stevepil Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Hi All Been on here before about my A3 1.8 2001 ca and the mpg, im getting approx 22 at best out of it, mixed driving, ive had it serviced by audi specialist and they can find nothing wrong with it, does this sound normal? esp with the time of the year, I do have climate control on but not that high and do turn it off as soon as car is warm to try and save on fuel, running out of ideas and only had the car 3 months but contemplating selling it, but really dont want to as love the car apart from the mpg any advice would be great, as said it has full audi history and just undergone service, only thing i can think of is previous owner for last 2 years has only done 5k miles in this time? not sure if this could have caused a problem thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarMad Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Firstly climate is not needed to heat a car or are you using it to demist the screen ?I haven't had mine on for ages. Bad misting or the summer only. I'm getting 32MPG on a 2.0T FSI A3 Sportback, I think you have a bit of a problem. I think you could do with giving it a damn good thrashing to be honest to clear the cobwebs out of it. Oh and I think this might get moved to the A3 forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie_d Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Silly question, but what fuel are you using? Perhaps get some fuel additive from Hellfrauds or somewhere, redx stuff. Editted to add, change the spark plugs over and see if that makes a difference Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevepil Posted February 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2007 thanks for the replies, i just use standard unleaded, i have been thinking the same that maybe the car needs a good run, previous owner only done 3k a year roughly, would this really make much difference to the mpg?? I had it serviced with audi specialist 2 weeks ago and spoke to them today, they said everything is fine and ecu is showing no faults. I wonder if something is wrong with the mileage calculator, never had a digital one before but its counting 6.2 miles for my day trup but when i check on multimap same route etc it says my trip is 7.2 miles?? any help or advice? garage dont want to look at it again as they dont want to charge me for things that dont need doing as i know them quite well so not sure if to take another garage or just to trust them and get use to the poor mpg? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesn Posted February 15, 2007 Report Share Posted February 15, 2007 How are you calculating the mpg? For an accurate reading dont trust the on board computer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevepil Posted February 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2007 I have filled the car, taken mileage, waited to go low, then filled it back up to full, with the litrs to fill the car worked out the gallons and devided the miles by this to give me the figure, i dont know what is wrong, whether its mileage calculator, speedo fault, or what. The garage that done my service said only way to check speedo is using a road angel but they are over £100, any other way as im worried will get caught by speed cameras if there is a fault with speedo. It certainly doesnt feel like there is, but any checks, when idle it is at the bottom thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atomic Posted February 15, 2007 Report Share Posted February 15, 2007 Are you sure you got the calculation correct? Not calling you a numpty but it's easy to get it wrong, especially when dealing with a mixture of imperial and metric. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevepil Posted February 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2007 HI All Yes I have been woking it out right, set up a spsht with all the formulas and im an accountant :0) I do need some advice mind, I had a diagnostic eng out today - £70, checked the whole car and done test drive and said all was in excellent condition, 4000 revs at 70 is apparently quite normal and he thrashed the car down the motoway and said its a real nice car so I got to stop worrying about it. 1 thing he did say was I should not turn the climate control on and off all time, should just either leave it on at around 22 or leave it off as this uses more fuel, is this true? I always thought it was using fuel all the time it was on, anyone know? he also said sitting in 5th gear it doe snot matte rif the revs are at 4000 it makes no difference to the fuel consumption as its in the highest gear, if revs are high in low gear then this uses most fuel thanks for al you help,hope you can confrm the above or let me know, least i know all is OK, well apparently, the machine even checks the oxygen sensor and emissions Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian_C Posted February 18, 2007 Report Share Posted February 18, 2007 [ QUOTE ] He also said sitting in 5th gear it doe snot matter if the revs are at 4000 - it makes no difference to the fuel consumption as its in the highest gear.... [/ QUOTE ] Rubbish! The faster the engine spins, the more fuel it uses. Are you sure yours only manages 70 mph at 4000 rpm? That is shorter than fifth on my 205 GTi, where anything above 75 mph sees it drinking like a thirsty camel. The n/a 1.8 20v was never the strongest VAG engine, dropped from the Golf GTi as you know. Even so, I wouldn't have expected the gearbox ratios would need to be that short, or the economy would be that bad. You sure you haven't got a sixth gear lurking in the gearbox.... ( ) Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted February 18, 2007 Report Share Posted February 18, 2007 Something not right here, I think the 1.8T has a final drive of 3.93 and fifth gear is 0.83, that means at 4000rpm you should be doing 90mph. At 70mph it should only be a smidge over 3000rpm. This is a 1.8T yeah?? not a 1.8?? The gearing on the 1.8 is probably different and may well be at 4000 rpm when doing 70mph?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted February 18, 2007 Report Share Posted February 18, 2007 Just found out that the final drive on teh 1.8 non turbo is 4.235, this alone without the ratio in 5th being different means that you would be doing 10mph less than on teh turbo with the car at 4000rpm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevepil Posted February 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2007 Thanks for the replies, its the 1.8 standard not turbo, I agree re the fuel consumption as thats what I always thought but they have checked the diagnosis and everything has come back OK, what else could it be? any advice re the climate control?? Defo not a 6th gear did think that myself at one point, the revs are roughly 3700 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevepil Posted February 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2007 Sorry for being stupud but what does that mean, I have the std 1.8,not turbo so at 70 mph sitting at 3700 revs is that high? also my revs does not go into the red until 6500? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted February 18, 2007 Report Share Posted February 18, 2007 All it means is the gearing is set up to take make the most of the smaller power output of the 1.8 engine, if they set it up for crusing you would be slower pulling away etc. but more economical, however I guess they look at the 1.8 as more of an 'about town' car and for this the gearing is probably right. My S4 is the same, the gearing is set up for quick acceleration and at 90mph I am at 4000rpm and doing 21mpg, the auto has different gearing and at 90mph it is doing around 3300rm from my calculations and this would return about 26mpg. You can do about 130mph in 5th so they could have set 6th gear to be doing 2500rpm at 100mph easily and this would see you getting 30mpg no problem at all. If you do alot of motorway miles gearing is generally more important than engine size. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevepil Posted February 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2007 thanks for the explanation, does that mean what I am getting out my car sounds about right, I do mixed driving but approx 15 miles a day? I dont have a 6th gear, wish I did as that would make car a lot more economical, you are spot on re pulling power as it does pull away veyr quick, thanks again - do you know anything re climate control? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDiAvant Posted February 18, 2007 Report Share Posted February 18, 2007 I've had this problem with my 1.8, it was using far to many rev's at 70MPH. I cannot remember what caused the problem but I'm now well below 4000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevepil Posted February 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2007 really TDI, glad im not on my own, mine sits at 3700 and ive done everything, services, diagnostics the lot and there seems nothing wrong, if you can remember what it was please let me know as I am kinda desperate unless its just normal! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDiAvant Posted February 18, 2007 Report Share Posted February 18, 2007 Well I've had a few drinks tonight, so I'll test this tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevepil Posted February 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2007 :0) thank you, I think it may just be the car by sound of things and the gearing thanks to the other guys help. As said I have had it serviced and had diagnostics done today and there are no fault codes, so id be interested if you have anything else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevepil Posted February 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2007 any advice? I was told I should not measure the oddometer success by motorway markers or over such short distances, audi have also advised the mpg over 14 miles in my car is prob about right but could not comment on the revs, said if full history and all is ok then its probably the gearing, anyone??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted February 19, 2007 Report Share Posted February 19, 2007 If your speedo is out it will be over reading if anything, so when you say you are doing 70mph you will probably be doing 66mph or there abouts. This means that is you work out that you have done say 250 miles from a tank and it takes another 45 litres of fuel to fill it up your calculations will actually be on the generous side. So if you work out that you are doing 22mpg it may be nearer 21mpg. Forget using a route planner to work out your jourey that tells you nothing. It does sound like your car is drinking too much, but do you ever go on a run?? If not then it sounds about right. And by that I mean a 4 hour journey with the car warmed up?? It takes around 8 miles for a car to get to temperature, until that point you are using up to 40% more juice than when it is all at full temperature. My journey into work was 13 miles, the first mile was through town (not good) the next 8 miles was dual carrigeway with the engine cold (probably even worse) and then the remaining 4 miles was through the city, not particulary busy but lots of lights and roundabouts which is where you really drink the fuel. In a 318i BMW compact I was showing around 24mpg doing that. At the weekend in the summer I could drive to the coast and back for 2 hours and return with it at over 40mpg quite easily, but it was really boring getting those figures. You have a car that is quite heavy, combined with an engine that is not that economical and not geared for out of town really, so unless you are pottling round B roads for 40 miles a day I don't see that you will get good mpg. I only got 32mpg from a 1.9tdi doing that same journey, where as the guy who bought it from me is seeing 47mpg from the same car, but he uses it for completely different journeys. What car did you have before and what did that get on the same journey? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevepil Posted February 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2007 Thanks for the thorough reply, I dont quite understand the speedo/mpg bit? how can the speedo effect the mpg workings, you are spot on re my driving, I drive 2 miles down lanes, then dual carriage for 4, then 1 through town then I arrive at work. and same home, I have not yet taken this car on a run, think its needed so on my next hols down the coast somewhere I think (may be a while with the current weather ) I had a Rover, no comments 1.6 and got approx 30 to the gallon out of that? think thats why have sudden shock with the change? sounds like its normal the mpg on my car by all the tests ive had done etc, just frustrating more then anything, as said im gettin gbetween 20-22, norm 22 Thanks again Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted February 19, 2007 Report Share Posted February 19, 2007 OK that sounds about right if you came from a rover 216 and were getting 30mpg. What I am saying about the speedo is, if the speedo is out by approx. 7%, which most are, then when you do your calcs you are basing them on the mileage given by your odometer, if the car is saying you have done 70 miles every hour when in fact you have only done 66 miles every hour, over 3 hours you have said you have done 12 miles more than you actually have, thus giving you an inaccurate MPG figure too. Forget all that anyway, I would do the following, fill up at least 3 times with Shell V-Power, BP ultimate or Tesco 99 ron. Also by some Millers Injecta Plus and stick that in to clean out the car a bit, use a bottle over 3 tanks full. Now when you are using the first couple of tanks full give it some beans, drive it as hard as you can. Then when you fill up with the third tank reset the compueter and the trip counter and see what you get then. I bet it is up to 26-27mpg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevepil Posted February 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2007 Thanks mate for your help, the old car was a ROver 400, sorry should have said, understand now what you mean re the odometer, I thought you meant if the speedo is out it effects mpg I will try the above as I always fill up at morrisons, how do you use the millers injecta plus, do you just pore a little in when filling up or before? will have to give it a try thanks again ps do you think it sounds about right then? based on old car and milage etc, do you know about climate control, ie is it better to turn it on and leave on all time or turn on and off as required? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted February 19, 2007 Report Share Posted February 19, 2007 I leave mine on 24/7, you may get 1mpg increase on a run with it off so not worth worrying. Yeah just pour the Millers in when you fill up, may not make a difference, but I have a mate who swears by it whenever he gets a new car that is a couple of years old, and reckons it cleans the old bugger out!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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