Fuel Consumption

pbirkett

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Jun 17, 2004
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Newcastle
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jason leese said:
Any way Define performance . . Golf GTI ? ? Mark 3 AND Mark 4 non turbo are both slower than the Ibiza/Leon TDI's

Hardly surprising - the Golf Mk3 GTI 8v and Mk4 2.0 GTI were both a pathetic 115 bhp. My old 1.3 Micra would have given them a run for their money ;)

The Mk3 GTI 16v should just about beat a PD130 though.

The economy on my old PD130 Fabia vRS was only about 10-20% than my 180 bhp Clio.
 

pbirkett

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Jun 17, 2004
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Newcastle
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I have done the same sort of driving throughout.

My journey into work is 8 miles, but sometimes as much as 15 if I go an "alternative" way to avoid traffic - a mix of b-road, dual carriageway and city centre.

The rest is to my mates houses - usually between 8 and 30 miles - the rest is pleasure - A and B roads, and fast.

The diesel is not bad if you drive on a motorway at a constant speed - 50+ MPG. My typical journeys the PD130 could only muster between 36 and 40 MPG on the average for a tankful. My Clio usually does about 32 MPG, and I dont hang around.

I too never used to believe the petrol could run it so close, but on shortish journeys, it can.
 

pbirkett

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Jun 17, 2004
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jason leese said:
Yeah sounds a bit iffy to me

Clio's mpg at best 40 . . . so the fabia only did 48 MPG can't see it myself

Like I say, I couldnt see it myself either, before i got one. The Clio has an extra urban figure of 45 MPG. In reality, I get 32-33. The Skoda had an extra urban of about 60 or so.... but I never got close to that... in reality more like 36-40... close to its urban figure.

The diesel took longer to warm up. I drove it hard once it was (to 4k RPM regularly). When you are driving like that, you are still burning plenty of fuel. The Clio gets to a given speed quicker, so less time on the throttle.

The diesel is better for MPG, but only on longer jorneys.
 

jase750

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Jan 3, 2003
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Stoke on Trent
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That's not a commute thats a pleasure drive, 8 miles I bet the heaters are still cold when you pull up at the other end?

My wife doe's a 90 mile round trip commute every day and we see about 57MPG.thats a mix of everything motorways to B-roads. . . and LOTS of standing traffic
 

dmjw01

Upstanding Member
Jul 28, 2005
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Woking, UK
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pbirkett said:
My typical journeys the PD130 could only muster between 36 and 40 MPG on the average for a tankful
Then there was something wrong with your PD130. My journey to work is a 20-mile trip, which is a mixture of traffic jams, a 7-mile hop along the motorway and a decent amount of fast twisty stuff, where I drive allegro con spirito. On a really bad day when the traffic is particularly awful, my mpg drops to about 45 - I don't think I've ever seen it lower than 44.

On a longer motorway run, my engine agrees with Jason's figure of 57 mpg, and mine's only got 12,000 miles on it so it's not fully loosened up yet.
 
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pbirkett

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dmjw01 said:
Then there was something wrong with your PD130. My journey to work is a 20-mile trip, which is a mixture of traffic jams, a 7-mile hop along the motorway and a decent amount of fast twisty stuff, where I drive allegro con spirito. On a really bad day when the traffic is particularly awful, my mpg drops to about 45 - I don't think I've ever seen it lower than 44.

No there wasnt.... 20 miles is plenty enough to see it well into the fourties... I am talking about an average trip of 8 miles, and plenty of lead boot at that.

The best I got was a 150 mile trip to Scotland and back, and that was 54 MPG, which was fair enough. Still I'd expect the Clio to be into the low 40's with a similar journey.
 

dmjw01

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Jul 28, 2005
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Woking, UK
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pbirkett said:
average trip of 8 miles
So why did you buy a diesel then?

You quote a set of journey conditions which will make a diesel the least efficient that it can be, and yet still it beats the petrol by a moderate margin. I would never recommend a diesel purely on the strength of its mpg, particularly to someone who does short journeys - by their nature they take longer to reach optimum temperature.

pbirkett said:
150 mile trip to Scotland and back, and that was 54 MPG

Again, you really should have got more than 54. The other day on a decent motorway run, with occasional blasts up to (ahem...) mph, mine gave me over 58, and it's not properly run-in yet. Once it's fully loosened up I expect it to be better still.

Diesels take a lot longer to break in. For that reason I would also not recommend a diesel unless you intend to keep it for a good few years, otherwise you'll never see its best performance and economy.
 

cstevens

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Oct 18, 2005
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Just hit 2000 miles and today managed to get 50.9 mpg out of it, 15miles on M1 at 40-80 and 50-60 into Worksop. Proper impressed! Better than that silly ST170 I swapped it for!

I am doing 50 miles a day round trip to Tankersly from Worksop (Come on fess up who are the other FR drivers in my carpark with the chain mail fence around it - you know where I mean).
 

pbirkett

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Jun 17, 2004
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dmjw01 said:
So why did you buy a diesel then?

You quote a set of journey conditions which will make a diesel the least efficient that it can be, and yet still it beats the petrol by a moderate margin. I would never recommend a diesel purely on the strength of its mpg, particularly to someone who does short journeys - by their nature they take longer to reach optimum temperature.

I didnt buy it just because it was a diesel. I happenned to like the look of it, and that was the main reason. The fact it would seem to be economical was a very nice bonus. And it is.... just not as much as I'd been led to believe.

Again, you really should have got more than 54. The other day on a decent motorway run, with occasional blasts up to (ahem...) mph, mine gave me over 58, and it's not properly run-in yet. Once it's fully loosened up I expect it to be better still.

54 is not too bad considering the official combined figure is 52.

Diesels take a lot longer to break in. For that reason I would also not recommend a diesel unless you intend to keep it for a good few years, otherwise you'll never see its best performance and economy.

I did 20,000 miles in mine. Despite the fact that according to some, it was not ran in, I really could not see it becoming THAT much better than it had already become.

In fairness, there always seems to be a big variation in the fuel economy figures given by people with these cars. It would seem that if your car is tucked away in a nice garage, and then used for 20+ mile motorway jaunts, then you'll get excellent economy. However, for those of us who scrape ice off our cars in the winter, the car takes longer to warm up, and if they then, like me, drive into town, then they arent going to see much better than a petrol.

I was led to believe that diesels would always trounce petrol for economy in a like for like comparison (as in, in roughly equivalent performance cars, and the same journeys). I did believe these claims due to my inexperience with the characteristics of diesel cars. Knowing what I now know, I would not have bought the diesel, but I am not putting it down, but people need to be aware that they are completely different, and that pottering 5 miles to town and back is not going to do them any favours.
 

cstevens

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Oct 18, 2005
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Well my old ST170 and new FR where "tucked up in the garage"

However 45-50+mpg compared to 18-21max that I was getting and the money I am saving a month is paying for the finance. SO at the moment after 2 months I am braking even!
 

Just4 Perry

Guest
Mpg

I have the petrol version LCR.
As a rough guide, I get on average 35 mpg from it and thats driving it with passion, but not ott. I recently wrote and crticised 'Test drive' magazine for an article they published on economy driving, where they advocated 'coasting' in order to keep fuel consumption down. Most remarkable was the mpg figures quoted (using a LCR), even using this technique they were no better than the mpg I experience. I have no idea how this compares to other LCR drivers. However, 45mpg for a diesel is not the kind of radical improvement I would have expected.
I suppose this begs the question, is it actually worth the difference in fuel saving for the extra fun and adrenalin pump you get with the petrol version, unless of course you are taking into account taxation?
 

AndyVTR

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Mar 19, 2002
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Just4 Perry said:
I suppose this begs the question, is it actually worth the difference in fuel saving for the extra fun and adrenalin pump you get with the petrol version, unless of course you are taking into account taxation?

Doing my 600mile (1 tank) a week commute I'm sure it does.
 

cstevens

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Oct 18, 2005
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Have to agree with Andy, although I dont get 600 miles, like I said, 45mph+ compared to 18-21, is a radical improvement. And the FR is quicker than the ST170 that I did have.

I only do a small commute of around 280 miles a week just to work, the ST would only do 270 miles maximum for £50. I then do at least two 200mile+ trips twice a month at weekends.

Had it since 25th October and done around 2200 miles in it, at the moment, I am actually braking even or even a little in proffit between the cost of petrol I was paying and the finance I am paying. For me its a no brainer, not to mention the fact that I think the FR is 100 times a better car than the focus.
 

muddyboots

Still hanging around
Oct 16, 2002
5,739
1
The last couple of years I've averaged around 28k per year (500ish a week, plus holidays round Europe).

Using a rough example with prices from here: http://www.petrolprices.com/search.html?search=Buxton,+Derbyshire

My g/fs 1.8 Focus 115bhp @ 33mpg:
28000/33 = 848 gallons
848 * 4.55 = 3858 litres
3858 litres * 0.901ppl = £3476 fuel cost per year

My TDI 170 bhp @ 50mpg:
28000/50 = 560 gallons
560 * 4.55 = 2548 litres
2548 litres * 0.947ppl = £2412 fuel cost per year

A saving of £1064 per year.

It's a no brainer really...
 

blue boy

Guest
tdi brake pad wear indicator?

Hi everyone merry christmas (Tdi se 02)
The i on my tdi badge is red, is this a 130 or 110bhp??
Also do these models have brake pad wear indicators ??
 

muddyboots

Still hanging around
Oct 16, 2002
5,739
1
blue boy said:
Hi everyone merry christmas (Tdi se 02)
The i on my tdi badge is red, is this a 130 or 110bhp??
Also do these models have brake pad wear indicators ??

Hi mate
What model - Ibiza, Leon etc ?
 

cstevens

Full Member
Oct 18, 2005
202
0
blue boy said:
Hi everyone merry christmas (Tdi se 02)
The i on my tdi badge is red, is this a 130 or 110bhp??
Also do these models have brake pad wear indicators ??

Good be anything, a badge is easy to replace :redface:
 
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