New Octy big disappointment

[G.K.]

7 months and 7000 miles on the economy has only improved slightly. The saving grace is that the rest of the car , finish, rattles and seats (now leather/alcantara) are all better than previous Octy. This one has only used 1 ltr of oil so far and previous one used approx 3 ltrs by this stage. Yes ... Petrol is beginning to look more attractive.

G.K.

Edited 27 October, 2008 by G.K.
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[susi]

Just a shot in the dark, but could it be something to do with changes to the engine to meet emissions regulations?

I'm involved with agricultural engines, and to meet the latest batch of NOX reduction regulations (2001), some manufacturers will be going the EGR route, which usually leads to a lower combustion temperature, which returns worse fuel economy.

Perhaps a similar situation in passenger cars?

[shinydoc]

Just to throw my experiences into the pot...

I had an Octy 1.9TDi Elegance that I did 100'000 lovely miles in and managed to get a lifetime average of 49.2 mpg

I now have a 2.0PDi Octy vRS that has just clocked up 10'000 spirited miles and so far I have managed a lifetime average of 46.7 mpg

Hope that helps someone with the perspective.

[Pud]

Interesting thought everybody, the French car magazine Autoplus not long ago did a comparison test on the claimed bhp and the actual bhp produced on a large number of current models. A lot of engines gave less than indicated ie peugeot 1.6 110 actually produced 104 bhp, whereas the tdi 105 gave 123, tdi 140 gave 168 and the tdi 170 gave 187. Might account for some of the fuel consumption figures, more oomph less mpg. My Tdi 140 4X4 started off in the low 30s but now after 10000Kms I can get around 50 if carefull although if you welly it hard , you can see the gauge move! Overall I think it is not too bad for car weighing 1640 kgs.

[jlindstrom]

One thing comes to mind reading this..

Does your new car have a DPF? I bet your previous car didn't have.. DPF models have worse fuel economy as they use fuel to burn off all shiznit that's clogging up the actual filter.

Also there were at least rumours of possible 8 valve versions of 2.0 tdi's being used with DPF cars. I think this was at very least with last batch of the old superbs, not sure about octys.

Anyway, providing the last 2 assumptions add up - you would have worse fuel economy and more clutter on the count of less valves and dpf.

[G.K.]

Just a shot in the dark, but could it be something to do with changes to the engine to meet emissions regulations?

I'm involved with agricultural engines, and to meet the latest batch of NOX reduction regulations (2001), some manufacturers will be going the EGR route, which usually leads to a lower combustion temperature, which returns worse fuel economy.

Perhaps a similar situation in passenger cars?

I have heard this from many people now and I did notice that my previous octy fell into one bracket higher in the emissions table.

I would personally pay an extra few quid for road tax rather than less MPG any day. as the emissions improvement is only marginal.

My car definitly does not have a DPF (thank goodness)

[monkster]

I have an Octy 2.0tdi it's now done 40,000 miles and I never get less that 50 mpg average,I've seen 67 mph on a steady run, I'm retired now,and I'm a smooth driver, but I do like to make progress on occasion. I'm impressed by the mpg figures I get.Regards Monkster.

[rurwin]

I have a 1.9 Elegence estate, and my MPG dropped from new. No mystery; I was running it in and so driving it somewhat less than briskly. Acceleration kills mpg fast, closely followed by speed; wind resistance increases with the square of the speed. So the most economical drive is slow and steady in top gear. The massive mpg figures you see quoted here are generally for 50-60mph, which is not generally a speed I do. At around 7,000 miles, I'm now seeing around 46mpg per tank (computer), 38 on town driving when I'm not concentrating. When I am concentrating I can keep that in the high 40s too, but you need to work the gears - 4th at 20, 5th at 30. On 50 mile motorway jaunts with town driving both ends I get low 50s.

Yesterday I did a 120 mile motorway trip at 70mph on cruise control set by sat nav, and averaged 56mpg, which is generally the highest figure I see.

[ibex777]

Looked at the cumulative MPG (as per the Maxidot) this morning for my new L&K TDI 140. The indicated reading so far is just under 35 mpg for the 250 miles I have driven so far. To be fair this is all stop-start town driving (8 miles each way to work) - but I am interested to see how if performs on the 280 mile drive down to Suffolk this afternoon... hopefully a bit better than that!

It is the DSG model, which presumably doesn't help and I'm sure it will all loosen up a bit.

It does strike me that the trip computer and fuel distances seem a lot more realistic than the one on the old Fabia VRS (which would cheerfully quote a range of 580+ miles on a full tank when the most I ever got in reality was about 420).

The "lifetime" MPG on the Fabia when I sold it was 55 mpg (as indicated on the trip computer), but I think that is pretty optimistic and I think the reality is more like 45 - 50. Given the the Octy has a bigger engine, is heavier, has the DSG box and is brand new the indicated mpg doesn't seem much worse than I would expect for the kind of driving I have been doing. Hope it is a bit better on the long runs though!