Average miles on a full tank

R

R4VSE

Member
Hi All

I need some advice please about my car, i was just wondering if there is anything wrong with my car beacuse i only get around 280 miles on a full tank of diesel is this normal?

my car is a 02 reg 1,4 dielsel..does 280 sound right for a full tank of fuel?
If that is a problem what do i need to do to get this problem fixed as i heard that these cars do around 400 miles to a full tanK

Any help would be most appreciated
 
For starters, how many litres of fuel do you need to fill the tank after your 280 miles?
It might be that what you think is a full tank according to the fuel gauge is only 3/4s of a tank!
 
The tank fills up with around £28 pounds as i fill it to the top and then leave it untill it goes into the red
 
Hi R4VSE,

Have a look at my spreadsheet. The evidence is there that below 200 miles can be considered normal. It just depends how the car is being used. Under the right circumstances, your A2 has the potential to return great MPG, but my guess is that the sort of journeys that you are doing are only a few miles long, starting with a cold engine?

John.
 
its all down to the kind of driving your car does.
Mine has just done 500 miles and No bleep from low fuel.
Mine gets about 53 if Im careful round town but hardly any stop start stuff.
On a run the DIS showed 60mpg,Brim to Brim was 59 mpg.
Thats doing anything from 40 -90 mph.
it seems to gobble it after 75 if that helps.
Highest DIS reading average was 65 mpg,not hanging around I may add with 3 people in car,a case and a spare tyre.
 
Mine does about 440, 450 miles now with about 45MPG. With larger tank. Mixed city and m-way driving.
 
I get about 300, although I have never actually done that, I chicken out at 280+, once that BEEP happens i'm looking for a petrol station!

Just refilled today at 288, on paper I have another 30 miles of fuel available, I don't like to push my luck with a wife and small child in the car. :D
 
My '03 re-mapped tdi does around 430 to a tankful if I'm driving it like I stole it. If I go easy on the loud pedal I can get 530 miles to a tankful.

At the current price of diesel I am constantly keeping off the gas to get the best mpg out of my little baby.

Phil
 
it is easiest if you take a look at your fuel receipt and see how many liters did you put in. Also, there might be minor differences exactly when the warning comes up on each car. I have a small tank and the warning comes on at about 28L and so I drive mostly 1/2 way into the red. Fill it up is about 30L at that point. I've never gambled too badly and max I put in was ~34L. And IIRC, the smaller tank is about 8 imperial gallon or 37L.
 
What's the most anybody has put into the 42L tank?
When the beep comes on I can only fill about 35 liters and I haven't
had the guts to drive any further than 38 liters since I don't know the true value of the 42L tank.
 
I drove it until it says 5mile left on the DIS, don't know how much is left in the tank
 
My 2001 A2 usually give me up to 50 to the gallon round town around the 300 mark from 28L .

But just done 440 miles on 28L (to and from great yarmouth and abit of running in between) now ive been on the net and done a few sums and they both say that i,ve just gotten just over 71 miles to the gallon thats with 3 up luggage and speed of between 40 and 70 im well impressed with my little baby.
 
The most Ive pumped into the tank at a fill was 39 litres the guage was close to zero and the low level alarm had been on for quite some time. Seems I still had half a gallon to spare but Ive not had the guts to push it that low again! I often get 38 in on a fill to the brim. I do too much town driving to get the really good economies you guys are getting and when Im on the open road I enjoy pressing on rather a lot. Im using cruise control a lot on motorways now though to stop my speed creeping and Im happier to sit at 70 now than I ever used to...
 
Dan, I can totally hear you, living in London... I have recently slow down on the motorways and I found the best motivation sticking to the limit is to beat your previous mpg record :)

On a side note, do people find the fuel gauge non linear? i.e. when it points at 1/2 or 3/4, it is not exactly what's left in the tank? My experience is that the first 1/4 seems to last a lot longer, second 1/4 slightly less and the last 1/4 significantly less than the first 1/4.
 
humps said:
Dan, I can totally hear you, living in London... I have recently slow down on the motorways and I found the best motivation sticking to the limit is to beat your previous mpg record :)

On a side note, do people find the fuel gauge non linear? i.e. when it points at 1/2 or 3/4, it is not exactly what's left in the tank? My experience is that the first 1/4 seems to last a lot longer, second 1/4 slightly less and the last 1/4 significantly less than the first 1/4.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean, I had done 200 miles with the needle exactly half way, then the last bit goes faster... hence my nervousness about attempting 400 on a single tank :D
 
i totaly agree with humps first 1/4 i get 150 miles then at 1/2 it shows 250 miles at 1/4 it shows 330 then i fill up at aprox 425 miles. as for most petrol i have put in --- it shocked me but a masive 41.78 litres!!!! all the best mike
 
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I get the non linear phenomenon too. Maybe i drive more economically at the beginning of a tank then blow it as it empties?!
 
The one thing i have learnt is don't run the diesel out of fuel its a pig to prime it again, i've got a 52 reg with the 42L tank most i've put in was 39.81L and i had done 590 miles !!!!!!!!, i drove about 15 miles with the light on but i have done over 50 miles with the light on and still only put 39L in, it is down to how you drive my last tank (just in town 390 miles) probably the worst i have done since owning it but hey it still worked out about 47 MPG's

Phil
 
I have a 1.4 petrol from 2000 (with small tank). I have seen the non-linear response of the gauge but I've gotten used to it.

If I brim it immediately after the beep it fills again (pump auto-stop) with 30 litres. What does that leave as reserve? The most I did on reserve was 30 miles, and I was almost praying for a gas station (no DIS).

As for mileage, I get from 265 to 225 miles for these 30 litres, depending on how I'm driving. But, it's always urban and most trips are around 5km, so the engine is always cold. It's enough to take a trip in a weekend to have the average be a LOT better.
 
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