Fuel Consumption

[Saltypotato]

Hi. Had my mk4 1.5 129hp coming up on a year. Love the car and especially after the software update to get rid of the annoying issues.
My biggest gripe is the fuel tho. It has to be the worst of any car I’ve had.
Today when I put fuel in it was showing 475, done a 7 mile journey at 41mpg and it dropped 60miles. On my daily drive to work on the motorway for 12 miles I can be on 50mpg and it drops 15/20 everyday.

Am I the only one that thinks it’s really bad on fuel?

 

[SRGTD]

Are you relying on the car’s fuel computer for your mpg figures?

IMHO, much better to measure mpg over a number of tankfuls of fuel and calculate your mpg manually.

 

[Alex667]

I’ve yet to see a car that has an accurate “miles remaining” counter on the fuel tank. I’ve even had a hire car previously where I drove about 100 miles and it showed I had 15 miles more fuel than when I started…. Just do your own calculations based on how much you put in.

 

[Richiepoos]

As the others have said you're better off calculating it yourself. My current Octavia is a big fat liar when it comes to mpg and range remaining. I'm sure it makes it up on the spot! Apparently the range part goes off your most recent journey before filling up (or something like that) so if you pootled to the petrol station and used next to nothing it will think you're going to drive like that again...

 

[Saltypotato]

I’ve had TT’s and Type-r’s that seem far superior on fuel compared to this thing. My next fuel should last weeks coz yesterday was a 200mile trip on the motorway saying 61.4mpg. The mrs has a F-pace and that drops a mile when a mile is done.

 

[Glosphil]

Test mpg over a few tank fulls doing your own calculation of total distance divided by total fuel used.

My Leon often does only local journeys for a few weeks & then is filled up & taken on a 160 mile journey of mainly motorway. After 30 miles the range will show 20 miles more than when I started & trip mpg will go from 42 to 52. I live in a hilly area.

 

[Saltypotato]

Yesterdays trip I couldn’t get above the start miles at any point. Sitting at 60mpg it would drop 15miles after about 3miles. Started at 475 miles and done 216 miles with 215 miles left at 61.1mpg.

 

[SRGTD]

I never use the range / miles left function in my VW; it always seems very hit and miss, and is heavily influenced by factors such as journey length, engine temperature, traffic conditions etc. IMHO it’s only real use is if the fuel gauge is indicating an almost empty tank - you can then use the remaining range to help you judge whether or not you’ll be able to get to the nearest filling station to refill before running out of fuel!

I usually fill up when the fuel gauge is indicating around 1/4 tank of fuel left. If I’m interested in the fuel consumption, I’ll calculate it manually; fill the tank, check the mileage covered since last refill, convert litres of fuel bought to gallons and divide mileage covered by gallons of fuel used.

 

[Alex667]

Yesterdays trip I couldn’t get above the start miles at any point. Sitting at 60mpg it would drop 15miles after about 3miles. Started at 475 miles and done 216 miles with 215 miles left at 61.1mpg.

As mentioned, don't bother looking at that readout. It's there for show and won't be accurate.... only accurate measurement of fuel left is your regular fuel gauge.