Simple Basic question MPg

ZeroZero

Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2012
Location
St Albans uk
TDI
Golf Match
Hi there all. I have just bought a new Golf Match 1.4 122 TDI. Its currently got only 400 miles on the clock. The reading tells me that I am getting 30 mpg.
I suppose this is down to running in? When do i expect more?

thanks

Zero
 

Bob_Fout

Oil Wanker
Joined
Sep 5, 2004
Location
Indiana
TDI
2003 Jetta - Alaska Green (sold) / 2015 GTI 2.0T
What kind of driving, city, suburban, motorway? How fast?
 

MikeMars

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2008
Location
UK
TDI
Vento 1.9 TDi (retired), A4 1.9 TDi (rear end collision), VW Passat 1.9 TDi (retired), Audi A2 1.4 TDi
Distance of your typical journey?
 

40X40

Experienced
Joined
Feb 12, 2006
Location
Kansas City area, MO
TDI
2013 Passat SEL Premium
Hi there all. I have just bought a new Golf Match 1.4 122 TDI. Its currently got only 400 miles on the clock. The reading tells me that I am getting 30 mpg.
I suppose this is down to running in? When do i expect more?

thanks

Zero

Distance of your typical journey?

Typical journey is less than 400 miles. :D:D

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

OP, your mileage should improve as you approach 10,000 miles but this can take longer for some people depending on how the car is used. If you only use the car for short trips, it will never get very good (for a TDI) mileage. TDIs take a while to warm up...

Bill
 

MikeMars

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2008
Location
UK
TDI
Vento 1.9 TDi (retired), A4 1.9 TDi (rear end collision), VW Passat 1.9 TDi (retired), Audi A2 1.4 TDi
The MFD display is not necessarily accurate, particularly when the vehicle is brand new. Wait for your first few tanks so that you can also calculate the MPG figure by hand.


Also note that 'mpg' is ambiguous, due to the different sizes of gallon. This is a UK car therefore it is presumably displaying UK MPG. 30 UK MPG = 25 US MPG.


How much stop&go is there during your typical journey? Stop&go is particularly bad for mpg. The other factor as already mentioned is the length of your trips (short trips = bad mpg).

If you are ONLY doing short, stop/go trips, you need to be worrying about your DPF.
 

ZeroZero

Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2012
Location
St Albans uk
TDI
Golf Match
Thanks for the considered replies.

I am just running short journeys at present so do not expect too much. I come from a deisal C4 which did 60 mpg

I am gobsmacked that a US gallon is different to a UK gallon. I wonder if my car and the published figures show UK or US.
Its a great pity manufacturers are not honest enough to tell you what you can actually get from a car instead of some idealised figures. I just read a What Car feature on actual mpg (see their website) and the seem to come in with about 25% below.

I am not too upset yet because its obviously early days. I am currently toodling around town taking it easy on the gas maybe doing more 30 mph and a bit of 50 mph about ten percent. I reset the gauge and now I am doing 23 mpg! 450 miles on the clock.

Can the gauge be trusted ot give an accurate reading? I am beginning to wonder now?

The car is simply great to drive, I love it. We are going to be friends :)
 

MikeMars

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2008
Location
UK
TDI
Vento 1.9 TDi (retired), A4 1.9 TDi (rear end collision), VW Passat 1.9 TDi (retired), Audi A2 1.4 TDi
...
Can the gauge be trusted ot give an accurate reading? I am beginning to wonder now?
...
Ignore the gauge & work out your MPG manually when you refuel. The gauge may become more accurate after the first few tanks.


The fact you are only doing short trips at the moment will mean that your MPG will be very low. Ideally when the car is being run in, you should be giving it a variety of trips (some long, some short, some at different speeds).

...
Its a great pity manufacturers are not honest enough to tell you what you can actually get from a car instead of some idealised figures. I just read a What Car feature on actual mpg (see their website) and the seem to come in with about 25% below.
...
They are only allowed to tell you the figures from the NEDC test, which is a bit optimistic, but standardised.

The actual mileage you get will depend on other factors (journey distance, journey type, current weather, number of stops, cruising speed on the motorway, etc). If you happen to be driving an ideal commute then you may have very good figures. If you only do short inner-city trips then you will have a very poor figure. So the official figures are meaningless - it depends on you & your journey, not a standardised journey in a lab. For example, I get 10mpg better than the official figures, mostly because my journey is ideal for mpg (mostly motorway, long enough to warm up the engine properly, never any short trips).
 
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slamhouse

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 3, 2011
Location
Stanwood, WA
TDI
2006 Jetta TDI SE
The MFD has been proven to be very innaccurate including myself whereas mine was 8mpg optimistic(mfd said 53, actual was 45).

Always crunch your numbers on paper or use "Fuelly" which many of us here have that takes all the work out of it and does the crunching for you!
 

ZeroZero

Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2012
Location
St Albans uk
TDI
Golf Match
Fuelly looks interesting unfortunately I could not find my car. I think it must be set up for USA as i dont recognise the models - L4 H4 V6 etc.
Mine is UK hatchback petrol golf match 1.4 litre golf 1.2 bhp or something like this
It would be good to see an average mileage

thanks for the replies nice site
 

Bob_Fout

Oil Wanker
Joined
Sep 5, 2004
Location
Indiana
TDI
2003 Jetta - Alaska Green (sold) / 2015 GTI 2.0T
Fuelly looks interesting unfortunately I could not find my car. I think it must be set up for USA as i dont recognise the models - L4 H4 V6 etc.
Mine is UK hatchback petrol golf match 1.4 litre golf 1.2 bhp or something like this
It would be good to see an average mileage

thanks for the replies nice site
L4, H4 and V6 refer to cylinder configuration. It's universal, not a US-only naming convention.

L4 - Linear 4 (aka inline 4 , straight 4) - 4 cylinders in a row

H4 - Horizontal 4 (Horizontally opposed like some Subarus, Porche), 2 cylinders on opposite sides

V6 - Vee-shaped cylinder arraignment, 3 on each side.
 

ZeroZero

Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2012
Location
St Albans uk
TDI
Golf Match
thanks Bob
hmm how do I find this out. I presume there is no Haynes manual and the drivers book is very generic
Is it the case of looking up some VIn number or something. Frankly I am way out of touch on this stuff
 

DPM

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 16, 2001
Location
Newtownards, N. Ireland
TDI
2019 Rav4 AWD Hybrid, Citroen C4 BlueHDI
Fuelly looks interesting unfortunately I could not find my car. I think it must be set up for USA as i dont recognise the models - L4 H4 V6 etc.
Mine is UK hatchback petrol golf match 1.4 litre golf 1.2 bhp or something like this
It would be good to see an average mileage

thanks for the replies nice site

Hang on a mo. Is it petrol or diesel? First post says TDI, but you say petrol here...
 

Joe_Meehan

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 3, 2005
Location
Ohio USA
TDI
NB TDI, 2002.5, Silver
The MFD display is not necessarily accurate, particularly when the vehicle is brand new. Wait for your first few tanks so that you can also calculate the MPG figure by hand.
Also note that 'mpg' is ambiguous, due to the different sizes of gallon. This is a UK car therefore it is presumably displaying UK MPG. 30 UK MPG = 25 US MPG.
How much stop&go is there during your typical journey? Stop&go is particularly bad for mpg. The other factor as already mentioned is the length of your trips (short trips = bad mpg).
If you are ONLY doing short, stop/go trips, you need to be worrying about your DPF.

Very good post. :D
 
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