I am truly amazed..!

S

Squadron Leader

Member
Having swapped from 17 inch sport wheels down to more comfortable 16's - I thought I would drive more 'sensibly' to see whether there was any difference in fuel consumption. I should point out my car is a 1.4 TDi with a Stealth re-map.

Now on the 17 inch wheels it didn't matter whether I drove it like I stole it or just pootled around. I always got 50.4 mile to the gallon.

With the 16's on, and not exceeding 70 mph, the reading on the DIS is showing an incredible 69.24 MPG.!! :D

I have had my car for over four years and it still amuses and amazes me.

What's the most MPG has anyone got from their A2's?

Phil
 
77.5 mpg

Tank full to empty, never went over 60 mph on the motorway, trip took an hour longer each way and I would never choose to do it again, not unless i really had to..
 
My highest is 77.9mpg on 15". (manual calculation brim to brim)

With such a difference I personally would never consider using 17" wheels. 16" seems a sensible compromise for those wanting a slightly more sporty ride.
 
Why is it that the 17" wheels have such a detremental effect on fuel economy? I appreciate they're probably a bit heaver, but only by a few kilos across the whole car... much less than another person in the car!
Is it that the extra weight is unsprung that makes the difference?

Cheers,

Tom
 
and it's in the worst possible place, on the wheels, as the forces needed to move them are the highest there.

Big, heavy wheels = crappy consumption.

Personally, I'm the right side of 55mpg occasionally, with 50 being more realistic in close to 0C conditions and 80km/h limits.

This is a petrol I'm talking about...

Bret
 
And tyres will make a difference as well, it does make a difference to my mpg's but i do like the look of my car on 17's in the summer;)

Phil
 
The look of the RS4 wheels is ultimately why I've got them. I like the look of the broad tyres when seen from the back, too. The handling is excellent, but I can see I'm throwing a bit of efficiency away when doing motorway runs.
Can you get decent RS4 replicas that are lighter? or similar 9-spoke wheels that are only 16"?

Tom
 
This changes my plans, was looking at 17" BBS rims, but if its drastically going to affect MPG will leave it. Might go the other direction and fit 15" audi pepperpots, anyone else fitted these ?.

Thanks
Alan
 
This means I need to change down to 16" wheels, that is my target for 2011 now, at least one of my 17" is nearly brand new (one week old now due to crash)
 
if - and only if - you can find lightweight 17s, then stay there. Thing is, they're not common or cheap (or garden...).

Increased unsprung weight affects ride, consumption and suspension longevity negatively.

I used to see a 1l/100 difference (around 15%) between my winter steels and summer alloys. OK, they were heavy, but still, the difference was very obvious and had nothing to do with speed.

This is also why I have three of a set of four ProRace 1s from Team Dynamics in the Garage waiting for me to decide what colour they're going to be :)

Bret
 
Why is it that 17's are so much heavier than 16s?
There's an extra 1/2 inch on each of nine spokes, plus the extra breadth... is that all that makes the difference?

Tom
 
AlanA2 said:
This changes my plans, was looking at 17" BBS rims, but if its drastically going to affect MPG will leave it. Might go the other direction and fit 15" audi pepperpots, anyone else fitted these ?.

Thanks
Alan
Click to expand...

Just bought a set of 15 inch pepperpots and plan on getting some winter tyres on for next winter. Anyone else tried this and if so what tyres/size would you recommend?
 
Hi Squadron leader i run the pepper pot alloys in the winter with 195/55/15 tyres and find them great.i went with the widest option to preserve grip in rain under braking as opposed to skinnier for the best grip in snow. i am even coming around to how they look on the car-still i will be going back to my 17" qt alloys come end of march time.
have a look in the great thread on what tyre sizes are compatible with our cars cheers mike
 
I'm on 195/55x15's Continental winters on RS4 style 15" wheels with spacers to help with filling the arches and keep the look of 17's. Car is comfortable and grippy with good economy for sticky tyres having lost around 5-6% economy compared with the G/Y Efficient Grip summer tyres.
 
Are there any differences in the tyre circumference between 16" and 17"? if so, then wont the speedo / DIS need recalibration? Wouldn't this give a different distance travelled and therefore mpg?
 
Done about 1k in my sport now and have averaged 46mpg on 95 RON fuel :)

what am i doing wrong?


Although i drove the last few hundred miles like i stole it on the backroads and it fell to 34.
 
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