Fabia 1.6 CR TDI 90bhp appalling fuel consumption

[Guest]

I feel there is something wrong with my car,thing is how can it be so good and some are very unhappy with their car,today got on the A55 and took her up to 80ish and the RPM was only 2,000 how the hell can she be doing this the superb 2 1.9tdi only did 60 at 2,000rpm,and red lining at the same point I am looking forward once run in to red line her to see how far I can take it over the max speed stated,I wonder how fast she will go

Hello Seb, glad you are happy with the motor and doing ok. I think your car is just normal actually. In my experience, and excluding any faulty cars which are in fact very very few per 1000 units, it is the driver who is 'in charge' of the fuel economy from the word go! Also to some extent it's the routes that are driven on. From reading your posts you very obviously understand economy driving principles, but I get the impression you are in reality just driving in your normal style and getting good results. On winter diesel too!! I've mentioned on the site that some time ago I owned a company and we had four Toyota Yaris cars, petrol admittedly. Three of us got roughly the same mpg's from our daily grinds. Yet the fourth driver continually complained about the 'low' fuel economy he got from his car. So on more than one occasion he took it to the garage for checks, but they found nothing wrong. He moaned and moaned as on average he was getting 5-6mpg less than the rest of us. In the end I swapped cars with him for a week and two things happened. Firstly, his car that I was now driving improved it's mpg to the same as what I was getting in the car he was now driving. Secondly, the car I gave him suddenly was doing 6-7mpg less than it was in my hands. To be sure we swapped it around amongst the group and it was the same each time. He continually failed to do any better with his fuel in any of the cars. Eventually, he shut up about his fuel economy as he realised he was just not an economic driver.

[seboni121]

Hello Seb, glad you are happy with the motor and doing ok. I think your car is just normal actually. In my experience, and excluding any faulty cars which are in fact very very few per 1000 units, it is the driver who is 'in charge' of the fuel economy from the word go! Also to some extent it's the routes that are driven on. From reading your posts you very obviously understand economy driving principles, but I get the impression you are in reality just driving in your normal style and getting good results. On winter diesel too!! I've mentioned on the site that some time ago I owned a company and we had four Toyota Yaris cars, petrol admittedly. Three of us got roughly the same mpg's from our daily grinds. Yet the fourth driver continually complained about the 'low' fuel economy he got from his car. So on more than one occasion he took it to the garage for checks, but they found nothing wrong. He moaned and moaned as on average he was getting 5-6mpg less than the rest of us. In the end I swapped cars with him for a week and two things happened. Firstly, his car that I was now driving improved it's mpg to the same as what I was getting in the car he was now driving. Secondly, the car I gave him suddenly was doing 6-7mpg less than it was in my hands. To be sure we swapped it around amongst the group and it was the same each time. He continually failed to do any better with his fuel in any of the cars. Eventually, he shut up about his fuel economy as he realised he was just not an economic driver.

Yes absolutely right I never drive hard knowing I may need to stop,power on only if you dont have to power of i.e break,she's an excellent runner fuel economy is not going to be a problem at all in the cr tdi,somebody mentioned earlier in the thread that they had a yaris,which regularly did 70mpg,problem is though they could'nt stop it:rofl::rofl:

[frankistock]

Hi, just to add my twopenny worth.

I have now done over 2000 miles in my Fabia 1.6CR TDI (105BHP). I am a firm believer in not straining an engine, so my driving style is always to drop a gear when navigating corners and also when climbing hills. That is, to keep the engine revolutions up rather than consciously trying to save fuel.

When I started the "running in" procedure I was getting about 55 miles to the gallon. This dropped to the low fifties from about 300 miles to the end of the running in period. At that point I was becoming a little concerned, especially after reading this thread. Although the cold weather during this period must have effected the figures to be honest.

I have to say however, that since the end of the running in period my MPG figures have improved to the point where I can now regularly reach over 60MPG on any run that is greater than twenty miles in range, and this has included a trip around the M25 where I was doing between 65 -70+ miles an hour, much of which was (mistakenly) driven in fourth gear

I am hopeful that this figure will improve further as I put even more miles on the "Little Beauty".

[Guest]

Interesting stuff Frankistock...and confirmation that over use of 5th gear can often lead to less miles per gallon. I noticed the 1.6cr was somewhat 'over geared' in 5th especially under 60mph and seemed happier in 4th gear. This actually seemed to improve the fuel economy in the test model I drove and it actually achieved 63mpg (OBC reading) with just 200 miles on the clock in fourth gear on a 41 mile drive. I used 5th gear for about one third of the journey but only at 70mph. My colleagues who each have this vehicle and engine also have commented on this too. Do keep posting about your mpg's!

[seboni121]

Hi, just to add my twopenny worth.

I have now done over 2000 miles in my Fabia 1.6CR TDI (105BHP). I am a firm believer in not straining an engine, so my driving style is always to drop a gear when navigating corners and also when climbing hills. That is, to keep the engine revolutions up rather than consciously trying to save fuel.

When I started the "running in" procedure I was getting about 55 miles to the gallon. This dropped to the low fifties from about 300 miles to the end of the running in period. At that point I was becoming a little concerned, especially after reading this thread. Although the cold weather during this period must have effected the figures to be honest.

I have to say however, that since the end of the running in period my MPG figures have improved to the point where I can now regularly reach over 60MPG on any run that is greater than twenty miles in range, and this has included a trip around the M25 where I was doing between 65 -70+ miles an hour, much of which was (mistakenly) driven in fourth gear

I am hopeful that this figure will improve further as I put even more miles on the "Little Beauty".

Brilliant another good review the cold weather fuel does apparently give less mpg,cannot wait to get the summer stuff.

[Guest]

Seb, hopefully it won't be long before the summer diesel starts to find it's way onto the forecourts. I sense spring just around the corner now!!!...or am I delusional (again!)?:no:

[seboni121]

Seb, hopefully it won't be long before the summer diesel starts to find it's way onto the forecourts. I sense spring just around the corner now!!!...or am I delusional (again!)?:no:

YES ,have you seen the snow up north,feel a bit down today my 15 yr old son said he hates the new fabia and we should have kept the superb2 as the family car,the 3 cylinder fabia is fine for me to go to work,I am really quite pi**ed off now may think of getting a new octavia the tdi engine though,first time he's been in it and he hates it the wife drove it today she likes it god going to buy a horse next time:wonder:

[R22JGB]

My Ibiza now has 12500 miles on it, economy has improved slightly but the overall mpg brimmed tank to brimmed tank is still less than 54 MPG.

I have hassled SEAT's MD who in turn got the Head of Customer services to speak to me. He states he never received the letter I sent to him and has not answered a letter I sent on 7th Feb so I have sent yet another recorded delivery letter to the MD.

The dealer asked me to visit and is arranging for a 24 hour trial of their 1.6 demonstrator to see if I find that car performs any better than mine.

Interestingly the dealer has stated SEAT have agreed to allow me to change the car, but not reject it. The dealer did say I could not swap like for like as they were concerned I'd have the same problem with another 1.6TDi Ibiza!! A Leon Ecomotive was suggested but that also has the 1.6 TDi engine?!

No mention has yet been made about costs, I'm sure they will require some allowance for my having six months and 12500miles use. I'm anticipating a payment of £2-3K to change. This is not on with me! Currently I'm losing £500 per year due to the economy being worse than expected, There is no way I'm forking out £2-3K to save £1500( I retire from work in 2013 & my mileage will drop drastically then)

DPF regens, I've now has 35! No one has yet to confirm or deny the number is high low or about right!! The journeys I do means the car does NOT cover short journeys, so why is is doing so many regens. Regeneration consumes fuel it this what is stuffing the economy??

[raisbeck]

DPF regens, I've now has 35! No one has yet to confirm or deny the number is high low or about right!! The journeys I do means the car does NOT cover short journeys, so why is is doing so many regens. Regeneration consumes fuel it this what is stuffing the economy??

I cant really comment on most of your post but as for regens. Mine does a VERY MILD regen every 120 miles or so. Has done this ever since I have owned the car. The PD engine maybe has to do it more often as its not so good at post fueling as a CR would be. The average from what i found on the net is regens every 200-300 miles for other makes.

I like you have no idea what is considered normal for regens. Mine doesnt use any extra fuel as I can notice and the regen is easily missed its so mild, especially when at speed. My dealer also cant answer the question as to what is normal for regen. Some other people with a Greenline 1 dont report ever having a regen.....imho they just dont recognise when its doing it.

So if it makes you feel any better. After 20,000 miles I would have had about 166 regens......if what I think is a regen is actually a regen

[MikeHart]

Hello again,

Just a quick update on my car. Whilst things were getting slightly better and I was seeing things gradually improve (up to about 54-5mpg) by driving at 60 rather than 70. I also tried using some standard ESSO diesel which showed an immediate improvement and that tank got 58.8. So, a combination of slower driving on the dual-carraigeways and the ESSO fuel seemed to help a lot. However, after filling up with Esso again, got about 54mpg out the next tank. No real difference in anything. Same journeys, same sort of weather conditions. On one journey, according to the trip computer (which has proven strangely reliable), achieved 61.2mpg on one journey, with the next journey (exactly the same duration, temperature, average speed etc.) the next day barely scraping 50mpg. What the h**l is going on!!

I am now absolutely convinced there is something wrong with the car. I don't see how two consecutive, identical (as much as they ever can be) journeys can possibly vary by this much. I've heard of sticking EGR values and such like that have various consequences. Can anyone knowledgable on here give me some idea of the components that open/shut or adjust in some way such that sticking (or similar) could affect their performance, especially if the impact would be a hit on fuel consumption.

The computer is not reporting anything and both the main dealer and Skoda checked the car out sometime ago. I've now done about 7200 miles and they checked it at 2500. I was told things would start to improve quickly at 5000+ miles, but that's proving to be fiction. My Toyota Yaris with a blown head gasket managed 53-54mpg and I really wish I'd kept that car and replaced the head gasket. I wouldn't have paid out the cost of a new car and I would have gone back to the previous 60mpg which the new car (whilst according to comparative figures etc. it should do) is not even coming close, except on one occasion, including having to buy expensive fuel and drive like a granny. With the Yaris, I could rev the engine all day long, buy cheap rubbish diesel and drive at 70 and get 60mpg. no problem. What is happening?

[Guest]

Hello Mike,

Sorry to hear things are not consistent with your mpg. A sticking EGR can indeed affect your fuel consumption. It depends whether it sticks open or closed. If it sticks open to any great extent it will cause your fuel consumption to drop slightly, but closed it will have no noticeable effect. However, you may see some small amount of smoke on occassions. Your DPF won't stop smoke to any degree. If the EGR is stuck closed it could have an adverse affect on the DPF if driven for a long period of time.

Regarding your Yaris...it natural to make comparisons with that car. But don't forget your Skoda is bigger and much heavier and has a bigger engine with more power. Comparisons are not realistic. Funny (without the laughs) you had a head gasket go on your Yaris. I did too. That was/is a weakness on them. Costs between £1000 and £2000 to fix if it's done properly!!! The head has to be skimmed and or replaced. Replacing the gasket on it's own usually always results in the same thing happening again on that engine.

[MikeHart]

Hello Mike,

Sorry to hear things are not consistent with your mpg. A sticking EGR can indeed affect your fuel consumption. It depends whether it sticks open or closed. If it sticks open to any great extent it will cause your fuel consumption to drop slightly, but closed it will have no noticeable effect. However, you may see some small amount of smoke on occassions. Your DPF won't stop smoke to any degree. If the EGR is stuck closed it could have an adverse affect on the DPF if driven for a long period of time.

Regarding your Yaris...it natural to make comparisons with that car. But don't forget your Skoda is bigger and much heavier and has a bigger engine with more power. Comparisons are not realistic. Funny (without the laughs) you had a head gasket go on your Yaris. I did too. That was/is a weakness on them. Costs between £1000 and £2000 to fix if it's done properly!!! The head has to be skimmed and or replaced. Replacing the gasket on it's own usually always results in the same thing happening again on that engine.

Hello,

I have no idea what's happening, but the mpg just varies all over the place sometimes. For the first ESSO tank, mpg was consistenly showing on the trip computer as around 60mpg. Sometimes a little above and sometimes a little below, but pretty consistent. The couple of short trips I did showed lower as well. Fine. It did 58.8 when the trip computer shows 59.5 over the tank. Pretty close and makes me think the trip computer was being pretty accurate. This new tank of ESSO though is massively lower. Yes, we've had a couple of colder mornings, but it did better on those than the warmer trips!! Changes, although minor, that should increase the mpg, seem to decrease it. And, I've had 58-60 mpg trips out of that tank and yet the same trip suddenly dipped to 50ish. The variance is huge one minute and consistently small the next.

One thing I have noticed is that a DPF regen seems to drop the mpg afterwards. Not by much, maybe 1-2mpg, but pretty consistent when I notice it's happened. Not sure why.......... Presumably, a DPF with lots of soot in it will tend to be a bit 'blocked' and therefore back pressure is higher? Mind you, I would have thought that would make it worse??..........

Even at £1-2k for a new head gasket, I would still be quids in with that car. Yes, I wouldn't be driving a brand new car, it would be 6-7 years old, but at least I would get 60mpg consistently and I wouldn't have paid for the new car. I do understand what you say about it being a smaller, lighter car, but its economy figures are worse than the Fabias!! Not by much granted, but even so. I'm just so confused on how to drive this thing to get decent mpg, when it will get better (everything Skoda has said to date has been wrong) and the sheer variability of it that makes comparison very difficult and makes you think it just gives random mpg.

[pipsyp]

I think some of the problem is down to natural gear selection.

My 2.0 TDi CR 140 Golf has stratospherically long gearing (it will pull an indicated 90mph in 3rd gear for christ sake, ridiculous for a diesel) and doesnt pull well in 6th unless you are doing about 60mph. I find quite often when trundling along in 6th it begins to labour a bit when the speed drops just below 60 and leaving it in 6th whilst it will pull back to speed it affects the MPG quite badly. It improves enormously by chopping down to 5th and running in that gear until back up to speed. I think VAG have done this to maintain useful economy even at high motorway speeds but it affects the fuel economy and drivability unless you learn how to counter it.

I think the CR's drive much more like petrols and require alot more gearbox stiring than a typical old school tourque rich diesel, this takes alot of getting used to. I imagine the problem is exasperated that bit more on the 1.6 CR with its long geared 5 speed box.

Edited 9 March, 2011 by pipsyp

[Guest]

Hi again Mike, yes the regens will drop your fuel consumption as they inject neat diesel into the burning exhaust gases to keep them burning and raise the exhaust DPF temperature. This shouldn't be much of an economy problem, but you only need to get a couple of regens and/or an incomplete regen in a day and potentially you might loose upto 3-5 mpg that day. Your car should not be re-genning every day though as I understand it. But it could explain some or all of the variances you are seeing. From your earlier post I doubt you have a sticking EGR valve. However, it's easy to check so mention it when it goes into the dealer for a service.

Do you have up to date pencil and paper readings for your consumption? If not I would strongly suggest you start detailing those figures instead of using the trip computer. Ignore the trip completely and rely for a short while on just pencil and paper. Be careful when brimming and allow plenty of time for the air to get out of the tank Mike. Reset your trip odo and start carefully recording the results over the next month. It might be your computer is lying to you intermittently. It does happen. This can be caused by several factors too. If that's the case it's an easy fix and you will then see your fuel economy for real at any one time.

I would expect your car to maybe return 54-58mpg at this time of year in the sort of use you are putting it too FOR THE WHOLE TANK READING! Individual trips you may well see 60+mpg on the trip or higher.

Gotta say I'd love to give your car the once over in the workshop to try to get to the bottom of your fuel thing. The other thing is to try to borrow another one from your dealer for a couple of days to see if it behaves in a similar way.

Good Luck Mike and please keep posting.

[MikeHart]

Hi again Mike, yes the regens will drop your fuel consumption as they inject neat diesel into the burning exhaust gases to keep them burning and raise the exhaust DPF temperature. This shouldn't be much of an economy problem, but you only need to get a couple of regens and/or an incomplete regen in a day and potentially you might loose upto 3-5 mpg that day. Your car should not be re-genning every day though as I understand it. But it could explain some or all of the variances you are seeing. From your earlier post I doubt you have a sticking EGR valve. However, it's easy to check so mention it when it goes into the dealer for a service.

Do you have up to date pencil and paper readings for your consumption? If not I would strongly suggest you start detailing those figures instead of using the trip computer. Ignore the trip completely and rely for a short while on just pencil and paper. Be careful when brimming and allow plenty of time for the air to get out of the tank Mike. Reset your trip odo and start carefully recording the results over the next month. It might be your computer is lying to you intermittently. It does happen. This can be caused by several factors too. If that's the case it's an easy fix and you will then see your fuel economy for real at any one time.

I would expect your car to maybe return 54-58mpg at this time of year in the sort of use you are putting it too FOR THE WHOLE TANK READING! Individual trips you may well see 60+mpg on the trip or higher.

Gotta say I'd love to give your car the once over in the workshop to try to get to the bottom of your fuel thing. The other thing is to try to borrow another one from your dealer for a couple of days to see if it behaves in a similar way.

Good Luck Mike and please keep posting.

The strange thing about the DPF regens is that the trip during which the regen occurs does not seem to suffer, it is the first few trips after!! There is a consistent and noticable reduction. Of course, this is only trip computer based as I don't brim every trip!! However, over a tank, the trip computer has proved remarkably accurate, normally overreading by between 1 and 2mpg. I could understand it if the trip during which the regen occured had a lower mpg for the reason you say, but it seems to show later.......

I did do a couple of months of daily trips using the trip computer and posted them earlier. I've also got the receipt for every fillup and the applicable mileage and thus fuel consumption figures. In general, it was very slowly getting better and dropping to 60 and using ESSO seemed to show a leap of 6-7mpg overall, interestingly, the larger one being the ESSO fuel. However, this second tank of ESSO seems to be going badly backwards. Can't understand it. Might try another brand next and maybe use some Tescos to see what that does!!

[MikeHart]

I think some of the problem is down to natural gear selection.

My 2.0 TDi CR 140 Golf has stratospherically long gearing (it will pull an indicated 90mph in 3rd gear for christ sake, ridiculous for a diesel) and doesnt pull well in 6th unless you are doing about 60mph. I find quite often when trundling along in 6th it begins to labour a bit when the speed drops just below 60 and leaving it in 6th whilst it will pull back to speed it affects the MPG quite badly. It improves enormously by chopping down to 5th and running in that gear until back up to speed. I think VAG have done this to maintain useful economy even at high motorway speeds but it affects the fuel economy and drivability unless you learn how to counter it.

I think the CR's drive much more like petrols and require alot more gearbox stiring than a typical old school tourque rich diesel, this takes alot of getting used to. I imagine the problem is exasperated that bit more on the 1.6 CR with its long geared 5 speed box.

Hello,

I've certainly noticed this as well. Not sure why, but whilst many manufacturers are installing 6-speed (and even more) gearboxes, VAG have decided to stick with 5-speed and simply make them considerably longer. Presumably, there is some logic behind this, but I certainly don't know what it is. Perhaps 5-speed gearboxes are more reliable than 6? However, one of the side effects is that people have to learn to drive differently and it looses commonality with other cars. I don't think VAG have considered how much of an issue this could be.

[pipsyp]

Hello,

I've certainly noticed this as well. Not sure why, but whilst many manufacturers are installing 6-speed (and even more) gearboxes, VAG have decided to stick with 5-speed and simply make them considerably longer. Presumably, there is some logic behind this, but I certainly don't know what it is. Perhaps 5-speed gearboxes are more reliable than 6? However, one of the side effects is that people have to learn to drive differently and it looses commonality with other cars. I don't think VAG have considered how much of an issue this could be.

Hi Mike,

Yes I personally feel that other than refinement (which admittedly the CR's are leagues ahead of the older PD units, most other manufacturers units for that matter) the CR powered cars are a bit of a backwards step.

It could largely be down to gearing but they just lack the punch of the PD driven cars. We had a 2.0 TDI 140 GT Sport MK5 Golf for a while and havent driven it enthusiastically a number of times I still to this day say it was overall faster and more entertaining than my equivalent MK6. Whilst the PD's run out of puff a bit quicker, they are that much stronger at low speeds that in my opinion they get up to speed in a much more impressive fashion. Gearchaging was also less of an issue, it would pull like a tank in any gear. To be honest I could live with the additional noise for the improvement in drivability.

My wife used to have an Ibiza 1.9 TDi 130 PD, sure it was probably a lighter car but it was quicker than my MK6, would keep 1.8T MK4 Golfs honest and regularly returned 53-54 mpg regardless of how it was driven, 60mpg if driven with care.

I have a theory regarding the PD to CR swapover....from what I have read the PD injection system is more efficient than CR and allows production of much stronger low end power. It however is a noisy system and does not work very well with DPF's. VAG have gone down the CR route in my opinion to improve refinement but mainly to allow more reliable use of DPF's in order to reduce CO2 emissions. I appreciate their need to do this but it's sad that they've had to do this at the cost of drivability.

It's going to make me think twice as to whether i'll choose another VW diesel as a company vehicle.....

Edited 10 March, 2011 by pipsyp

[gogsp]

Hello,

I've certainly noticed this as well. Not sure why, but whilst many manufacturers are installing 6-speed (and even more) gearboxes, VAG have decided to stick with 5-speed and simply make them considerably longer. Presumably, there is some logic behind this, but I certainly don't know what it is. Perhaps 5-speed gearboxes are more reliable than 6? However, one of the side effects is that people have to learn to drive differently and it looses commonality with other cars. I don't think VAG have considered how much of an issue this could be.

I have covered 400 miles in my 1.6 90 tdi fabia hatchback.using amount needed to re fill fuel tank it has averaged 48.5 mpg, hopefully this will improve as it loosens off. most trips are 55 mile round trip commute with 45 miles dual carriageway in fifth gear and 10 miles city driving. I will update when I have covered 1500 miles

[Ad Lav]

Just read most of these 16 pages, and 45ish mpg does seem a bit poo for a 1.6 crtdi engine.

My MK1 vRS got 48mpg (calculated) on a trip from Kent to Bath and back (300 miles) then managed another 120 miles of work/town trips before filling up I'm quite chuffed as I didn't hang about going to Bath and back lol

[Dempsek]

There are three variants of the 1.6TDI a 75ps (73.9bhp), 90ps (89.9bhp) and the 105ps (103.6bhp). Which one/s are good or bad on fuel economy according to book and I think all three have the same book mpg?

[threadbear]

My Fabia CR 105 has now done 5600 miles since September and the fuel consumption on a good run is now an easily achievable 60 mpg. Last week I drove to Birmingham to the NEC and back in a day from Kent and 4 return journeys from Hythe to Ashford.

That calculates to a total of 529 miles on 42 litres of diesel. I will say that it takes a good few miles for the engine to achieve good comsumption but the performance is excellent and refined.

[FABTPM]

Hello Mike,

Sorry to hear things are not consistent with your mpg. A sticking EGR can indeed affect your fuel consumption. It depends whether it sticks open or closed. If it sticks open to any great extent it will cause your fuel consumption to drop slightly, but closed it will have no noticeable effect. However, you may see some small amount of smoke on occassions. Your DPF won't stop smoke to any degree. If the EGR is stuck closed it could have an adverse affect on the DPF if driven for a long period of time.

Hi Guys,

Must admit my car has been very inconsistent with its mpg, Mike you are not the only one not happy. I have been logging my mpg ever since I got the car in June last year - I have been very disappointed and have seemed to experience similar problems. My car had revised software and an oil change at 3000 miles (oil level went way over max - due to fuel dilution). The revised software did improve the mpg but still nowhere near to the official figures and neither did it improve the engine shaking whilst undergoing a regen. Having logged the data almost daily, I noticed after a regen I would see the mpg drop by 5 - 10 mpg and then slowly improve. It was always at its highest before it performed a regen, not much difference during but then dropping dramatically afterwards. Just as an example I did a trip down the motorway at a steady 65mph, the car did a regen on this trip and I got in the region of 58mpg, the return journey at a steady 60mph I only got 54mpg. I supplied all this information to Skoda and they told me that in comparison to other people I was getting very good mpg. Skoda also told me that the problems I was having were due to the short trips that I did - this was a 25 mile daily commute. Thankfully though I never had seen the DPF light come on. Initially Skoda were very concerned with the symptoms and so was my local dealer, however as the weeks and months passed it became apparent that what I was experiencing and thought to be faults were in fact characteristics of the vehicle.

However this long running saga has at last come to an end, I have changed the car to a 1.9TDI PD Octavia and getting more mpg already, without even trying! I have gone back to a real diesel engine, yes it is noisy in comparison, but I don't care, I have the low down punchiness of the PD engine which to me is just as smooth as the 1.6CR, gearing that matches the engine and yes 10 mpg more in a bigger heavier car. On the daily commute I am getting between 52 and 58mpg, official urban figure 44.8mpg for the Octavia. In comparison I would get between 46 and 54mpg from the Fabia, official urban figure 55mpg.

I would like to think that my vehicle was a poor example but I am not sure that it is and needless to say I was very disappointed with Skoda's response, however it was time to move on and become a 'happy driver' once more.

[MikeHart]

I have covered 400 miles in my 1.6 90 tdi fabia hatchback.using amount needed to re fill fuel tank it has averaged 48.5 mpg, hopefully this will improve as it loosens off. most trips are 55 mile round trip commute with 45 miles dual carriageway in fifth gear and 10 miles city driving. I will update when I have covered 1500 miles

Hello gogsp,

Looks like your round trip is similar to mine and what you're reporting is very similar to what I found early days as well. It did go up to early 50s quite quickly, but then seemed to settle. Doing 6 instead of 70 on the dual carriageways will help a lot. It will be interesting to see what happens to your car.

Mike

[MikeHart]

There are three variants of the 1.6TDI a 75ps (73.9bhp), 90ps (89.9bhp) and the 105ps (103.6bhp). Which one/s are good or bad on fuel economy according to book and I think all three have the same book mpg?

Hello Dempsek,

Interesting thought. Makes you wonder how they measure the mpg for these three different power outputs. The fact they're all the same to one decimal place suggests they are not measured independently and they don't take a random sample of each. If they did, getting identical average results would be almost impossible. So, if they are using the same sample of cars for all power outputs, makes you wonder if they use all of one power, or some of each.

Mike

[paramedicpete]

I too seem to get very poor consumption on my new fabia scout 1.6 diesel I am getting about 50 mpg urban and best of 60 on easy motorway driving ! Thats with no harsh changes or hard revs. I bought this car on the figures based and my previous good service from my felecia and favorit,dissapointed already and its only 3 weeks old.

Pete