Another mpg thread.

[Deleted member 74601]

So, since I bought my car I've now done a couple of tanks of fuel, but am still really struggling with mpg.

I'm not driving like an idiot, and I'm not driving like a granny. I'm aiming cruise somewhere between 1500-1700 revs (I have a 1.6TDI CR Ecomotive).

In the towns, it's doing fine, great mpg, at a constant 30 or 40mph, the trip is showing 65-75mpg. Obviously the acceleration and braking lowers the average, but I'm happy with where I'm at.

The problem comes with motorway speed driving.

At 60mph, the car is struggling to do low 50s (this is around the same revs as when driving at 30-40mph) and at 70mph the car is only managing high 40s.

Does anyone know why the mpg higher up is so much worse? I don't think my driving style is too bad, like I say, I don't go much above 2000 revs, and when I change gear the revs go down to about 1400 revs, and the engine doesn't struggle. Due to the ecomotive's long gearing, it means I don't go to 5th until about 55mph.

I've been told that the common rail engines, don't perform well at low revs/high load like the DP used to.

Anyone got any ideas about why the motorway mpg is so bad?

 

[WeeG]

Smaller engine working harder to maintain a higher speed.

 

[AndrewJB]

Guessing the car is newish?

Diesel engines tend to produce better MPG after quite a few miles are on the engine, Mine started producing better MPG when i reached 40k

 

[Fozzy 89]

should still get better mpg on motoway than urban in any car

 

[AndrewJB]

yes it should

 

[Deleted member 74601]

Guessing the car is newish?

Diesel engines tend to produce better MPG after quite a few miles are on the engine, Mine started producing better MPG when i reached 40k

Yeah I should have mentioned, I bought it with 3,500 on the clock and have done just over 1000 miles in it.

I realise they need breaking in, but people with this engine in the Leon, or in other cars, have been reporting in the 60s average by about 2,500 - 3,000 miles. The car history is an ex-demo, it's 2010 plate, and like I say had 3,500 on the clock when I bought it. The dealer I bought it from is near the motorway so they take people on it on their test drives, so it's not like it's always been driven at low speed.

 

[Fozzy 89]

i used to have the 2.0 fr ibiza and that used to get 50mpg not driving slow

another option is to have it mapped up i know it sounds daft but it helps mpg and added bhp as a bonus

is the car standard

 

[Deleted member 74601]

Yeah car is completely standard.

I don't really want it mapped because my insurance is high already, and a re-map wouldn't help, and considering it's a new car to me, and still under warranty, I'd prefer SEAT look at it if needs be.

 

[Fozzy 89]

i would get them to have a look at it pal to be honest should be better than that

i have a bocanegra and driving steddy eddie i can get 45 and that 1.4 tsi running on v power

 

[coggie]

If economy is what you want then 70mph is too high, i know what you're saying about it being too low but i think you need to get it past 10k to see good results in mpg.

Also, what tyres are you running and at what pressure?

 

[coggie]

Found my answer in another thread

I drive round with the boot full of heavy stuff for work, so have the tyres inflated 2 or 3 psi above the recommended for a full load.

Is the poor mpg with the boot empty?

 

[Deleted member 74601]

Found my answer in another thread

Is the poor mpg with the boot empty?

Cheers mate,

Yeah it is, it's hardly any different with an empty boot. When the boot is empty, I've adjusted the tyre pressures to 1 or 2 psi above the standard, and then obviously with the full load, 1 or 2 psi above the recommended for full load.

Like I say, I understand they need to be run in, it's just other people have had better performance than me by this time. I understand what you're saying about economy etc, but on work time I'll only be willing to drive 60mph (I still have to get there within decent time ) but at 60mph I'd be expecting better. Even at 70mph, I'd expect to be nearing 60mpg.

 

[skiddusmarkus]

So, since I bought my car I've now done a couple of tanks of fuel, but am still really struggling with mpg.

I'm not driving like an idiot, and I'm not driving like a granny. I'm aiming cruise somewhere between 1500-1700 revs (I have a 1.6TDI CR Ecomotive).

In the towns, it's doing fine, great mpg, at a constant 30 or 40mph, the trip is showing 65-75mpg. Obviously the acceleration and braking lowers the average, but I'm happy with where I'm at.

The problem comes with motorway speed driving.

At 60mph, the car is struggling to do low 50s (this is around the same revs as when driving at 30-40mph) and at 70mph the car is only managing high 40s.

Does anyone know why the mpg higher up is so much worse? I don't think my driving style is too bad, like I say, I don't go much above 2000 revs, and when I change gear the revs go down to about 1400 revs, and the engine doesn't struggle. Due to the ecomotive's long gearing, it means I don't go to 5th until about 55mph.

I've been told that the common rail engines, don't perform well at low revs/high load like the DP used to.

Anyone got any ideas about why the motorway mpg is so bad?

You say you are getting 65-70mpg when doing 30-40mph but braking and accelerating lowers it, so in fact you aren't doing 65-70mpg at all.Its slowing down and speeding up that totally kills mpg and I think you are just reading the realtime display and getting its giving you unrealistic expectations.You should just use that display as an aid to improve your mpg ie you can see when you are using less fuel and try to extend that into the rest of your driving.
Is it 5 or 6 speed?If it's 6 then try staying in 5th at 60 mph and see if that improves your mpg.Also, changing gear at around 2k and the revs dropping to 1400 might not be the most efficient, try changning at 2,500 so that it will drop you in just under 2k rpm.I haven't seen the powerband of this engine so am guesstimating a bit here.

 

[ddc]

Mine's a green "E" Ecomotive, had it from new last November. Its now got just over 8k on the clock and I only get around 55 to 60 mpg on my normal run to and from work which is mostly A roads and mway. If I drive it like a complete granddad I can squeeze mid 70's just but I find the mpg does improve in warmer weather. If you check out any golf blue motion or octavia greenline forum you will find a lot of posts with people complaining they are not not getting the claimed mpg out of the VW 1.6 CR diesel. The last few cars I've owned have always returned the claimed extra urban mpg figure with my driving style and work journey but so far the ecomotive has fallen well short of expectations... Fingers crossed it will loosen up with another few K on the clock!

 

[mrbubba]

Hmmm I could only dream of 70mpg.
If you have an android phone, download an application called driver diary.
You can record your fill ups, how many miles you do and how much it costs.
It will also track your MPG, my cupra is currently sitting at 28.079mpg

Sent from my HTC Desire HD using Tapatalk

 

[sfmk2.]

Hmmm I could only dream of 70mpg.
If you have an android phone, download an application called driver diary.
You can record your fill ups, how many miles you do and how much it costs.
It will also track your MPG, my cupra is currently sitting at 28.079mpg

Sent from my HTC Desire HD using Tapatalk

Drivers Journal? If so, I'm downloading it now. Thanks ! This looks like it could get addictive though!

 

[Ryanoceros]

I've got an ecomotive to,it's got 550 miles on the clock and the best mpg I've had out of it is 56mpg around the doors(that was driving realy carefully).
But on the motorway at 70 I only get about 47mpg.
I'm going to let it get run in properly And see if the figures improve.im also going to look at the tyre pressures aswel.

 

[ddc]

Good tip Mr bubba,

There's also mpg calculator on the android market which I started using just after Christmas. So far I've averaged 55.39 mpg over 6389 miles.

I know my change of wheels and tyres away from stock won't help, but just out of interest does anybody with a green E ecomotive have the low rolling resistance tyres they are supposed to come with?

Mine had standard P7s fitted from the factory.. Dealer played dumb when I queried it and I looked at another couple of new cars in the forecourt and they were the same.

 

[Deleted member 74601]

Thanks all, I have RoadTrip for the iPhone, so have been monitoring that way.

I'm in a similar situation to Ryanocerous. I did a run to work purely where I averaged the motorway, at 70mph (2000revs) pretty much constantly all the way, I managed 48mpg. As soon as I got into the town onto some of the 40mph dual carriageways, I stuck it in 4th (1600 revs) and saw the average climb to over 50mpg. It's all well and good having good town mpg for some people, but considering my driving is 80% motorway for my job, it's not good for me.

I've found that between 1500-1700 seems to be the most efficient revs when in 3rd and 4th, but when trying that in 5th gear (approx 60-65mph), I still only manage just over 50mpg average.

I know I have 4,500 miles on the clock, and people will say it needs to run in, but from what I've seen on the internet, lots of people have at least been having late 50s, low 60s average at this age of engine, so it's got me worrying a bit. It could appear as though there are some dodgy engines coming from the factory, most notably the engine in the Ibiza that one forum member on here rejected.

*EDIT*

I've also been seeing people talking about the trip computer and mpg '1' and '2'. How can I change between these two, as on the average screen I only ever see '2'.

 

[ddc]

1 is your average for the trip and automatically resets for every journey 2 is the average for the total mileage unless you've reset it manually. Switch between both by pressing the OK button on the RH side of the steering wheel