GT 170. MPG

[Higgy]

Well now done a couple of mpg checks on fill ups and averaged 41mpg. This is a mix of short (7-10 miles) and longer (between 25 - 110 miles) journeys so not great. Getting about 460 per tank. Does anyone know if it might just be the weather or is there something that might need to be looked at?

[Cuprabob]

It could be down to driving style but more likely just thevlow ambient temerature recently.

[jimma1983]

The temperature doesn't help at the moment, I have dropped 5mpg over the last week or so.

[Mark V]

Mine too - struggled to get to 50mpg (indicated on MFD) late last night on a 65 mile run :-(

[Yorkie1]

I do mainly long motorway runs and tend to set cruise at 78 mph (sat nav reading). Lucky to see 45 mpg on car computer which is very generous. Actual is nearer 42/43 mpg. Round town or if I get heavy with the right foot and it drops to mid-30s and below!!

[Higgy]

Well the weather is slightly warmer so thought I would see how quick the oil gets to 95. I did a 16 mile trip this morning in a fair amount of traffic and it took 54 mins and had reached 90. I kept the MFD on the oil temperature and it took about 20 minutes to even show the starting temp. This was with a mix of turning the heating on and off to try and see if this made a difference to the speed it warmed up. The outside temp was showing 6 so it's still cold but I would have thought that it should have warmed up to 95 after about 20-30 mins.

Does there sound like a problem or could this still be the outside temp causing the slow oil heat up?

I still got average 38MPG which was ok I guess as it was a mix of crawling along, 30 mph plus about 8 mile at 50mph.

Thanks

[gibbsy]

That does sound a long time. I usually get to about four miles into my journey and the temp is showing 50C and that's never more than 10 minutes. That's on a really cold morning.

[Deagol]

I agree with Gibbsy - ten minutes and we go from "---" to 50 C
My journey is about five minutes of 30mph built up area followed by 50/60 mph B roads

Twenty minutes to get to 50C sounds like either the outside temp reading was plain wrong (sensor problem?) or maybe the oil sensor sender needs a kick.

It has to be really cold to take much longer than ten minutes to warm up and (hopefully obviously?) the water temp guage hits 90C way before the digital oil temp catches up.

MPG though currently low to mid 50s for me whereas in the summer I get mid to high 50s without trying. Anything less than 50 mpg means either:
a) Too much town traffic and stop/start; or
b) Enjoying the car and not being a mobile chicane; or
c) Making progress so the diesel soot gets cleared away

D

[Higgy]

Well now had a few fill ups in the slightly warmer weather and have managed averages of 41 - 44 mpg per each tank. This is by calculating it manually as the trip is slightly lower.

The oil is taking at least 15-20 minutes to reach 90 which seems a while.

One trip from Norwich to Peterborough only saw about 40mpg and that was being stuck at about 50 for quite a bit of the journey and no real fast bits or sitting traffic!

Any ideas on what might be worth checking - I am getting about 530 miles per tank - how does that compare to other 170 DSGs?

Thanks

[jordantyper]

Hi,

I purchased a 2009 Scirocco on Saturday so haven't clocked many miles yet. I did a 60 mile round trip to the DVLA and averaged 49mpg on the MFD. This was a mixture of town driving from cold, 85-90mph on the motorway and a bit of a heavy right foot on some B roads home.

I was pleasantly surprised and just hope it's a fairly accurate reading as I'm seeing a lot of people are getting a lot less MPG.

[maisbitt]

As some of the other posters - 5 mins to get to 50C oil temp/70C water temp and 3 mins after that oil is at 90C. In current temps I average50mpg on a mixed 12 mile commute (indicated). On an 80mph run for at least 30 miles on dual carriageway/motorway I can expect 54 mpg now, and58- 60mpg in the height of summer. Setting cruise control is an uneconmical way of driving. set it to 75mph or whatever and it's braking downhill rather than preserving your momentum, then uphill it;s trying harder than it should to maintain the speed you've set it to.

[maisbitt]

Well now had a few fill ups in the slightly warmer weather and have managed averages of 41 - 44 mpg per each tank. This is by calculating it manually as the trip is slightly lower.

The oil is taking at least 15-20 minutes to reach 90 which seems a while.

One trip from Norwich to Peterborough only saw about 40mpg and that was being stuck at about 50 for quite a bit of the journey and no real fast bits or sitting traffic!

Any ideas on what might be worth checking - I am getting about 530 miles per tank - how does that compare to other 170 DSGs?

Thanks

Shoouldn't be taking that long to heat up unless you've got a feather-touch right foot. Driving THAT conservatively on a journey that only just allows the car to heat up towards the end of your journey can actually be counteractive to decent fuel economy. I'm getting about 510 miles to the tank right now. With the time taken to get up to temp I wonder whether your car's radiator system is kicking in to cool prematurely (dodgy radiator thermostat?) before the car is even warm. Your mpg is shocking, even for someone who might be considered to be caning it a bit.

[Higgy]

Definitely need to get it checked out as still only just getting around 45mpg most of the time and the oil is taking around 10 - 15 mins to reach 80, is the usual running temperature 90? Some one has suggested the wrong oil might have been used so it might be worth checking that as no fans are cutting in so don't think it's the thermostat. On a trip today my wife nearly got 50mpg on a 26 miles run - this was sticking to speed limits and no fast accelerating! The water is heating up really quickly so that seems to be fine. I have put a separate post on asking for a recommendation of where to take it. I have had some bad reports on the main VW dealer in Norwich so would prefer to take it somewhere else to get it checked.

[Deagol]

Higgy,

Whatever the cause, I'd get this looked at because down here in Cornwall, I'm in mid to high 50 mph all the time for my 11 mile commute, unless it is really hot in which case the engine warm up is quicker and I'm looking at early 60's. If your wife is getting 50mpg over 26miles of sensible / reserved driving then (in no particular order)
a) Check the tyre pressures
b) Check the oil levels
c) Consider how much extra weight is in the car - a full boot all the time might drag things down a bit
d) Is your regular route a lot of "up and down" or fairly flat ? I've got a mixture here
e) Consider all the technical issues raised by other members (not techie, me...) - these seem to be most likely from your reports of the time it takes to warm the engine

If I get less than an MFD 600 / 630 miles per tank, then there has been something unusual with my consumption - usually involving too much town driving, or too much enthusiasm and heavy right foot (it happens ! !)

Can any members with a DSG on their TDI 170 please say the rev range at which the box usually changes up and down? If Higgy has a glitch on his control unit, that might increase consumption for his car compared to the rest of the world.

D

[RisingRoc]

As a complete aside, but still on MPG. I drove someone's company car today, Golf 1.6TDi Bluemotion and over a 45mile trip averaged 75.0mpg! Mainly motorway driving, but still very impressive.

[Paralla]

I never really pay attention to my MPG (which will be very obvious in a minute) but I checked the trip computer yesterday afternoon after reading this thread. Average consumption over the last 1100 miles was 34mpg.

Revo'd 170, short trips in central London, lots of traffic, heavy right foot (shame to not take advantage of the remap).

[Higgy]

Hi,

Just thought I would post an update and ask for opinions please !

I am still only managing an average of 42mpg with mixed driving. The car has now been back for diagnostics and nothing was showing as an error. They just said that the book figures can't be relied on.

The car is still taking ages to heat up, although the dealer told my wife that its usual to take 20mins plus to reach 90 and that running at 70 isn't unusual as they are thermo efficient. The technician also told her they have had other people take in their 170s as the MPGs are low compared to the book figures and it's just down to driving style and that the book figures are not based on "real life" driving!

We did a run at the weekend and saw 44mpg on a round trip from Norwich to Reading with mainly motorway driving - some at 80mph - no real hold ups and some 40-50mph in traffic for a small part of it.

Since owning the car in February we have seen 50+mpg 3 times and that's been on A roads in steady traffic at about 50 - 60 mph. Otherwise around 40 - 46mpg with a mix of town and country driving and not much commuting.

Reading through this it seems that some of you are getting 50mpg+ most of the time and others around 40mpg so maybe it is just down to driving style, although my wife who hasn't got lead feet still only gets about 45mpg.

Does anyone think there might be a problem with the car and we are being fobbed off as this is our first diesel car so are not sure what to think? We are getting about 510 - 520 miles to the tank, which is still much better than we got in our Golf GTi so perhaps it's not so bad and the salesman was just spinning us a yarn, which might be why West London VW have not even had the decency to call us back or reply to any emails. as we are in Norwich the local dealer has done the checks etc under the warranty and told us that there is nothing wrong. What are others getting per tank full?

Any advice welcome!

Thanks

[Deagol]

Hi Higgy,

So no-one posted about the change up & down rev ranges on the DSG box then ? It might indicate an issue as I posted back in June.
Last night was warmish down here in Cornwall and I had a 20 mile drive across country - mainly B roads with some town driving thrown in. Up and down as well as flat. With me and my child in the car, we still got over 64mpg for the whole trip in my manual 170 TDi GT and as I said a while ago, nearly all my tankfuls exceed 600 miles.

I haven't actually checked the purchased fuel / miles driven per tank against the MFD readings - perhaps my car is defective, not yours. That said though, I still can't see that you are getting the MPG that you should. Whenever I have mine serviced, the dealer gives me a courtesy car and I can regularly beat the quoted consumption in the handbook, so all these cars can't have an MFD on the blink at the same time. (No, I am no saint on the road, but I am trying to be scientific about this issue).

I hope some other members can add extra information for you so you can get this sorted. As a last resort, come on holiday to Cornwall and we'll see if a run on my roads delivers the same outcome for MPG....

D

[Paralla]

Hi,

Just thought I would post an update and ask for opinions please !

I am still only managing an average of 42mpg with mixed driving. The car has now been back for diagnostics and nothing was showing as an error. They just said that the book figures can't be relied on.


Since owning the car in February we have seen 50+mpg 3 times and that's been on A roads in steady traffic at about 50 - 60 mph. Otherwise around 40 - 46mpg with a mix of town and country driving and not much commuting.

Reading through this it seems that some of you are getting 50mpg+ most of the time and others around 40mpg so maybe it is just down to driving style, although my wife who hasn't got lead feet still only gets about 45mpg

Thanks

If you think something is wrong with it because it only gets 42mpg, I'd suggest its a layer 8 issue.

[Higgy]

Hi Deagol,

Thanks for that - we are in Norfolk so not many hills!

Picked the car up from the dealer after it's first MOT today and was chatting to the service team - the lady who dealt with us was saying that her dad is getting 55-60mpg from his Golf 170 DSG with mixed driving so is going to get us to send her over the details from the next couple of fill ups as she thought the average in the car was low.

The drive home in rush hour saw 34MPG - not a huge difference from the Golf GTi we had. Plus it took 25mins to reach 90c and the aircon wasn't on - is this usual? Like I previously said we don't do much commuting so it's not sitting in heavy traffic and I guess we really need to either drive a different one or get someone else to drive ours to see if 42MPG is about right for our car with us driving. If we were in Cornwall or even nearby your idea would be great to try as a comparison!

Would be interested to see what other are getting to the tank - we are getting about 510, was 480 in the cold weather and also current MPG people are getting. I know that if MPG was the main factor we wouldn't have bought the 170 and we certainly didn't buy it to drive it at a steady 56MPH

Plus like you said maybe getting higher MPGs is the exception - it's just getting such a huge difference from the book figures doesn't seem right compared to the difference we have seen with our other cars or my van, which is a diesel!