A3 1.4 TFSI COD Fuel Economy

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Ignition1

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Hi All

I looked through a few threads on this site about poor fuel economy on the A3 1.4 TFSI COD - people getting 35mpg versus an advertised 60mpg.

But then others seem to get 45mpg. Of course it varies on driving style but assuming you were trundling along at 75mph on a motorway and did a bit of 30mph town/city driving at the start and end of that journey - I don't think we'd vary THAT much in driving style to cause any significant change in fuel economy.

I also noticed that most of the posts were from 2013 or early/mid 2014...and some of the responses were "it'll get better as you wear it in".

We're well into 2015 now, so I thought I'd look for some fuel economy results from people who've had their TFSI COD for a while? And also if you've recently got the same model...what your experience has been of fuel economy?
 
I've had mine just over 2 months and done about 1800 miles. So far fuel economy is ok for me, much better than my old car (naturally aspirated 1.4) where I was getting low 20s. My last refuel I filled up 43.83L and I had covered 362 miles (mostly town and a few A roads), so I think that's about 37/38 MPG.

I now drive the majority of the time in eco mode, but switch down to S mode when I want to overtake or have some fun. I do ruin my figures by using S mode a little too much ;)

After most long journeys I'll have a look at the DIS and I think the most I've seen is 45MPG, which then steadily decreases as I drive around town.
 
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Thanks. I'm expecting to get my 1.4 TFSI S-Line COD S-Tronic around end of April. Just curious as to how much the COD has an impact on fuel economy.

I have to admit I'm a little worried about the lower MPG, but then it's also petrol which is cheaper than diesel...so even if it I went for the 2.0 TDI the savings would be eroded over a number of years. Plus it's technically a "company car"...albeit for private use, even so I have to pay Benefit In Kind tax...which is based on the CO2 emissions...and the 1.4 COD TFSI is quite a bit lower than the 2.0 TDI...so that swung it for me.

Would've expected MPG to be in the 40+ range even with heavy driving.
 
I have a manual 1.4 COD and have done 18,000 miles since last June. I use an App to log mileage and fuel input. I guess this is hence brim to brim? I have averaged 42.3
Best tank has been 48
Worst has been 37.
I guess about 40 per cent has been motorway
 
phil1824 said:
I have a manual 1.4 COD and have done 18,000 miles since last June. I use an App to log mileage and fuel input. I guess this is hence brim to brim? I have averaged 42.3
Best tank has been 48
Worst has been 37.
I guess about 40 per cent has been motorway
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That's good to hear. I guess I'd probably expect 37 or 40 - a lot of my driving will be 30mph town driving and 50/60mph A roads. With a few motorway stints here and there.
 
The worst I got from a tank is 32mpg from daily crawl around NE London on the commute and school run.

The best was 46mpg from a tank. From an A road and motorway jaunt.

Those were extremes in that the driving on each tank was almost 100% on the same type of road. It was measured brim to brim. Normally I will mix up the driving and get somewhere between the two.

I never use eco mode and rarely use dynamic.

This is from a 140 Sportback with S-tronic which is nearly a year old.
 
Thanks - also what are the differences in S-Tronic modes? Eco is obvious, but there is "Sport" and Dynamic as well?
 
From what i remember people don't seem to rate "eco" mode but you'd need to do a search to confirm that.

I bought the COD manual hoping for aroung 45mpg but after 6000 miles in 9 months i'd averaged around the 38mpg mark. Since the car was bought based on trying to save a bit of money i gave up and ordered an S3. Not so bothered about saving money now :)
 
Psyman79 said:
From what i remember people don't seem to rate "eco" mode but you'd need to do a search to confirm that.

I bought the COD manual hoping for aroung 45mpg but after 6000 miles in 9 months i'd averaged around the 38mpg mark. Since the car was bought based on trying to save a bit of money i gave up and ordered an S3. Not so bothered about saving money now :)
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I drive solely in eco mode in my 150 S-Tronic. The only time I switch is when I need to overtake somebody; I then stick it in dynamic. Eco is a little slow to respond when pulling away from a junction/roundabout but you soon learn how to compensate for this. I have now covered 2,400 miles from new and the DIS (which you have to take with a little pinch of salt) shows an average to date of 40mpg. I had a two hour drive at motorway speeds on Sunday and it reported an average of 45mpg.

I prefer the eco mode due to the low-revving nature. In dynamic the car is always "ready to go" and so it's much less civilised (but obviously more fun!).
 
I have an overall average of 41.5 mpg per the DIS over nearly 11,000 miles . Quite often get over 50 mpg and I had 55 mpg this morning with a clear run into work.

Not a fan of the eco mode, I found the consumption worse than Auto as you needed to floor it more to get any power.
 
My fuel consumption from the COD is no where near the suggested figures. I'd say that I mainly do 90% town driving with a lot of stop start traffic. 9300 miles on my clock so far.

I do enjoy a "spirited" drive as well. So I don't expect them to ever be great and I certainly didn't buy the car for its fuel economy.

My previous car was a Fiesta 1.6 with similar HP and I used to average 40mpg. Smaller car I know but I really did expect more from the Audi.

I keep track of my petrol spends and here's my findings:

 
I have done just under 4,000 miles in the last 6 months in my manual. Average mpg using actual fuel used at each fill up is 40.6 mpg. Best tankful was 43.9 and the worst 38.2. This is 80% journeys around town so few motorway miles or fast A roads. Have a trip to Innsbruck in a few months time - will be interesting to see what sort of mpg I get on a long run on faster roads.
 
MA3RC said:
My fuel consumption from the COD is no where near the suggested figures. I'd say that I mainly do 90% town driving with a lot of stop start traffic. 9300 miles on my clock so far.

I do enjoy a "spirited" drive as well. So I don't expect them to ever be great and I certainly didn't buy the car for its fuel economy.

My previous car was a Fiesta 1.6 with similar HP and I used to average 40mpg. Smaller car I know but I really did expect more from the Audi.

I keep track of my petrol spends and here's my findings:

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They aren't suggested figures at all, so I don't know where you get that from. They are merely a guide to compare one car to another and obtained under rolling road conditions. Yours aren't far from mine around town but I can better your best by about 20mpg...
 
cuke2u said:
They aren't suggested figures at all, so I don't know where you get that from. They are merely a guide to compare one car to another and obtained under rolling road conditions. Yours aren't far from mine around town but I can better your best by about 20mpg...
Click to expand...

That's the figure they are marketed at and what people take into account when purchasing cars etc. Irregardless of the conditions they were set at, people know accept they will probably never match them. But I feel the tests should be run / governed in a more real world situation.

My figures posted above are weekly as well, I have seen 55mpg on a run, but the rest of the week drags it back down again. But at the end of the day I love the car so it's not something that really bothers me.
 
I have been keeping an eye on my consumption and I am somewhat disappointed as well. It has certainly improved since new - now done 3000 miles.
My previous car was a petrol 1.8L, 8 years old. And I used to get about 35 mpg from that. So expected a bit more than the 40 mpg I get from the Audi.
I have noticed it goes down as soon as you go above about 60 mph. So gently cruising down the motorway at 75 does not return particularly good results.
MA3RC reports figures over 50 mpg. I am surprised by this - seems really quite high. From my experience, I would expect to have to cruise at 55 down a motorway to get this. But you have done a lot of miles, so maybe something for me to look forward to in a couple of years!!
Regarding the different modes, I keep mine in dynamic because it seems to pull away better with less lag, but I don't really drive it in a very dynamic way! I did try eco but I didn't like the coasting. I suppose you can get used to it.
I was going to do some consumption figures on the different modes, but never got round to it.
 
The only way they can actually compare mpg figures is by getting results from a repeatable set of parameters though. If they started trying to use real world scenarios rather than a rolling road there would be far too many variables to make it worth doing it at all.

In my opinion :)

Si.
 
Due to collect my manual 1.4 150 next week . Is it best to just to leave it in dynamic and accept the fuel consumption rather than switching between modes to try and do a couple more mpg's ? Also is it really that noticeable between the different modes regarding the power .
 
wooder said:
Due to collect my manual 1.4 150 next week . Is it best to just to leave it in dynamic and accept the fuel consumption rather than switching between modes to try and do a couple more mpg's ? Also is it really that noticeable between the different modes regarding the power .
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I didn't think the modes changed anything apart from the steering when you had a manual? Where as with an S-tronic it alters when the gearbox will change the gears, it doesn't give us more power though.
 
MA3RC said:
That's the figure they are marketed at and what people take into account when purchasing cars etc. Irregardless of the conditions they were set at, people know accept they will probably never match them. But I feel the tests should be run / governed in a more real world situation.

My figures posted above are weekly as well, I have seen 55mpg on a run, but the rest of the week drags it back down again. But at the end of the day I love the car so it's not something that really bothers me.
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The fact that they don't represent real world driving conditions is stated by most if all manufacturers and nobody can seriously think they are marketed figures that realistically can be attainted. The problem is that it is the EU and our governments legislation that has got us to the position where all manufacturers have found ways around making the cars appear more economical than they actually are. But then do you drive your car with the climate on? There are many factors you can actually control to make your mpg better..
 
koder said:
I didn't think the modes changed anything apart from the steering when you had a manual? Where as with an S-tronic it alters when the gearbox will change the gears, it doesn't give us more power though.
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Of course it does, there are changes in the way the engine is mapped..
 
wooder said:
Due to collect my manual 1.4 150 next week . Is it best to just to leave it in dynamic and accept the fuel consumption rather than switching between modes to try and do a couple more mpg's ? Also is it really that noticeable between the different modes regarding the power .
Click to expand...
Just drive it as a car should be driven and not worry about a few quid each year. After all you've already spent over £20,000 on your car. People seem to be obssessed about mpg these days when the vehicle is losing far more in depreciation...
 
I've found that you can get good economy, but it is hugely sensitive to how you drive. On the motorway, going less than 70 really helps, and obviously never braking or accelerating much. In town, it's generally in 2 cylinder mode around 30mph, but it's annoying that 30mph is at the point where it wants to change up from 4th gear to 5th, and you can only get into 5th by going about 33mph+.

Also, increasing my tyre pressures to the maximum amount seemed to help a little.
 
Over 7000 miles I have found a fairly constant 42 mpg measured brim to brim. Mine is manual. I seem to spend a good deal of time in 2 cylinder mode, but that doesn't appear to be reflected in mpg. My previous car was an 8P 1.4T and consumption was better than this.

Like koder, I have found that the only difference in driving modes is the weight of the steering. Eco mode doesn't seem to affect performance or mpg, so I think the drive select in a manual without mag suspension is a bit ineffective. I tend to forget to change driving mode because for me there is next to no noticeable difference between them.
 
There is a switch on the throttle some have stated they can feel being actuated on a manual gearbox that changes the engine from economy to dynamic when it is pressed enough...
 
Is that yet another 1.4 CoD driver who says they aren't getting anywhere near what they thought they would? Now there's a surprise.........

The figures they give aren't even worthy of comparison with other cars because they're so far off you can't. They're trying to make it sound as if you can get diesel economy from a petrol, which is a long, long way wide of the mark.

At best, the most you'll see is early to mid 40s if you shift early, get it in fifth at 30, keep the tyre pressures up, use the gears to slow well in advance and generally go the extra mile. Normally, on average, you'l get late 30s. You'll get considerably higher on a motorway drive, as long as you keep the speed and wind resistance down, but that's true of all cars. There just isn't anything more to get out of petrol cars.
 
Taken from the A3 brochure:-
"Audi Drive Select changes vehicle characteristics by adapting power steering assistance, accelerator and gear-shift response (for models with S-tronic). The system also influences other optional equipment through five available modes: comfort, auto, dynamic, efficiency and individual. The efficiency mode adapts the engine characteristics, enables free-wheeling mode with the S-tronic transmission and engages the climate control and the optional cruise control into an efficient fuel-saving setting."
 
cilurnum said:
Is that yet another 1.4 CoD driver who says they aren't getting anywhere near what they thought they would? Now there's a surprise.........

The figures they give aren't even worthy of comparison with other cars because they're so far off you can't. They're trying to make it sound as if you can get diesel economy from a petrol, which is a long, long way wide of the mark.

At best, the most you'll see is early to mid 40s if you shift early, get it in fifth at 30, keep the tyre pressures up, use the gears to slow well in advance and generally go the extra mile. Normally, on average, you'l get late 30s. You'll get considerably higher on a motorway drive, as long as you keep the speed and wind resistance down, but that's true of all cars. There just isn't anything more to get out of petrol cars.
Click to expand...

It's true that these figures are what you are going to see, and the manufacturers figures are largely unattainable. The thing that surprised me is that I get barely a couple of mpg better than my old 1.8 petrol Toyota. I really expected to get better.
However the big gain is in the tax. That gives more benefit than any small increase in mpg.
 
Petrol performance, diesel economy? If it sounds too good to be true then it is.

I'm looking forward to trying out the drive select in my 1.4 cod manual. Not got mag ride & I deselected sports suspension so who knows whether it will do anything noticeable!
 
Some will notice an immediate change in the engine, some will not. It is all rather subjective, however if Audi state there are differences then there must be. I drive mine set to auto anyway. As for not being able to achieve diesel like mpg, as I have stated before I had a 2.0l diesel and over the same journey driven in the same fashion the mpg was more or less the same. However where this engine is better is that if you really try and drive with economy in mind an average of over 55-65mpg is easily attainable and that's not driving like a granny and holding up any traffic either, if I did I've seen over 80mpg but that is not sustainable however it indicates that under certain conditions, possible similar to the ones they use to test the car, the official figures can be had. But, to be honest, I don't care much for economy anyway, I just enjoy driving the car and over 5k miles a year there would be little savings anyway...
 
Having read all of this - I'm disappointed, but also not too bothered. I get the impression that if I really want to get good MPG I can, but chances are I'll want to drive it without always having one eye on the DIS.

I also feel I'd end up keeping it in Dynamic mode and trust the car to adapt to my driving style and apply the correct profile. I think Audi's figures ARE sort of correct only if you drive it exactly how the car is supposed to be driven to get the most economy out of it - i.e. in eco mode, not going above 70, gentle acceleration, minimal braking, low revs and high gears.

I always compare to my Dad's 2006 A6 2.7 TDI Multitronic - I've driven it a lot. The two modes are D or S. You get about 30 mpg in town driving, but doing 75-80mph stints on the M25...I get 44mpg. Not bad for a very heavy, 9 year old car I think.

Anyways like cuke2u says - we're not talking a large amount of money here between 35mpg or 45mpg. Plus petrol is cheaper, so even if you got 45mpg from the 2.0 TDI the savings versus the TFSI will be off-set by the diesel price.
 
All I can say is that I also had a 1.6 diesel on loan for a couple of weeks and, too be honest, I was unimpressed with its mpg as well. On a good day, same journey as my car, it could do 44mpg, on bad day, cold and driving briskly, I got 23mpg.
 
cilurnum said:
The figures they give aren't even worthy of comparison with other cars because they're so far off you can't. They're trying to make it sound as if you can get diesel economy from a petrol, which is a long, long way wide of the mark.
Click to expand...

This isn't just an Audi thing. All manufacturers get their economy figures in roughly the same way which makes them perfect for comparison. You just need to remember that you need to take a certain percentage off for real world driving conditions.
 
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My dealer recommends taking the Combined mpg figure less 20%.

With my 2.0TDI-184 s-tronic quattro the quoted figure is 57.6. Take off 20% and it's 46 which is about what I get on normal day-to-day running around although this can go up to over 50+ on longer journeys.
 
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I have a 150PS S tronic, I drive generally in auto have mag ride. On the MPG best ive had on computer 1 on a long journey is 48mpg thats cold start out of garage to arrival with 30 A roads and motorway 70-75mph average over 5k miles is 42mpg thats round town long journeys etc economy mode is actually good for the economy especially with the coasting function whihc increases the mpg visibly. I'm also seeing in the region of 450 miles per tank.

The drive select also makes in my opinion a significant difference I have the mag ride and the S tronic gearbox but you can feel the engine map (mainly throttle mapping) change and in manual mode it feels very alive I would say it feels more nimble than my Mk5 GTI the steering and suspension also has a significant impact on the feel of the car in the different modes.
 
Had mine for nearly three months and done around 1600 miles so far.

Most of the time my driving is all short urban journeys of a few miles, with loads of traffic lights, junctions, braking & accelerating and so on. With this type of driving I'm averaging around 32-34mpg. This is based on actual consumption using an app to track fuel vs mileage.

I've done a few tests on longer trips at motorways speeds, although only using the DIS measurement. Not the instantaneous MPG figure but the average over a reasonable distance. What I'm seeing here is that, at a constant 70mpg, I'll get around 48mpg. At a constant 80 it drops to around the 43mpg mark. At 90 it's down to about 38.
 
I've done around 5k in mine now, a mix of daily trip to and from work on 30-40mph roads with lots of starts and stops and sitting in traffic and regular (1 - 2 times a week) longer trips on motorway/a-roads.

My all time average now sits at 40.8 MPG. On a trip up to to Liverpool (from Swindon) a couple of weeks back I got 48MPG - just normal motorway driving.
 
Am I the only one to find it strange that members are providing details of fuel economy without providing any details of the actual fuel being used?:confused:
 
jetron said:
Am I the only one to find it strange that members are providing details of fuel economy without providing any details of the actual fuel being used?:confused:
Click to expand...

Not really, do you expect much difference between the different 'brands' of Premium Unleaded Petrol? Everyone is referring to the same 1.4 COD engine.
 
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