Honest TDI FR Fuel Consumption

[mliley01]

Three and a half thousand miles on my FR TDi 170, and average according to the on board computer is 36.8, this is a mixture of all sorts of roads. I seem to average around 40 on a run from home (Brum) to the in laws (Croydon) on motorways, and if I'm really careful and granny it everywhere I can get about 42/43 around town. But a normal run to work gets anywhere in the early to mid thirties.

 

[-JAMI3-]

I get 28-34 mpg on way to work and round town, on a long run though can get it to the early 40's. Very thirsty compared to the 140 TDI.

Not a patch on the old 1.9 TDI 150's, there were fuel efficient!

 

[fivetones]

I get 28-34 mpg on way to work and round town, on a long run though can get it to the early 40's. Very thirsty compared to the 140 TDI.

Not a patch on the old 1.9 TDI 150's, there were fuel efficient!

Yeah I think this maybe is the fact I needed confirming.

Very useful info from everyone though. Thanks.

 

[k4ith]

with my FR TDi last week i got 450miles out of a tank of shell extra & d/d millers no4, this week went down to centre parks anf the trip computer was showing 39mpg with 2adults the bambino & half the hoose too. was expecting more but with all that i am happy, my last MK4 GTI 180 i could get 320miles from a tank driving conservatively. so another 120miles is good for the back pocket.

 

[IndigoBoy]

Just picked up a new Leon TDi FR last weekend (exchanged my Leon SE TDi 130) and challenged myself to get the best average MPG on a journey back from Canary Wharf to South Cambridge (approx 47 miles of mainly M11) that I do on a daily basis.

My absolute best in the previous Leon was 66.6 mpg and whilst I fell well short of that in the new FR, did manage a very respectable 52.1

I certainly won't be nursing it along like that every evening but worth getting a benchmark figure once in a while.

 

[robjw]

Nearly 4k on the clock now and my FR TDi is averaging about 43mpg on long motorway/A road runs. I was expecting a bit more seeing as my Mondeo used to average a little over 50 - but then it was only 130bhp!

 

[richpaul]

The best I have got from the PD170 was 55.1mpg. But I was so bored doing it;
I tailgated every lorry i could find on the motorway to slipstream.
Going down hill steeply i used engine breaking instead of the brakes.
Going slightly down hill i pressed the clutch to the floor and free wheeled.
I kept it in the highest possible gear at all times, with the rpm between 900rpm and 1400rpm. Diesel cars dont suffer from labouring the engine, it actually improves economy.
Avoid the brakes using the gears to pull up to red lights and get off the gas a few hundred yards before the junction or red light.

The worst I have got was 23mpg but that was doing quarter mile runs with Digimoto.

Driving at 45mph in 6th seems the most efficient speed.

 

[Nathanio]

You'll getter better fuel efficency if you don't dip the clutch when going dow hill. Reason is modern engines don't use fuel when your coming to a stop in gear i.e. letting off and coming down the revs naturally. It uses the momentum of the drive train to keep it going. If you dip the clutch it has to use fuel to maintain idle speed

 

[richpaul]

You'll getter better fuel efficency if you don't dip the clutch when going dow hill. Reason is modern engines don't use fuel when your coming to a stop in gear i.e. letting off and coming down the revs naturally. It uses the momentum of the drive train to keep it going. If you dip the clutch it has to use fuel to maintain idle speed

I didnt say coming to a stop.
Going down hill slightly and dipping the clutch means the car does not slow down and lose speed. If I didnt dip the clutch the car would slow down, then i would need to accelerate again to keep the speed up, which is less efficient than leaving it dipped.

Whereas a slightly steeper hill I use engine braking to cut off the fuel supply, which still does not slow me down because i use the highest gear possible to not slow me down.

 

[simonrh]

Just coming up for first service (8000 miles down since mid December and 1400 to go)

The driving has been a mixed bag of hacking about, crusing at sane speeds and motorway mile munching.

I will average 46-48mpg on my drive to work (35 miles at 50-60 with 5 miles on A1 at 80mph)

Average over a tank is normally 43mpg (have recently started getting towards 44.5 mpg over a tank which gives 500 miles between fill-ups)

Best economy has been just over 50mpg on a run in 60mph traffic on M6

Worst economy is very low thirties when booting it!

Cruise control wipes about 3mpg off your economy compared to having a delicate foot. This is more due to the fact that you can lift right off down a hill and get way over a 100mpg or --- and the cruise seems very reluctant to lift off much more than it has too.

Economy gauge over a tank is accurate to within 0.5mpg (it aims 0.5 lower than actual). Also noticed that speedo is consistently 5mph over compared to TOMTOM

I didn't get very good mpg to start with until you find where the economy lives (1500-2000 revs with virtually no pedal applied). If you force it to lug around and pull from 1200 revs like a cabbie then the economy goes down not up. The tiniest changes in throttle position can make big changes to mpg and you have to train your foot to constatly adjust the amount of pressure on the loud pedal to get best mpg. Trouble is you end up watching the speedo and economy gauge and not the road.

 

[MUFFIN]

Just give it death, FR170 - treat it like an animal; who cares about the carbon footprint you're leaving behind.

 

[Nathanio]

You if blair/cameron/prince charles gets his way

 

[richpaul]

Well its a lot smaller carbon footprint than the old pug 306 1.9d. My dad has one, and he has to fork out £175 tax each year. I pay £130 for the FR170 and 100bhp more, with the same fuel economy - its all good.

 

[safcnige]

I know this has been discussed before but that was then were less of these things about.

So the FR TDI has been around for a while now so a lot of these things will be run in. I had a disucssion with my girlfriend last night about fuel consumption. I get around 40 MPG average (on the computer) and maybe 43 if I try hard but still keep with the traffic flow. This is in mixed driving including motorway miles, some traffic and A roads.

My girlfriend gets around 34MPG. Which is think is very low and as I haven't driven the car any distance recently leads me to believe something is wrong (Edit: DPF blocked?)

I'd be really interested in hearing what other FR TDI owners are getting (particularly right now in the same weather conditions). It might be nice to hear some figures of the 140 sport cars too.

No showing off now, just honest figures please

had my fr tdi since july last year and never had more than 390 miles out of a tank and i never believe the fuel computer my toyota avensis used to tell me i was doing 45 mpg but when i worked it out by running it almost dry and filling it up it was only doing 34mpg but then again the fr is a performance model and not meant for outright economy

 

[OLDOILER]

had my fr tdi since july last year and never had more than 390 miles out of a tank and i never believe the fuel computer my toyota avensis used to tell me i was doing 45 mpg but when i worked it out by running it almost dry and filling it up it was only doing 34mpg but then again the fr is a performance model and not meant for outright economy

Well I disagree there, my 130 was chipped to 180+ and gave good performance and mpg never below 38mpg - the 170FR mpg is approaching petrol levels, some of it I'm sure is due to the lump of DPF stuck in the front seriously concidering removing the lump and using dummy loads for the 5 sensors that are fitted - if I could be sure that it would still pass the MOT in 3yrs time !!

It's now doing 540 to the tank full ??!!??@(thats with 4 shots of MD4) and mixed speeds - is this a record??
Had the car checked out at the stealers after it dropped down to 29mpg!! - no fault found - according to the Seat computer system, they did't seem to know about VAGCOM tests or blocks - computer say's NO>>>!!???!!spoke to the sales chap he is going to take it further after my w/e travels tank top to tank top

 

[Stuart83]

I've found that if I drive it normally, like I used to drive my Clio 172, I get about 35-38 mpg (compared to 32 in the Clio), which is pretty pathetic for a diesel. If I drive carefully, I get around 40-44. To be fair though, my route to work is down B roads with lots of speed changes and up / down the gears. Plus the car's only done 600 miles so far, so there's a lot of loosening up to come!

I think the only way to get "proper diesel" fuel consumption is to stick it in 6th on the motorway and stay within the speed limit. This should come in helpful when I drive to France this summer - will report back afterwards!! Going to be aiming for that holy grail of 50mpg....."to reach the impossible dream......".

 

[Tam]

my toyota avensis used to tell me i was doing 45 mpg but when i worked it out by running it almost dry and filling it up it was only doing 34mpg

I've got a 2004 D4D Avensis it's usually around 26-29Mpg with anything upto 36 on motorways ....... abused???

I'm looking forward to the FR as hopefully, due to the performance of it, it wont have to be nailed in every gear to get anywhere - hence better Mpg

 

[fivetones]

Well I disagree there, my 130 was chipped to 180+ and gave good performance and mpg never below 38mpg - the 170FR mpg is approaching petrol levels, some of it I'm sure is due to the lump of DPF stuck in the front seriously concidering removing the lump and using dummy loads for the 5 sensors that are fitted - if I could be sure that it would still pass the MOT in 3yrs time !!

As a cyclist I think you're daft. I like the fact my diesel doesn't smoke like an old taxi.

Driving normally (ie. reasonably fast) everywhere since my first post I can get 41mpg. If I drive properly fast that goes to 38mpg.

Considering the size and the performance that isn't bad.

 

[fivetones]

I've found that if I drive it normally, like I used to drive my Clio 172, I get about 35-38 mpg (compared to 32 in the Clio), which is pretty pathetic for a diesel.

Isn't there a 400KG difference in kerb weight here (1000 vs 1400) ? The comparison is a little unfair in my mind.

 

[Crazyhazy]

Well its a lot smaller carbon footprint than the old pug 306 1.9d. My dad has one, and he has to fork out £175 tax each year. I pay £130 for the FR170 and 100bhp more, with the same fuel economy - its all good.

How come your paying a tenner less than me for the same car?