Please report your Fabia MPG!!!

[jaxx007]

Just wondering, has anyone noticed any improvement in their mpg figures since their last report, or since their last fill up. Any update on your history of figures would be brilliant.

My wife and I are currently saving up for a deposit on a 1.4 tdi 2 estate, so any updates involving this engine would especially be received greatfully!!!

Thanks guys!!!

[daveworkington]

Hi,

Ive got a fabia 2 diesel PD80. It has done 6000 miles and is averaging 56mpg no matter how I drive it.
I thought it would do better, as my old 1.4 16valve did 47 mpg, so at the moment it is not really any more economical due to higher diesel cost!

Ill have to wait and see.

Dave

[jaxx007]

You say it stays at 56 mpg no matter how you drive it. Does that mean how you drive, as in how many revs you use, how much you thrash it, or the type of driving you do i.e motorway or town driving etc???

[daveworkington]

Hi,

I average 56 - 57 mpg no matter how I drive it: recently returned from holiday on south coast, total 1000 miles. roads included motorways at 70-80mph, A roads at 50-60mph , country lanes at a lot slower.
The engine is very flexible, great for overtaking without changing down and pulls strongly from low revs. Very relaxing and easy car to drive, especially between 40 to 70mph, and in hilly areas whereas my old 1.4 16V was always having to change down a gear or 2!
The best economy I have got was local A & B roads at 40-60mph, when I got 65mpg.
Ironically if I drive really carefully I get less mpg than when I keep the revs up and stay in 4th gear longer!
Hope this helps.

[jaxx007]

so you're saying that you get better mpg when you keep the turbo spinning (i.e between 1500-3000) than if you shift up early (like before 1500 rpm) and drive round at really low revs? That sounds brill if so!!!

[MJallday]

got an 07 VRS, regularly get 68mpg on a 12 mile run to work. not particually feathering it and up a mother of a hill on the way.... if i "boot" it, generally cant get less than 40 on the same run... im convinced i can do 70 on the run if i feather it

[jaxx007]

My wife and I now have 2 sons so we need the new estate and the 1.4 tdi 80 is best for our needs. I hope I can convince her to get a vrs when her 51 reg fiesta reaches the end of it's life... albeit I hope that the fiesta is with us for many many more years yet. Any way, thank you for the updates so far. Please keep them coming.

We were also considering an ex-demo kia ceed sw but the diesel owners reported that they couldn't get close to the claimed economy. Most struggling to get over 45 mpg which is rubbish. I'm hoping that the owners of the 1.4 tdi 80 tell me a different story and that you are impressed with the real world economy. Fingers crossed!!!

Thank you!!!

[Black]

About 52 mpg by the computer on my 1.4 TDI 80.
I am driving it carefully though to try and get good economy. The car has done 14k miles now and it is gradually improving.
By the time I replace it at 60k miles it will probably running at the claimed mpg!

[jaxx007]

To "black" is this mpg mainly town driving or motorway at 60 or 70 or a good mix etc and how many miles has your fabia covered??? Also to dave could you explain your previous answer about using more revs for better economy please. I'm very intrigued!!!

Thank You!!!

[Hearny]

My 1.4td 80, I am getting 57.1, I drive sensible and fast when I need to (never over 70)

[jaxx007]

is that driving mainly on the motorway or a mixture of town too???

[Fab Estate]

Originally Posted by jaxx007

Just wondering, has anyone noticed any improvement in their mpg figures since their last report, or since their last fill up. Any update on your history of figures would be brilliant.

My wife and I are currently saving up for a deposit on a 1.4 tdi 2 estate, so any updates involving this engine would especially be received greatfully!!!

Thanks guys!!!

During the warmer weather you should normally get higher mpg figures and then in winter they should drop slightly.

[Black]

My car is used for to drive 45 miles to work and then 45 miles back every day. Mainly motorway with some A roads. Trip computer average speed is generally around 55 mph for the journey.
Don't go above 70 on the motorway and try to keep it in the torque band.
Sometimes it will return 55 mpg but more often it is 52 mpg.
In 14000 miles of ownership I have never seen 60 mpg in a journey. I have owned a 150 bhp Golf TDI in the past and driven carefully I could get that over 60 mpg.

[JSJ]

My best ever average mpg on a run was just over 70. IMHO manufacturers figures are possible but you need to drive 'very' gently.

Real world mpg for us is between high 50's - low 60's.

[daveworkington]

with ref. to my last post, its very hard to get a snapshot of economy on the trip computer, which has 2 settings:

Instant Economy - shows your mpg as you drive, which fluctuates greatly depending on revs, road conditions, and how hard you put your foot down. eg you can be driving along at a steady 30mph and you dont realise how constantly you need to accelerate and back off the throttle slightly just to maintain a constant speed. If you watch the Instant Economy reading, it will drop down to maybe 15mpg when you accelerate up a slight hill, and will then jump to maybe 150mpg when you back off the throttle going down a slight dip. This is happening every few seconds without you realising it.

Average Economy - this shows your average mpg over the whole journey, so is a much more accurate picture of your overall economy, which in my case is usually 55 - 57mpg. This figure stays in the trip computer memory for approx 3 hours, so even if you do several short journeys in the same day they will continue to contribute to your overall average. You can reset this figure manually if you want.

With regard to gear changes etc, what I have noticed is that the engine will easily pull well from say 1500 revs, but on the Instant Economy setting will only show a low mpg (eg 20 - 25) until the revs build up, and will then show a good mpg (eg 60 - 70) at 2500 revs. This suggests that the engine "breathes" better at say 2300 - 3000 revs, above which the economy starts to drop again.

If I want a quiet relaxing drive I change up at 1500 revs, even though I know I may not be getting the maximum economy. If I want to get there a bit quicker I change up at 2000 revs, and get good economy. If I am in a hurry I change up at 2500 revs, and dont really notice a drop in mpg while the car flies for such a small engine.

Sorry for the long answer, but I think the bottom line is this - you will go mad watching the Instant Economy reading, as the roads are never smooth & level enough to maintain a steady reading. As long as your Average Readings are ok (especially over a long mixed journey) then thats all you need to worry about.

The 80TD engine is great - smooth, fast enough for normal (legal) driving, economical compared to the competition. Road tax is only £38.50 a year, which when compared to some cars will leave you enough money to buy a lot of diesel!

PS just done a day trip from W Cumbria to Durham and back (250 miles) - mixture of A roads, dual carriageways & motorways. Drove steady there, thrashed it back and averaged 56.7mpg.

PPS Something else to think about - the more expensive fuels (eg Ultimate) can work out more economical than the standard, as I have had better MPG from them on a couple of occasions. I plan to examine this more carefully in the near future.
Regards
Dave

[jaxx007]

Thank you very much for that answer dave. Why apologise for it being such a long answer, because it was the exact type of answer i was hoping for. Many thanks for the effort you put in. You say you averaged 56 on your journey. Was there a massive difference when you thrashed it compared to the gentle journey or were they both around 56 mpg? I like the sound of hurrying along and not getting penalised by the fabia drinking much more than it would have if it had been driven gently!

Thank you again for a fantastic explanation. Thank you!!!

[daveworkington]

I got a similar mpg there and back (+/- 2 mpg), suggesting my driving style didnt have much effect. I think the important thing is to look at an average achieved over as long a journey as possible, thus smoothing out any peaks and troughs caused by congestion, overtaking, hills etc.
Before the days of trip computers the best method was to fill up the tank, use the car as normal until the tank was low, then refill and divide the mileage covered by the number of gallons used. This gave a true "combined" figure, and not one achieved on the manufacturers test tracks in controlled conditions.

regards
Dave

[jaxx007]

Thank you for all your help Dave. I really appreciate your effort. If anybody else with a 1.4 tdi 80 could post there results, I would be very grateful. Thank you again!!!

[Roger100449]

HELP - This new Skoda Fabia 1.4 Td Hatchback Trim Level 2 MPG is dreadful awful ! ! ! I am really disappointed and I was going to write a cheque out for the car.

Here are my figures. What do you think ?

Diesel Used: 12.68litres @ 4.5461litres = 1 Gallon
Gallons Used: 2.7892 Galls
Distance travelled 101.8miles
Price per Litre £1.309 (Sainsbury's)
Price per Gallon £5.95
MILES PER GALLON ACHIEVED 36.25

I want to buy this Skoda 1.4 TD 80 hatchback because my current car mpg awful, and I cannot afford it. (Subaru Forester)
I have a 50 mile each way journey to my job,

I've just had the use for one day, 7th July, of a 1.4 Fabia TD 80 Trim Level 2 Demonstrator from a dealer in Bath. I filled it at Sainsbury's literally round the corner, to a constant pump 'cut out' when I picked it up, and filled it again at the very same pump, to what I think was the same 'cut out' point when I returned it to them earlier today.

My journey is partially country lanes, with some queing in traffic on the oustkirts of Bristol, where I usually park, get my bike out and cycle to my job cause I can't afford the parking for a day in Bristol.

The car had 2500 miles on it,
Will it get better as it gets used ?
Is it dependant on a constantly 'frugal' driving habit ?

I want someone to tell me what I want to hear, not from the dealer !
Will I get a mpg return on this car that is in the mid fifties if I'm careful so I can afford to keep my job ?

Cheers
Roger100449
Somerset.

[jaybeetoo]

Originally Posted by daveworkington

Average Economy - this shows your average mpg over the whole journey, so is a much more accurate picture of your overall economy, which in my case is usually 55 - 57mpg. This figure stays in the trip computer memory for approx 3 hours, so even if you do several short journeys in the same day they will continue to contribute to your overall average. You can reset this figure manually if you want.

Dave,
Are you aware there is also a second trip computer memory which will keep the data until you manually reset it? This allows you to see the average over a much longer period of time (I haven't reset mine since I collected the car 2 weeks ago). Just press the reset button to switch between memory 1 and 2. Only press it briefly otherwise you'll clear the memory!