How's the real world mpg like for 1.4 e hybrid

nvidia

2004 Seat Ibiza FR TDi
May 16, 2009
147
0
Reading
How is the Seat leon ehybrid 204 in terms of fuel consumption and is it nice to drive on B roads? My daily route is about 8 miles in town and 30 miles on the motorway, I wonder if plugin hybrid will be suitable for me and good mpg? I saw some long term review say they only achieve 47mpg?
Currently driving 2015 Seat Leon FR 184, I have been looking for something newer, and something possibility even more fuel efficient.
 

Richiepoos

Active Member
Oct 14, 2022
104
35
I've got the 245 cupra estate and I get nowhere near 47mpg. Great to drive but definitely not fuel efficient if you drive it quickly. I'm sure I could get better mpg if I drove more sensibly but where's the fun in that!
On a side note you would do the 8 miles in town and some of the mway in e-mode so that comes out as 300mpg on the dash!!
 

nvidia

2004 Seat Ibiza FR TDi
May 16, 2009
147
0
Reading
I've got the 245 cupra estate and I get nowhere near 47mpg. Great to drive but definitely not fuel efficient if you drive it quickly. I'm sure I could get better mpg if I drove more sensibly but where's the fun in that!
On a side note you would do the 8 miles in town and some of the mway in e-mode so that comes out as 300mpg on the dash!!
If you fully charge, how much real world range you get on a single charge for the battery?
 

Richiepoos

Active Member
Oct 14, 2022
104
35
23 miles is the maximum mine has ever displayed. What I've actually got I'm unsure of as I have never run it in full ev mode until empty.
 

Shoveitpusher

Active Member
Jan 7, 2023
20
4
Electric range lowest about 20 miles, highest about 25 miles, depends on ambient temp and how wet it is in my experience.
I do a couple of miles duel carriageway and about 20 on A road. Get between 75 and 110 indicated mpg.
You should be able to do both ways with power left in the battery, which aids consumption, but motorway speeds do pull more fuel.
 

Tippex

Active Member
Mar 2, 2024
16
6
London
How is the Seat leon ehybrid 204 in terms of fuel consumption and is it nice to drive on B roads? My daily route is about 8 miles in town and 30 miles on the motorway, I wonder if plugin hybrid will be suitable for me and good mpg? I saw some long term review say they only achieve 47mpg?
Currently driving 2015 Seat Leon FR 184, I have been looking for something newer, and something possibility even more fuel efficient.
If your commute is 38 miles then most of your journey will be in e-mode so you will get huge mpg. Let the battery drain and switch to ICE naturally then recharge when you get home. You only need to keep 20%+ charge if you're leaving it at the airport car park while on holiday as it uses the e-motor to start the ICE. No charge = no start!
Max range depends on a few things - ambient temp, driving style, opportunity to regen downhill, etc. I see around 35 miles range on full charge.
This engine configuration is not optimal for regular long journeys, definitely more suited for regular short journeys.
For my commute its perfect. I put a tank of fuel in March and there's just under half left now - I use the car most days almost exclusively on e-mode. I only charge at home, never in public.
 

Chemical Matt

Active Member
Dec 16, 2020
51
40
If your commute is 38 miles then most of your journey will be in e-mode so you will get huge mpg. Let the battery drain and switch to ICE naturally then recharge when you get home. You only need to keep 20%+ charge if you're leaving it at the airport car park while on holiday as it uses the e-motor to start the ICE. No charge = no start!
Max range depends on a few things - ambient temp, driving style, opportunity to regen downhill, etc. I see around 35 miles range on full charge.
This engine configuration is not optimal for regular long journeys, definitely more suited for regular short journeys.
For my commute its perfect. I put a tank of fuel in March and there's just under half left now - I use the car most days almost exclusively on e-mode. I only charge at home, never in public.
The part about keeping 20% is incorrect. The battery is 13kwh but only 10kwh is available for everyday use. The system always keeps 3kwh in reserve so that you have full performance available even when the guauge reads 0%. This is why the engine is sometimes over reving at idle as it is charging the battery.

I've had mine for over 3 years and 65,000 miles now and left mine on 0% plenty of times and it has never failed to start.

Regarding the fuel consumption I've found it varies greatly and depends entirely whether you charge it up or not, how hard you drive it, the distance you cover and the temperature.
I've seen between 30 and 300mpg but generally get around 40-50mpg.

Without charging and with trips above 50 miles I get around 46mpg.
With charging and trips around 100 miles I can get 60mpg. Further than that and the charge generally runs out and it starts dropping down to late 40s.
Local trips with charging can be done electric only up to 23 miles ish in the summer and about 15-18 miles in the winter.

I got mine as a company car tax dodge. It is fun to drive with good performance but my old 2L diesel Superb was more economical.
 

Tippex

Active Member
Mar 2, 2024
16
6
London
The part about keeping 20% is incorrect. The battery is 13kwh but only 10kwh is available for everyday use. The system always keeps 3kwh in reserve so that you have full performance available even when the guauge reads 0%. This is why the engine is sometimes over reving at idle as it is charging the battery.

I've had mine for over 3 years and 65,000 miles now and left mine on 0% plenty of times and it has never failed to start.
Specifically the point I made is that the manual makes it very clear if you intend to leave your car for an extended period of time (such as the airport) then you don't want to do that with 0%. Your 3kW/hr battery charge may degrade to the point where it wont start when you get back.

Overnight is of course fine. So would a couple of days. But I wouldn't personally risk leaving it for weeks at the airport (or anywhere else) at 0%.
 

Chemical Matt

Active Member
Dec 16, 2020
51
40
Specifically the point I made is that the manual makes it very clear if you intend to leave your car for an extended period of time (such as the airport) then you don't want to do that with 0%. Your 3kW/hr battery charge may degrade to the point where it wont start when you get back.

Overnight is of course fine. So would a couple of days. But I wouldn't personally risk leaving it for weeks at the airport (or anywhere else) at 0%.
That'll be it then, I've never read the manual😅.

Longest I've left it is 1 week I think.
 

GazGT

Active Member
Jun 25, 2005
305
0
Manchester
I have the same drivetrain (204ps) in an octavia estate and it will hit the manufacturer claimed range of 40 miles but only with serious grannying. I’ve managed it just once to see if I could. I had to do the below:

Take a route that’s slow roads only. The slower the better, if the entire journey is 30mph roads, you’ll optimise your range
Coasting wherever possible. - regen set to auto. Use left paddle to activate regen and hit the D switch to disengage again when not needed
Don’t use the heater
Don’t use the a/c (fan is ok, temps set to ‘LO’ with a/c off)

Most of this year after it warmed up I’ve been getting 30-35 miles with a mix of driving (motorway etc) on electric. In winter I think it was down to 18 miles one day (lots of short journies, putting heating on

with a flat ev battery and a cold start you will as others have said only get high forties to the gallonz Sticking to speed limits or going slightly over them.

I regularly take mine to London and back, 400 mile round trip. I use half the battery on the way down and the other half on the way back. Doing this I can average high 50s mpg cruising at 70-75 or into the 60s if i go slower

it’s less efficient than my wife’s mk7 golf TDI on a long run. But my average is up at 80-90mpg as I always keep it charged up

PS I leave mine at the airport all the time and it’s fine. Though I can get there entirely there and back on electric, even during Winter. It might loose a few % in 3-4 days
 
Last edited:
Jun 28, 2024
2
0
I do 38 miles one way for work all motor way M1 M25. The best I have had was when I arrived with 7 miles left.
Generally I get 2 miles away and the engine kicks in.
2021, 58,000 miles and seen no battery deg. (y)
 

andycalvia

Full Member
Oct 20, 2004
296
32
39
Ayrshire
I find it takes too long to charge to be of any real use to me, so most the time mine remains uncharged and achieves about 35mpg with a mix of town and motorway driving.
 

Tippex

Active Member
Mar 2, 2024
16
6
London
12.8 kW battery charges in 3 hrs 33 mins according to the Cupra website:
The car won't charge at a rate greater than 3.6 kW/hr so it stacks up. I also use reduced rate charging to preserve battery life, so the time is doubled.

So I agree that it's not worth hanging around at a service station for 3.5hrs waiting for charge that only gets you 35 miles. But that's where the ICE comes in.

If you can charge overnight (cheap rate) and use for short commutes then this is where this powertrain combination comes into its own.

There's also non plug-in hybrids that only charge from the ICE or regen for those who don't want the bother of home charging.
 

Tippex

Active Member
Mar 2, 2024
16
6
London
One further point to stress is that charging the e-hybrid without a low rate energy tariff makes little economic sense to me.

A typical electricity tariff is around 30p/kWhr. To charge the car from empty would cost £3.84 or 11p/mile. The ICE achieves around 40-45mpg so worst case that's 3.8 litres of fuel at £1.45/l so £5.51 or 13.8p/mile.

I hope my calcs are correct! To me it's only a marginal saving and with fuel and electricity prices fluctuating so much it's difficult to keep track of.

Factor in a cheap off-peak tariff (7.5p/kWhr) and then it makes sense.
 

andycalvia

Full Member
Oct 20, 2004
296
32
39
Ayrshire
One further point to stress is that charging the e-hybrid without a low rate energy tariff makes little economic sense to me.

A typical electricity tariff is around 30p/kWhr. To charge the car from empty would cost £3.84 or 11p/mile. The ICE achieves around 40-45mpg so worst case that's 3.8 litres of fuel at £1.45/l so £5.51 or 13.8p/mile.

I hope my calcs are correct! To me it's only a marginal saving and with fuel and electricity prices fluctuating so much it's difficult to keep track of.

Factor in a cheap off-peak tariff (7.5p/kWhr) and then it makes sense.
When I first got my car, the public charging locally to me was free, so any time spent on the charger makes economic sense. I don't have the facility to charge at home (live in a flat) so I have to use public chargers, the council now charge 45p/kwh plus you can only stay a maximum of 3 hours, over run by 1 minute and there's an automatic £30 overstay charge. So for me, it's not worth the risk to charge anymore unless I'm at a shopping centre which offers free charging (if they are available and working).

Had I known the council were going to bring in such high charging costs and draconian charges for overstaying, I would never have bought a PHEV.

There was meant to be push towards EV vehicles but councils treating EV and PHEV like cash machines, it's no wonder sales are drastically falling and depreciation is so massive.
 

Chemical Matt

Active Member
Dec 16, 2020
51
40
I honestly think they only make sense if you're a company car driver as the taxation is so much lower. I would never buy one as a private buyer, they simply aren't economical enough to make any reasonable savings.
 

Tippex

Active Member
Mar 2, 2024
16
6
London
When I first got my car, the public charging locally to me was free, so any time spent on the charger makes economic sense. I don't have the facility to charge at home (live in a flat) so I have to use public chargers, the council now charge 45p/kwh plus you can only stay a maximum of 3 hours, over run by 1 minute and there's an automatic £30 overstay charge. So for me, it's not worth the risk to charge anymore unless I'm at a shopping centre which offers free charging (if they are available and working).

Had I known the council were going to bring in such high charging costs and draconian charges for overstaying, I would never have bought a PHEV.

There was meant to be push towards EV vehicles but councils treating EV and PHEV like cash machines, it's no wonder sales are drastically falling and depreciation is so massive.
I completely empathise. I do remember when public charging was free but it's now clear this was an incentive to lure people in. With the rise in energy prices in recent years you won't find any now that are anywhere near the cost of a domestic tariff. 45p is at the low end of charges I've seen when browsing the charging apps. My company has chargers in the car park and they charge a high rate. Needless to say I've never used a charger away from home.

It's outrageous that your LA imposes such a charge for a minutes overstay.

You're right that public charging needs to be made cheaper and more accessible for people without a home charger. We won't transition as a nation to full EV unless that's sorted.
 
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BoomerBoom

Active Member
Jun 1, 2018
733
269
They aren't treating EV like a cash cow, it's still being heavily subsidised but energy costs have tripled while local government is going bankrupt trying to pay for the social care bill - incentivising people to buy EV is no longer an easy budget option for them to choose.

Making public charging accessible is already horrifically expensive and coming out of your council tax, making it cheap is simply impossible without a huge increase in tax for everyone - so EV drivers are having to start paying the true costs and hence their popularity crash.

Also, you'd expect to get a £30 charge for overstaying parking so what's different about an EV bay?
 

andycalvia

Full Member
Oct 20, 2004
296
32
39
Ayrshire
Also, you'd expect to get a £30 charge for overstaying parking so what's different about an EV bay?
The difference being is, it's not a parking bay, it's a charging bay. it takes 4 hours to charge my car and therfore i cannot get a full charge without being fined £30.

It's the equivalent of you going to a petrol station and once you get 3/4 full you either have to cut off pumping at that exact moment or they immediately charge you £30 plus any remaining fuel you want to top up with.

I'm sure there would be absolute outrage if they tried to do that.
 

BoomerBoom

Active Member
Jun 1, 2018
733
269
But is 4 hours to charge such a tiny battery reasonable, when other 'proper' EVs could be using it instead?

Looking at the queues and altercations at the chargers whilst at the services on a busy bank holiday (I saw someone send their wife to walk in and jump the queue, she nearly got run over!) I think there would be a riot if a group of Leon's started camping out to get their full 30 mile range, when others could be charging their 300 mile range in the same time.

These plug in hybrids only appear to make sense if you have a home charger and your daily commute is less than 15 miles each way, otherwise you're just dragging extra weight you'll never benefit from - a ICE would give much better mpg in that scenario.

Also, if my ICE had a drinking straw instead of a 30mm fuelling port, so it took a couple of hours to fill, I'd imagine the petrol station would ask me to leave.
 
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