Consumption help please

jeevanjohnmenon

jeevanjohnmenon

Member
United-Kingdom
Hi all, need your help and would like to understand my car’s consumption abit better.

I have a 2002 1.4 petrol ( mileage: 113,000) and it’s running on 15 inch wheels. I do a lot of driving daily for work and can clock almost 80miles/ day.

In my latest top up, I paid £49 for a full tank and had travelled 325miles on that. Which should be about 29.56MPG.

Is that the norm? I was always under the impression the A2 performed way better than that ( considering modern petrol cars can easily do 36MPG).

And if that’s not the norm, what can I do/ get working on to improve my fuel consumption? I easily do an even split between 20mile per hour driving in london and motorway driving at 70mile per hour each day.

Any help an advice would be much appreciated. Thank you!
 
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jeevanjohnmenon said:
Hi all, need your help and would like to understand my car’s consumption abit better.

I have a 2002 petrol and it’s running on 15 inch wheels. I do a lot of driving daily for work and can clock almost 80miles/ day.

In my latest top up, I paid £49 for a full tank and had travelled 325miles on that. Which should be about 29.56MPG.

Is that the norm? I was always under the impression the A2 performed way better than that ( considering modern petrol cars can easily do 36MPG).

And if that’s not the norm, what can I do/ get working on to improve my fuel consumption? I easily do an even split between 20mile per hour driving in london and motorway driving at 70mile per hour each day.

Any help an advice would be much appreciated. Thank you!
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Hi,
Is it a 1.4 or 1.6? What is the mileage?
My 1.6 averages around 45mpg on mixed driving mid 55mpg on a long, fast M way run.
So, even in London traffic, I reckon yours is a bit thirsty.
Has it been scanned in your ownership?
Mac.
 
I mostly drive in city with 20min drives to work and back, so the engine has to warm up every time I drive, which isn't great for mpg. With that 1/4 of tank sign gives about 60 miles, so with reverse it'd be around 270-280 max.
Add motorway to that and 320ish sounds about right.
What you'd do is to change fuel filter and add injector cleaner to the fuel tank, these could improve the mpg. Don't forget the engine is about 20 years by now, so that figure isn't too bad. When the A2 engines were new, that figure was probably much better as well. I'm okay with that high milage, as I like driving my A2.
 
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PlasticMac said:
Hi,
Is it a 1.4 or 1.6? What is the mileage?
My 1.6 averages around 45mpg on mixed driving mid 55mpg on a long, fast M way run.
So, even in London traffic, I reckon yours is a bit thirsty.
Has it been scanned in your ownership?
Mac.
Click to expand...
It’s a 1.4!

I did have it scanned by a mobile mechanic once, and it had a whole list of issues that didn’t seem too big really.

I could post the list of issues if you’d like?
 
Sylvester said:
I mostly drive in city with 20min drives to work and back, so the engine has to warm up every time I drive, which isn't great for mpg. With that 1/4 of tank sign gives about 60 miles, so with reverse it'd be around 270-280 max.
Add motorway to that and 320ish sounds about right.
What you'd do is to change fuel filter and add injector cleaner to the fuel tank, these could improve the mpg. Don't forget the engine is about 20 years by now, so that figure isn't too bad. When the A2 engines were new, that figure was probably much better as well. I'm okay with that high milage, as I like driving my A2.
Click to expand...
Yea I like driving my A2 too!

I know B&F mentioned my exhaust needed patching ( and they did some patching to it)

I’m wondering if I need a new exhaust system?
 
Hi

How many litres went in for your £49 fill up. 29/30 ish miles per gallon seems low to me, I’m pulling low to mid 40s at the moment for mostly short runs

J
 
@jeevanjohnmenon

I think it would be good to have some clarity on your statement

'I paid £49 for a full tank and had travelled 325miles on that.'

With respect it is a bit vague to quote £49, the cost of petrol varies daily, between garages and between geographical region; what is important is how many litres you put in.

Andy
 
jeevanjohnmenon said:
It’s a 1.4!

I did have it scanned by a mobile mechanic once, and it had a whole list of issues that didn’t seem too big really.

I could post the list of issues if you’d like?
Click to expand...
Most of the errors on the scan would have been historical. If you get the chance of another scan, get all the errors cleared, have a drive, then scan again, you'll then see the real results, probably only two or three, maybe even none.
The mileage is a big factor too, as is your servicing regime. But, overall you're at least 10% down on mpg I reckon. B&F will be your best bet.
Mac.
 
Andrew said:
@jeevanjohnmenon

I think it would be good to have some clarity on your statement

'I paid £49 for a full tank and had travelled 325miles on that.'

With respect it is a bit vague to quote £49, the cost of petrol varies daily, between garages and between geographical region; what is important is how many litres you put in.

Andy
Click to expand...
Mate, thank you! Your reply got me to realise I was a complete dumbass 🤣

So to all-

I unfortunately calculated my MPG using the amount I paid as the litres I pumped (🤦🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️)

So after calculating again:
- miles: 324.3
- litres pumped: 33 ( it’s a guess based on how much I paid divided by the current Tesco 95 pump price as I didn’t keep the receipt to check how many litres I pumped 🤦🏽‍♂️)

That gives me a MPG of 44.68. Which sounds a lot closer to what one would expect of the 1.4 petrol! 🥲

I don’t know how to tag everyone @steve_c @birtyA2
 
H-M3 said:
Also make sure tyres are evenly aired including tracked. I need to change the sparks on my one I think.
Click to expand...
Yea! Just had my sparkplugs changed at a recent servicing with B&F.

And yes I always ensure to pump my tyres weekly ( only cos I drive for work)
 
PlasticMac said:
Most of the errors on the scan would have been historical. If you get the chance of another scan, get all the errors cleared, have a drive, then scan again, you'll then see the real results, probably only two or three, maybe even none.
The mileage is a big factor too, as is your servicing regime. But, overall you're at least 10% down on mpg I reckon. B&F will be your best bet.
Mac.
Click to expand...
I did not know Scans showed all historical data! 😮

Thank you for letting me know. Ok I’ll get B&F to take a look at the next time I’m in 🙏🏼🙂
 
Surely the biggest factor is your driving style, how heavy is your right foot, do you charge into situations then brake hard etc it's all about anticipation and keeping a smooth ride. When I had a 1.4 petrol I would get 37-42 around town and 50+ on a run, 1.6 fsi I would get slightly better especially on a run up to 58mpg. Tdi is a different story if I can't get 67+mpg on a run something is seriously wrong, I have had in excess of 80mpg ☺
 
RZX said:
Surely the biggest factor is your driving style, how heavy is your right foot, do you charge into situations then brake hard etc it's all about anticipation and keeping a smooth ride. When I had a 1.4 petrol I would get 37-42 around town and 50+ on a run, 1.6 fsi I would get slightly better especially on a run up to 58mpg. Tdi is a different story if I can't get 67+mpg on a run something is seriously wrong, I have had in excess of 80mpg ☺
Click to expand...
That’s amazing! And true! I’m quite gentle, I don’t believe in flooring any car.

And I match my revs as best as possible for my very basic skill level 🤣
 
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