View Full Version : Tdi 130 - Mpg
muddyboots
09-06-2003, 12:55
What sort of long-term mpg are all you TDI 130 owners (chipped & standard) getting ?
I bought mine abroad with the "Seat Power Upgrade", which I'm led to believe is by AMD and adds 25bhp (not as good as Revo I know!).
For quite a while, whenever I sat on the motorway with the cruise set to 80-odd, it would always settle down at around 49mpg.
I always used to fill up at a Total garage on my way home from work, but recently I switched to BP near home.
This weekend I've been to Kent and back; with a steady 80-85mph there I averaged 55 mpg, on the way back in the rain & heavy traffic it went up to 58 mpg.
Could this sudden improvement be solely because of fuel ???
I was wondering how these figures compare with everyone elses, in various states of tune & driving styles. Also, does anyone else get much smoke ? mine seems to puff a bit out now and then.
The fact that it was raining may have helped to cool the intake gases and give you a better burn. Plus they are supposed to give there best at around 55-60mph I have been told.
jacknelle
09-06-2003, 23:05
I've had the long term average running since I bought the car ~1900 miles ago and it reads 41.5mpg.
Before Revo I was just starting to get into the 50s on a longish trip (>40 miles). Post Revo I can get it down to high 20s, but driving in granny mode and I can still get low 50s. I think more miles on the clock will help though.
It really depends how you drive it!
My drive to work in a morning is about 10 miles, and I have seen figures between 35 (when I am in a really bad mood!) to 55. Its normally around 50 though (this is on A roads, max about 45mph).
Motorway cruising tends to get around 55 or so, but if you watch the instantaneous mpg readout, that tends to drop off above 75-80 mph (but it is sooo hard driving that slow on the motorway ;))
I only notice the smoke when I floor it and it goes through 1900-2300ish rpm (this also coincides with a raspy growl). It seems easier to see at night as the cloud blocks out the light from the car behind :D
Wow:eyepop: :eyepop:
You guys get some serious MPG. I only average about 40. Don't think I've ever gotten over 50.:(
muddyboots
10-06-2003, 08:15
It sounds like I'm doing OK then; I'm still staggered by the improvement brought about by switching fuel.
My previous long term average (over a couple of thousand miles) while running on Total diesel was 49mpg.
Since switching to BP and resetting the computer I've now done over 1000 miles it's sitting at 53mpg long-term.
Whether this is due to the brand of fuel, or something to do just with my previous garage, I'm not sure - but I'm certainly not complaining, that sort of mpg from a car with such power still amazes me. Don't think I'll ever go back to petrol...
slim_boy_fat
10-06-2003, 12:33
My tank average is 48,9 for 3500 miles covered so far.
Best for a full tank so far has been 53,2
Worst 44,1
On the way to work in the morning i usually get 68mpg on the way home i get 42mpg, very traffic dependant + home is uphill from work about 10mile each way.
I have just been on my hols and did a round trip of some 500+ miles. I returned 64.2mpg going down and 62.7 coming back so I was very pleased.
I can remember reading on the forum a while back a few people complaining about poor quality diesel from Total garages so I have stayed away from them and use a mixture of BP and Shell which I cannot differentiate between on economy.
muddyboots
10-06-2003, 14:34
Blimey, that's an impressive set of figures, especially considering the Revo upgrade. I wonder if the Revo upgrade is more fuel-efficient than the AMD map I think I got from Seat, which has a lower power output ?
I must have missed/forgot about the thread on Total diesel, at least I know I'm not going mad now :)
I've been down to Guildford and back today.
Got 380 miles out of £24.20 of Esso diesel which was a mix of town chugging, A road cruising, M-Way blasts (80 to 100mph) and a small bit of B road fun. Trip computer said I got 55mpg which I'm very happy with.
Ive been meaning to ask about consumption for a while now, my ibiza 130 is on just shy of 7k miles now. The trip hasnt been reset since i drove it back from Ireland and the overall average reads 41.5mpg. I find that i REALLY have to drive very carefully to record anything above 50mpg.....the highest ever has been about 62mpg, but that was out of character for the car and i cant explain why that happened, i wasnt driving any different than normal, where i would expect to return about 52mpg.
The worst i have returned was when my car was being used as a camera car to film a 400bhp Supra racing m/bikes on a local 'test track', when i averaged about 23mpg for an hours drive. (not town driving if you get my drift)
I was starting to think there is something wrong with the onboard computer as, although i dont drive slowly, i think that considering the engine, i should be getting more than 35 - 40 mpg for a 'spirited' drive.
Most of the figures i have seen on this thread seem to make sense, taking into account what i am used to seeing on my trip computer. The really high figures, which we would all like to achieve, however.....(this is to aceman and slim) do you achieve those figures easily? Cause in my car, to approach that sort of mpg, i would have to hardly breathe on the throttle, or so it seems, over a fairly long mileage. This is what makes me worry that the computer isnt doing what it should! For example, i reset the 2hr trip when i was on the motorway the other day, and the first figure it came up with was 200mpg, which was nice, but over time and within 15 mins at a steady 80 - 90 mph it had settled to 43.4mpg.....not great for motorway driving!
Anyway, a long post, so sorry about that! any ideas on whether i should be expecting higher figures? I would be especially interested in hearing from Aceman or Slim :)
Cheers
Jono
My advice would be to get a Revo remap and sod the economy. JMHO.
Jimbo
That is certainly an idea im entertaining jimbo, any spare cash always goes to the revo fund! Apart from anything else, it would save embarrasment at having a certain MX5 hovering around the bumper of my car all the time! (The rear bumper of course ;))
I see your point tho, unfortunately I am bringing the original mx 5 out of retirement that was faster than my 202/268 Ibiza cupra so methinks you will need more than a revo :P better start with the hail Mary's you need them ;)
Jimbo
Well, i never knew you were the religious type jim! Hehe! Hairdressers are full of surprises!! :D It will be good to see the old mx on the road tho in seriousness, interesting to see how it goes. I get the feeling that all is about to change in the Kent area, bearing in mind what is almost ready to come out of its lock up....:P
Not being religious or anything I just thought that you may need all the help that you could get and then some... At the finish line you will see me with the sticker in the back window "diesel drivers do it slower" :P Not wishing to put myself into the hairdresser bracket but I do love MX5's but I loved my Ibiza also. I think that you will have a trq advantage over me well I am sure you will but I am not sure how much of that will be negated by the transporting of heavy goods :P
Jimbo
Good to see you still have your sense of humour intact m'laddo! I think we should continue this discussion on msn or something, we dont want to take up more than our share of the forum!
To all you other TDI drivers on here, a nice cold pint to the person with the best response to the ex-cupra drivers comment of
'diesel drivers do it slower'
:cheers:
Diesel Drivers are all torque...
Just as well I like torque!
muddyboots
11-06-2003, 12:22
Originally posted by JimR
My advice would be to get a Revo remap and sod the economy
Aceman's quoting long-journey averages of 62-64mpg, WITH the Revo remap.
Maybe it'll improve your mpg ???
If i get........actually no, WHEN i get a revo, the thing i will be more worried about is the clutch and gearbox because if the power is available, i will want to enjoy it and i tend to drive fairly swiftly most of the time.
I have heard that the economy does improve with a revo, not sure by how much although im sure one of the lucky ones will be able to tell us.....;)
"i will be more worried about is the clutch and gearbox because if the power is available" Sounds like Diesel drivers have more issues :P but seriously what is the trq steer like on a remapped tdi ?
Jimbo
slim_boy_fat
11-06-2003, 18:07
Jono, your mpg seems abit low. I do a mixture of town and motorway with quite alot of 'brisk' driving and i get 47-49mpg on average for a tank. 41 seems very low. Do you know it has 6 gears;) maybe have use 6th more often. I find it pretty easy to get over 50 if i can restrain the right foot.
Hopefully my car will be getting RRd soon so should have a good idea of its output. I think its definatly producing more than the 130bhp that it should.
:devil: C'mon chaps hands up all those who bought the bezzer just for the economy.......c'mon.......all of you... didn't think so if you think those figures are bad try 18-23 mpg thats what you get out of a Leon Cupra for a mix of town and "sporty" driving that's bog standard. If you drive like the pope you can just about get the 33mpg quoted in the handbook. As you can tell by my economy figures I have no religion at all:devil:
Right where do I start !
Firstly the Revo upgrade definatly improves the consumption on a long motorway run as when I had it installed at christmas if memory serves me right I had something like 52mpg down to Daventry and over 60mpg coming back (trip reset). As I have posted many times before for all the critics on remapping there are advantages in not just performance but also economy.
Consumption in these cars I have found very sensitive to how you drive and bear in mind that on short runs the average mpg is always going to be poor but 50+ can easily be achieved when driving like a nannny (ie. light throttle and <1500rpm in all gears). For example my daily run to work and back some 7-8 miles with a mixture of dual carriageway and heavy start stop city traffic (10mph max) I can achieve 50+mpg quite easily and thats with steep hills to climb !
Iam now at the stage that I drive how a want to which is usually sensible but with the occasional full throttle spurt (after all we have all bought the car to enjoy driving haven't we ?)and don't worry about economy as I know the car is quite capable of returning exceptionable figures if I want it to.
slim_boy_fat
11-06-2003, 21:05
Originally posted by jason leese
:devil: C'mon chaps hands up all those who bought the bezzer just for the economy.......c'mon.......all of you... didn't think so if you think those figures are bad try 18-23 mpg thats what you get out of a Leon Cupra for a mix of town and "sporty" driving that's bog standard. If you drive like the pope you can just about get the 33mpg quoted in the handbook. As you can tell by my economy figures I have no religion at all:devil:
:wave: :redface:
Sorry but i just vomit at the thought of giving the government any more tax than i have to...and at 80% on fuel i prefer 50mpg to 18mpg...
Sorry jason but you have to drive like a loone to AVERAGE 18mpg in a Standard cupra. Leo has an R that lets say is driven 'briskly' nd he get between 28-32mph and that includes a bit of town driving.
Ace tend to agree about the upgrade if you dont go mad then you will get better ecconomy, but you DONT have to drive like a nanny to get 50mpg, just stay away from the city centre..
LEO LION R
11-06-2003, 21:56
Although only true words are spoken from SBF i feel i should add in my defense that if i go on a coutry road drive about the average drops to about 22-24 depending on how fast and furious.
The 28-32mpg is for a whole tank, something which i do not do on coutry blats - country blats are usually no longer than 20-30 miles as its all i can handle as my eyes start to bl;eed with the breaking brembo's ;)
Any way this is about the frugal TDi's and i'm not one for starting to wander thread topics to far :D (yes i know liar)
I had a Pug 306 HDi once and it averaged 48.5mpg over its life, all of which's driving style and roads were the same as which i do in the R.
So as a comparison the R at an average of 29mpg since ownership began versus a 48.5mpg average for the HDi.
Yes diesels are more economical and that's why i got the HDi, but i got the R because IMO its far more fun for me to drive - if only a little less Q car than i hoped at one point.
:cheers:
My computer was scarily accurate when I calculated a brim to brim and the miles covered (with the 17's). It used to show about 47.3 (or whatever the increment it settles on is) on the motorway at 85-90. I couldn't get it to show 60+ without really trying, but I think that some computers are optimistic and some are pessemistic.
SBF & Aceman, how many miles do you get from a tank? Venting to get as much as possible in I got 600 miles twice (just, by babying the car to eke out the last 50 or so miles) and that showed as 53.something average for the tank. Usually I got 550 or so but sometimes only a little over 500 from a tank.
I found the car used more fuel when it was colder and bizzarrely for the first couple of tanks after a service.
I did 22,500 miles in it BTW (still the most of anyone here?), all but 2,000 with Revo.
Highest I have got is about 480 out of a tank but that wasn't brimming. I very rarely do any long trips infact last weeks 250 mile trip back from Poole is probably the longest ever single drive and the rest of the tank will be used on commuting to work 7-8 miles so I'll be lucky to get upto 480 again.
I filled up twice in one day a couple of times!
slim_boy_fat
12-06-2003, 07:55
I usually fill up about 450-480miles. Its only a 45litre/10 gallon tank so to get 600miles from 1 fill is pretty good going.
I usually fill up when the range goes to zero nd i get about 40-42 liters in so still have about 40miles left in the tank. (I dont like running on fumes)
500 miles to a tank is pretty standard if you run it right down.
SBF, do you vent the trapped air when you fill it? I used to get over 50 litres in when i filled up, and you can get almost 200 miles out of it before the gauge moves.
slim_boy_fat
12-06-2003, 15:42
Originally posted by Fen
SBF, do you vent the trapped air when you fill it? I used to get over 50 litres in when i filled up, and you can get almost 200 miles out of it before the gauge moves.
50 litres, they must have put a Leon tank on yours;)
Yes i do, I just like to keep 5-8litres in the tank when i fill up
no it's just i live in the sticks(sort of) so every trip out is 5 miles of counrty B road on every journey before I even see another car( don't do motorways there boring)All I know is that I get between 65-80miles from the light coming on, putting a tenner in and the light coming back on again.
You guys want to consider yourselves lucky. Try running a Scooby, then you will know what the "real" meaning of fuel consumption is!
Mind you, my TI130 doesn't use much fuel these days, come to that... it doesn't use any at all. But then again, it is still sat in the garage awaiting a new engine (only 6 weeks and counting). Bitter, YEP...
Enjoy.
Cheers for the responses to my post earlier in the week, its been interesting to hear the different opinions. I am gonna try using different filling up places to see if that improves things, i usually use Esso, and i know they tend to be bad for petrol, so i will see. They are only 73.5p per litre at the minute, opposed to 76p at most other places, so maybe its worth payin the extra if it goes for longer? Maybe its my heavy right foot that has a lot to do with it, but it seems odd that no matter how hard i try it wont go above 55mpg.....as tested in the last few days! Anyway, i definitely think i should get it chipped at some point when i can afford it! ;) For mpg purposes of course! :redface:
Oh, and slim....cheers for pointing out it has six gears! I couldnt for the life of me work out why it kept on stalling when i tried to reverse!! :D
Originally posted by MikeO
You guys want to consider yourselves lucky. Try running a Scooby, then you will know what the "real" meaning of fuel consumption is!
Been there, done that. Not anywhere near worth the running costs...