in traffic!).

I'd say buy the S3 for the pleasure of driving it, not the fuel economy.
 
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