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GTi book listed MPG figures are a disgrace!


markrbooth
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Being new to the forum, here's a bit of background. Been driving 11 years, first car '86 mkII 8v Gti (3 years), then '93 Corrado VR6 (5 years), now Clio 172 for the last three years. The Clio was the wife's choice but she's testing the DSG on saturday so fingers crossed she gets hooked. I took it out the other day and have to say it was smooth as silk. I particularly like the was the auto re-engages once the twisties run out and you're back in town pootling along.

Anyway, to the point of this post. On getting back to the dealership I checked the trip computer which said 19mpg. I didn't think anything of it due to it only becoming a test car two days before and the first few tanks of fuel are generally 10mpg down on quoted figures. Ok, I totally booted it too which probably didn't help smile.gif

So anyway, I found this forum yeserday and noticed people are only averaging 25-30mpg long term. Where's the 35mpg VW quote as 'average'?

Resault stated the Clio would average 34mpg and that's exactly what it averages. 40 on motorway runs at 80-90mph and 28-30 around town (with a bit of naughty acceleration!), exactly what Renault quote in their literature. Maybe it's the Golf's turbo, I dunno, but they should not be allowed to get away with blatently lying.

Some people on the forum say they don't care what mpg they get because the car is a GTi but I disagree. If VW quote an average figure of 35mpg then it should bloody average 35mpg. My Corrado averaged 27mpg which is what VW quoted at the time so why the digression now?

Mark.

Ps - I hope that wasn't too much of a whinge for a first post. I'm still getting one if the wife agrees on saturday! grin.gif

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When they test a car they will base in on rather frugal driving patterns, and I don't believe they even test the car on an actual road.

A lot of people get close to 35mpg, especially once the car is properly run in. I’m sure if you drove the car with fuel consumption on your mind you would make it to 35mpg, if you boot it then it would be poor. The great fuel economy is achieved from it's ability to pootle along rather than it's great performance.

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They have to be seen to be making their engines more efficient so they invented the tests to test them.... which bear no resemblence to real life driving. It's like someone who jogs on a running machine and then realises it's much harder running outdoors.

I'm still getting one though, assuming I'm allowed smile.gif

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Now that the MPG debate is back on I can post some results. Recent holiday trip down to Kerry (Surely some of ye have been on holidays in Kerry and know what the roads are like - its a rally every day!).

Anyway, 440 mile round trip from Dublin with mixture of all sorts of roads - motorway, dual carriageway, regular roads, bad roads etc - I got a quite pleasing 33MPG.

Glad I have been able to contribute my bit to this debate, I was quite happy with my 33MPG.

Regards

Paddy beerchug.gif

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Sorry, I didn't intend to start the whole mpg debate again, just that VW seem to be over stating their fuel economy. All I want is similar performance to my Clio with motorway journeys at 80-90 averaging 37-42 dending on wind and conditions.

From what some say, this is perfectly acheivable. I don't drive like an old git but I don't slam on the brakes at the last minute and then floor all the time it either.

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TBH have to agree that 35 mpg is very achievable... so long as you don't floor the throttle! It's amazing how quickly you can destroy good figures over a reasonable run in just a few short bursts. My average of nearly 28mpg has improved over the last few refills but every time I get the trip computer average to 35mph (as distinct from the top up and calculator method - there's a difference of a 3 or 4 percent) I unintentionally wreck the figures after a few overtakes. Oh well, at least they're enjoyable.

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[ QUOTE ]

Sorry, I didn't intend to start the whole mpg debate again, just that VW seem to be over stating their fuel economy. All I want is similar performance to my Clio with motorway journeys at 80-90 averaging 37-42 dending on wind and conditions.

From what some say, this is perfectly acheivable. I don't drive like an old git but I don't slam on the brakes at the last minute and then floor all the time it either.

[/ QUOTE ]

.... lol.gif You might find yourself driving her differently when you have her! This 59 "old git" rarely gets more than 30mpg whatever the journey. I rigidly stick to the 20/30/40 limits and most of the 50s but 'make progress' whenever the road conditions (weather and traffic) allow - it would be rude not to!

The GTI is very eager to be driven and makes this GIT feel very young! grin.gif

I just cannot see how you will achieve anything like what mpg your Clio did. If you want good mpg change your order to a Mk5 Golf DSG TDI.

Performance = Petrol

RedRobin, aka 'The old GIT who loves the GTI' grin.gif

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Sorry, guys, but I simply cannot see the point of having a GTI unless you occasionally (quite often!) enjoy driving her sportingly. She's designed and built to be driven sportingly but also is an excellent allrounder. Cruising limo one minute and screaming rally car the next!

I totally agree that VW's mpg figures are misleading and there ought to be far better industry standards for such published statistics. That is a disgrace imo.

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May i ask please how you get the overall average? My car is 14mths old, and best i have ever had on a journey was showing 40miles per gallon but that was only achieved on a stretch of motorway of about 10 miles and going about 60mph, then as the cars were passing me, i thought sod this and hammered it. I quite agree with others on this post who say that this car is meant to be driven hard, but i also agree that average of 35mph can only really be achieved by motorway drivers who do a lot of miles. Those like me who commute only 5 miles to work and back will be lucky to get 25mpg, especially if it's 'start-stop'. Test figures surely are not based on main roads, they must be based on track journeys where there are no other bloody cars!!!

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The On-board computer has 2 readings for average mpg...

If you control your computer by the stalk (medium line computer) then on the underneath of the stalk there is a little button that you can press. When you have toggled through the information until you reach average mpg... press the button... it tells you your average since the last time that was reset (which I never do) or when the battery was last disconnected.

It is signified by a little number 2. If you press the button again it shows a little number 1. This signifies the average for you current journey. There are some more details in the handbook as to what contributes towards number 1 or 2.

What I mean is... if you start a journey and stop for a while and start again... this still contributes to a the memory stored into number 1. I think you have to be switched off for a couple of hours before it counts it as a new journey.

Lastly, if you have the Highline computer (I did in my last GTi) I accessed this information from the steering wheel... I can't remember my stalk having these switches but then again I forget things all the time... smashfreakB.gif

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All,

You are forgetting something important here. MPG figures from brouchures are produced by the government - not the manufacturer. I had this excuse from Mazda re: RX8. Trust me - these discrepancies are nothing compared to the difference between quoted and actual on the RX8 (Try 25 versus 18!).

The tests are carried out on a rolling road, and are pretty simplistic. Some cars can achieve them in the real world, and others cant..

The only way to cover yourself is to get an extended road test before buying a car.

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I had a great trip from Glasgow round most of Fife yesterday (the sun was out cool.gif).

A mix of M-way, dual carriageway, A roads and some narrow bendy twisties and roadworks queues. Over 183 miles, I managed a startling average of 44.5MPG. And that wasn't driving like a granny. The GTi is an efficient car if you drive it properly, IMHO.

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And don't forget that the brim / calculator method will always be more accurate than the trip computer. I don't want to get too anal about this but my trip computer is over optimistic by an average of about 4%. In other words, an indicated 30mpg is in fact 28.8mpg!

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[ QUOTE ]

Agree with RedRobin - order the DSG for significantly better mpg jump.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]

Robin,

As you know i thought there maybe a difference in MPG between the Manual and DSG i drive regular, As Mikes been away for a month i borrowed his car to compare to mine (he said i could lol), In this time i have used a few tanks of fuel, on average the DSG on my daily rounds has done 3mpg less than my own manual car. This could be just down to the two cars and not represent the norm i admit and it was only to put my own mind at rest between these two cars. As both cars are different his is a fully loaded 3 door, mine is a basic 5 door weight, driving style etc etc could be huge factor. It's not really very scientific i admit but it was something i wanted to know for these two cars i drive regular.

[/ QUOTE ]

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[ QUOTE ]

If VW quote an average figure of 35mpg then it should bloody average 35mpg. My Corrado averaged 27mpg which is what VW quoted at the time so why the digression now?

Mark.

[/ QUOTE ]

you must have a light foot as our lass only got 23-25 average out of the corrado VR6 regular.

They all do a standard EU test now, VW are simply quoting the results of said test. Its not really there fault imo, Its the tests criteria.

I still think they were DAFT to change to this new system over the older one as the older one was more acurate than the new one even if it was way out often too.

I remember one of the magazines did an article not too long ago on this test to simulate it in real life driving and they even tested the GTI and it was one of the closest to the quoted figues at iirc 32.2

The worst were TDIs as they only get very good milage on VERY light throttle opening, so most were down 15mpg around the 40mpg mark.

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Still running in with only about 480 miles on the clock. Achieved from devilery an average 32.3 mpg which I think is excellent - especially given that I take her out of the garage and probably leave her ticking over for about 4-5 minutes whilst loading in the pram, baby and 3 year old. I'm sure otherwise it would be around 34-35 mpg. I'm obviously not driving her hard but these figures are probably made up of 20% town centre work, 40% A and B road driving and 40% motorway miles at around 65 - 80mph. Chuffed as 123576-assfeck.gif with my mpg. (Do check your tyre pressures - mine were all 4psi too low from delivery) 169144-ok.gif

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