mpg

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pete 1951

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Hi I have had my A2 1.4 sport for ten days now just filled up for the second time £33.50 at 94.5 a litre works out roughly 35mpg is this about right for around town in and out of traffic at peak times I do hope not
 
What model have you got? Our Tdi averages 46 which I also queried, but its probably realistic for the short trip driving my wife does. Search the forum, theres lots of chat about mpg, although 35 does seem low irrespective of engine variant.
 
Hi
All I know at the moment is it is a 1.4 sport 2004 54 plate will check engine number tonight
 
Individual driving styles vary so much along with variables such as traffic density, weather etc etc. It would be useful to have an idea of the mpg yuo got out of your previous car and waht car you had, that might give a clue as to whether the consumption is poor or realistic. In the meantime ensure your tyre pressures are correct and if anything 'slightly' over inflated rather than underinflated, check brakes for binding, remove any excess weight such as unnecesary 'stuff' in the car, check if it needs a service ( the air filter may need replacing ). The fact is stop/start cityd riving kills economy. You could fit your own aftermarket 'stop-start' system at absolutely no cost. This consists of switching off the ignition when stationary at red lights etc. If you think you are going to be stationary for more than 3 seconds then switching off is worthwhile.
 
I get about 37 in town. That's with mostly 1 or 2 people and climate control always on. A lot of stop start. I get to ~35mpg or lower if my right foot is heavy and do lots of short bursts of acceleration.

1.4 petrol

Edit: Adrian is also correct, tyre pressure also makes a difference. I forgot to check when the temperature turned cold. Once I pumped it up, the mpg improved slightly on the next tank.
 
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Adrian888 said:
You could fit your own aftermarket 'stop-start' system at absolutely no cost. This consists of switching off the ignition when stationary at red lights etc. If you think you are going to be stationary for more than 3 seconds then switching off is worthwhile.
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Very good!

Definitely second this - driver behaviour is such a big influence on fuel economy, especially in town - don't accelerate so hard when you pull away, coast more/drive off throttle more, try and plan your driving distances so you avoid having to brake as often, all that sort of stuff makes a huge difference.

Switch off the engine when stationary is another biggie - you're doing precisely 0MPG when you're idling!

When on the move, tyre pressures have a big influence on rolling resistance and so therefore drag and economy, so as above, pump them up - in the colder weather they will have lost pressure anyway.

The other classic is to remove clutter from your boot - no sense in hauling around 40kg of stuff in the boot that you never need- have a clear out! Even worse is running around with roof bars, or a roof box on the car without needing to - those things take 5-10% off economy straight away.

Also, have you changed your oil recently - modern fresh oil means less friction in the engine - believe it or not modern oils are formulated to improve fuel economy now.

The one I like to think makes a difference too is keeping the car clean - less drag :rolleyes:
 
dan_b said:
Very good!

The one I like to think makes a difference too is keeping the car clean - less drag :rolleyes:
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I seem to remember McLaren developing a car wax that would reduce drag and hence improve lap time. Not sure I believe it works in F1, and I am certain it will make no difference to my A2 ;);)

David
 
birdsd01 said:
I seem to remember McLaren developing a car wax that would reduce drag and hence improve lap time. Not sure I believe it works in F1, and I am certain it will make no difference to my A2 ;);)

David
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Its got to make some sort of differance if your car is dirty it will surely have more drag than a clean car, i mean around town probably not but, as Tescos would say "every little helps" lol

Cheers Phil
 
Fuel consumption on mine doesn't seem too good. We traded down from a Skoda Octavia 1.9TDi where 50-55mpg was average and even 70mpg was within reach. I had expected better consumption as the A2 is lighter and only has three-quarters the engine - but 50mpg seems to be as good as I can get.

Given that it's the same driver (me) on the same routes, this should be a straight comparison of like for like.
 
Thats not always how it works, as my sister in law has a mondeo 2.0TDCI and my neice has a 3.0TDI A4 quattro, and the A4 is better on fuel, the worse i got out of my A2 was just town driving for 1 tank and that was 48mpg on std deisel, but i average about 55-60 with v-power

Cheers Phil
 
Mine is only on 47mpg but I do keep half the house inside my car so could be affecting my mpg.
 
pete 1951 said:
Hi I have had my A2 1.4 sport for ten days now just filled up for the second time £33.50 at 94.5 a litre works out roughly 35mpg is this about right for around town in and out of traffic at peak times I do hope not
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My petrol sport does average 42 mg, this is a lot of stop-start driving, short journeys etc. DIS seems accurate, what is yours saying? If you look at the instant mpg readout when you are crawling through traffic it drops right down! I only have the climate cotrol on when absolutely necessary, windows down and open sky open also hits economy

Cheers Andy
 
I agree that A2 economy isn't significantly better than either my old Octavia TDi 90 or me ex's A3 2.0 TDi both of which bettered 50mpg without difficulty. I think part of the problem is the basic Physics of energy required to shift a certain mass and overcome air resistance etc. Beyond a certain point the improvements become very difficult to acheive in real world driving.

The A2 is basically a small engine working quite hard, the Ocatvia/A3 are still smallish, lightish cars with a larger, torquier engine working lessd and more efficiently. Also gearing is a bit low on the A2, I think if still marketed they would by now have a 6 speed box with a higher top ratio and stop start.
 
Adrian888 said:
I agree that A2 economy isn't significantly better than either my old Octavia TDi 90 or me ex's A3 2.0 TDi both of which bettered 50mpg without difficulty. I think part of the problem is the basic Physics of energy required to shift a certain mass and overcome air resistance etc. Beyond a certain point the improvements become very difficult to acheive in real world driving.

The A2 is basically a small engine working quite hard, the Ocatvia/A3 are still smallish, lightish cars with a larger, torquier engine working lessd and more efficiently. Also gearing is a bit low on the A2, I think if still marketed they would by now have a 6 speed box with a higher top ratio and stop start.
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Very true, as light as it is, the A2 with climate control is still a touch over 1000kg (more so for Tdi) which is not lighter than other small cars. What we do have is a rather well equiped, well built, luxury small car delivering the mpg of your run of the mill small cars (no offense). Unless you constantly sit through standstill traffic, stop-start has proven to be insignificant. Also, you can't have a/c when the engine is stopped, so you lose the bit of luxury in the misty rainy days or hot summer days. Less junk in the boot, lighter right foot, pumped up tyres and eat less pie are always most effective fuel saver.
 
The A2 is aerodynamically pretty impressively efficient though so at constant speed motoring it should come back into play, provided you're not thrashing the backside off the thing?

I checked the service weight of my car on the V5 - TDi with OpenSky and Aircon, and it's just a few Kgs over 1100 - way heavier than I was expecting that's for sure, but rather a lot lighter than the 1650kg my A4 quattro weighed in at!
 
It is aerodynamically efficient but at 70-80mph cruising it is revving hard in comparison with, say, an A3 2.0 TDi so negating some of the potential economy benefits.

And again the weight is high when I think back to my Golf Mk 1 that was @ 800kgs..............which is why manufacturers finally seem to waking upto the issue of weight and manufacturers such as mazda/Ford with the Mazda2 and new Fiesta building cars less heavy than the previous versions. I think the new Mazda2 is @ 900kg's.

In todays market the A2 is not exceptionally economical but where else can you buy a premium badged car for £5-£10k with all the bells etc and give over 50mpg with £35 RFL?
 
Definitely agree about the 6 speed gearbox for the TDi - would have been much better to have had the ratios slightly closer together with 6th slightly taller than the current 5th.
 
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