Fuel Consumption and ACT Mode

[Brownie27]

Hi guys,

I have a 2017 1.4 TSI 125 Leon. Bought the car and soon (1-2 weeks after) noticed that my MPG was poor. Although I don’t regularly go on the motorway, around Town and to and from work (2-3 miles there and 2-3 miles back) it’s around 28MPG.

Furthermore to this, I have also bought a new spark plug as the garage said mine is on its way out and that this can impact fuel economy also?My friend said that some VAG’s have ACT (Active Cylinder Technology) and that this should help fuel. I’ve seen a post that says under the consumption tab it states something about an eco sign which is when you would know this feature is activated or not.

I can’t say I’ve ever seen this button so just wondering whether it’s common for these to be faulty and fail to activate or whether as a daily driver of the car you’d notice if it was on. Petrol wise, I tend to use 95 octane but will try a full tank on 97 or V Power and see if the difference is noticeable.

Any help regarding the above would be ideal regarding ACT and Spark Plug etc.

Thanks in advance.


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[SRGTD]

IMHO if you’re driving mainly 2–3 mile journeys then 28 mpg isn’t bad. MPG will never be very good when the engine’s cold and over a distance of 2-3 miles it wont have an opportunity to get up to optimum temperature. Traffic volumes are likely to be quite high if you’re doing most of these short journeys at work rush hour times, and depending on traffic volumes, could involve frequent gear changes and driving in low gears which isn’t good for maximising fuel economy.

Also, the recently introduced E10 petrol is likely to result in a small deterioration in mpg and in addition, I tend to find fuel consumption is worse at this time of year during the colder, winter months.

I may be wrong but I think it’s the 150ps version of the 1.4 engine that has active cylinder technology (ACT) but not the 125ps version. If your car did have ACT then when it’s running in two cylinder mode, I think it displays a message ’2 cylinder mode’ in the centre section of the instrument display between the two dials, and a small ‘eco’ in a circle in the bottom right corner of the centre section of the instrument display (VW’s with the ACT engine do, so I’m assuming Seats do too). I had a VW T-Roc with the 1.4 150ps ACT engine as a courtesy car for a day a couple of years ago and that car only switched to 2 cylinder mode when the engine was up to crushing speed with very little or no pressure applied to the accelerator pedal. As soon as the accelerator pedal was pressed, it would revert back to normal 4 cylinder mode. However, as said above I don’t think the 125ps variant of the 1.4 engine has ACT - even if it does, with your type of journeys being very short and presumably starting off with a cold engine then I’d say it’s unlikely the engine would be switching to two cylinder mode very often if at all - I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the criteria for two cylinder operation would be for the engine to be up to optimum operating temperature, which won’t be achieved on a 2-3 mile journey from cold.

 

[Leonfr140]

The 125 1.4 didn't have ACT, only the 150. But both of the 1.5s 130 and 150 have it.

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[BigJase88]

Your mpg is in the ballpark for the distance you drive

I have a diesel and when i go to work 3 miles away im about 29mpg

Although i hate to say it you would probs benefit from an electric car

..... runs and hides

 

[SuperV8]

As others have said 2-3 miles trip will give terrible MPG in ANY car.

If I lived that near to work i'd be on my bike