MPG - Old chestnut

[CrispDust]

Did a steady 78-80 mph (allegedly ) today for 45 miles - average 74mph in my 2.0TDI Mostly flat, slight inclines.
I got an indicated 27.1 mpg, only 2 of us in car and no luggage.
I consider this a CRAP mpg, is this typical? My 9 yr old V6 2.5 petrol thirsty Alfa 166 with a slushbox does better than this 29mpg at steady 85 no problem.

I have corrected the ecu average mpg with Vag com as it was wildly optimistic.

 

[pdh 14a]

That is bad! I have measured mine coming back from heathrow at those speeds 170 miles,and got 40ish mpg!And i'd accidently stayed in 5th for 20 miles of that I'd say theres something wrong there!

 

[JohnS]

I've just come back from France in my 1.9tdi ref sport and did lots of motorway driving 400 miles+ and over 670 miles+ on UK motorways. Car had 4 adult occupants full boot Thule roof box fully loaded and I got 41-42 mpg. No computer just made a note of the amount of fuel needed to fill up and did the sums. Twice I got 41mpg and once it worked out at 42mpg, I was quite happy as I don't hang about, but I did make a conscious attempt at accelerating slowly when I could. I have had 46 mpg without the box and cases on the motorway in the UK. Might be worth filling the tank up, recording the mileage, top the tank back up and do the sums and then compare the figure you have worked out and the figure the computer gives. I know which of the two I would believe

 

[CrispDust]

have done just that today - displayed mpg 28, actual mpg 33. This is very mixed town/traffic/motorway/heavy right foot driving.
So I may have over adjusted on VAGcom by 15% or so.. But its still a poor mpg figure in my opinion. I did a 10 mile jolly into town today which is ALL downhill flat, loads of 30/40 mph speed cameras and very little traffic, as mean as I could be with throttle.. Best I could manage was 55mpg. Dire.
Doing same motorway journey again on Thrsday, will try again with adjusted Vagcom mpg.

 

[keilpino]

That is very poor....my wife and I just did a 1300 mile round trip from London to North Scotland and back and we weren't hanging around.....rarely dropped below 85mph on motor way and we averaged 48 mpg.

 

[pudale]

Hi......I have queried the mpg several times with my dealer, they claim there is no problem and get the same old excuse........."it's the way you drive it!"

I don't accept this as I recently had a Passat 2.0TDi 140 as a hire car, drove from Newcastle to Inverness and averaged 49mpg!........and that was a lot of hard driving and overtaking. In my Altea, I struggle to get over 35mpg on the motorway at a steady 75-80mph.

Paul

 

[keilpino]

I agree....that MPG doesn't sound right at all. Your Altea hasn't been 'chipped' to increase BHP?
Another thing is, how reliable or accurate are these 'MPG' computer readouts?

I would say that if we kept a steady 75-80mph would get at least 50MPG.

We live in London and my wife uses car around the city constantly stopping/starting/accelerating etc; and not done smoothly either, but thats woman drivers!!! ; )....and even then gets nearly 40MPG....or so computer claims.

Or to do it the old fashioned way....WE get 550-600 miles on a full tank

Would be worth pursuing....whole point of paying over the odds for a diesel engine plus expensive fuel is to get economy.......write to area manager/Chief Exec stating your not happy with being fobbed off and CC it to Whatcar/Auto Express etc. Done this before and it soon gets things sorted!!

Hope this helps

K

 

[Andrews]

Altea 2.0 tdi

I towed my parents caravan at the weekend and got 30mpg there, and 26mpg back. All at 60ish mph over an hour and a half.

Usually, I get around 45-47mpg.

If I inflate the tyres, due to the towing and often being loaded up to the gunnels, I'll get nearer 48mpg.

In all honesty, if you can get 55mpg, driving carefully, then I'd say it may be a combination of your driving style coupled with some kind of mod/chip. The chip will give you tyhe 55mpg if you drive carefully, but it'll soon allow the flood gates to open it you give it some welly!

As it happens my old car a Skoda Superb 1.9 TDi pd130 would return 55-60mpg no problem, and never less than 48mpg. For such a large heavy car, that's pretty impressive. Plus it wasnt that much slower than the Altea. Yes it was barge like, but if you wind em up, they go well, the ride was fantastic and the soft suspension actaully made the handling fun as I could judge the weight transfer nicley under graking and on cornering. I didnt realise how good it was until I sold it.

Dont mock em until you've tried em!

....Oh and dont get me started about the rear leg room, nothing else could touch it, great if you've got kids. I challenge anyone to find a car so economical and spacious for the money!