Fuel consumption....

[camelspyyder]

We now have the rattling seat belt buckle on both front seats....what happened to German build quality!

Its built in Barcelona!

Although to be fair some Audi production has recently started at that plant there too.

I think only the Cupra needs 97RON. My 1.2/105 didn't.

 

[Deleted member 120738]

One comment that I'll make about using higher than needed octane rating petrol is, I have read, and I've also found it to be true, that when using higher RON fuel in an engine than it can advance the ignition to make the most/best of the extra RON fuel, will lead to reduced MPG in general.

I'm backing that up with the period in time that I used 97 petrol in my wife's previous 2002 1.4 16V Polo 9N, that car at that time needed to be run on 97 petrol as it would ping/pink on anything less - that was eventually found to be caused by it burning too much engine oil due to a gummed up/faulty oil cyclonic separator which was having the effect of lowering the RON of the incoming fuel mixture (port injected petrol and air borne oil mist). Yes the low end torque and general driveability improved quite a bit, but the MPG did slightly drop, it was Shell Super Duper stuff I was using.

In general I'm not knocking the use of 97 petrol where it is not needed, just pointing out what the outcome can be, ie reduced MPG and along with the higher price per litre, an overall increase in £/mile.

Nothing wrong with loading up with Shell Super Duper - ie a complete tank fill, to try to improve the cleaning of the engine internals, except the inlet tract area, I try to plan doing that every 6 months but only in the interests of trying to keep the engine slightly cleaner just in case my normal 95 petrol is not loaded up with enough cleaners.

I think that the rational for this drop in MPG on engines that are not able to make best use of that RON of fuel is, the final few RON points are achieved by dumping in a component that does have a lower "energy" capacity than the base petrol (wrong terms being used there, but I'm just trying to provide an idea as to why lower MPG can occur), in the distant past, UK based refineries, I think, used to distill the higher octane fuels "higher up the stack" and so they had a higher specific "energy" capacity than the lower octane ones, but globalisation has meant UK based refinery owners that still did that saying, "sod that, we will just do it the same way as our continental cousins do it and save loads on money" - and so we are were we are right now!

Actually probably only a couple or three non oil companies own and run all the worlds refineries right now, so they care only about money and not what would be best for our cars.

Edit:- sorry, I should have asked, what age and mileage is that car, you do know that DI petrol engines do coke up their inlet tract with hardened/burned on oil deposits, and eventually that will affect the power output and the MPG, the only answer to that is to get the inlet tract, ie the cylinder head inlet valve area shot blasted with walnut shells. Certain usage/running conditions seem to accelerate this build up more than others.

2015MY 1.2 105PS TSi - bought it in June with 22k miles and one lady owner so it has probably not been driven hard before....I am a great believer in a regular Italian tune -up! Anyway much happier with the fuel consumption now. I'm sure the handbook says to run it on 97 RON fuel but it's too cold and wet to go out and check now. I can remember 5 star or 101 Octane petrol being available! One thing I am fanatical about is that I never use supermarket fuel as a cousin who works at Fawley tells me that there are not the additives in it in order to keep the price down. We now have the rattling seat belt buckle on both front seats....what happened to German build quality!

Its built in Barcelona!

Although to be fair some Audi production has recently started at that plant there too.

I think only the Cupra needs 97RON. My 1.2/105 didn't.

Its built in Barcelona!

Although to be fair some Audi production has recently started at that plant there too.

I think only the Cupra needs 97RON. My 1.2/105 didn't.

Its built in Barcelona!

Although to be fair some Audi production has recently started at that plant there too.

I think only the Cupra needs 97RON. My 1.2/105 didn't.

Well that explains it, our car must have been pre-siesta build!

 

[Deleted member 120738]

This morning I checked the label inside the filler cap and it says use 95 RON minimum so will use that in future and treat it to a tankful of 97 RON every 4th fill up.

 

[RUM4MO]

I don't know, maybe you SEAT Ibiza owners are lucky, VW build their Polos in South Africa - being old fashioned, I'd take a Spanish built Polo over a SA built Polo, wife's previous Polo was built in Spain and it had many issues most if not all of which I'd blame on its Skoda (Fabia) design roots and CZ main suppliers of running gear which is common across these small car VW Group platforms.

My previous car, a 2000 VW Passat 4Motion, had very expensive "Netoptic" trim on the dash - these parts were made in UK, which I had not expected!

 

[Deleted member 120738]

Filled up with 95 RON this morning following a fairly long trip which included M5 motorway plus being stuck in a diversion on a narrow country lane following an accident on the A361 (aka the North Devon Link Road for those of you who know it). Consumption only 36.65mpg but I did give it a thrashing on the M5 at 90mph - very impressive - felt very smooth and planted on the road and pissed off a lot of BMW drivers which is one of my little pleasures in life!

 

[LeighPing1]

Early one morning last week I drove my usual 20 miles to work. Never going over 60 mph and not booting it all, with my foot off the gas downhill etc. At one point the display showed a max of 48.4 mpg. Not too shabby for a 1.6 sports engine using cheap supermarket petrol. 38 mpg when I drive in a more spirited manner.

 

[RUM4MO]

collywobble said: ↑
We now have the rattling seat belt buckle on both front seats....what happened to German build quality!

If you mean that the plastic body of the seat belts rattle off/on the seat plastic trim at certain settings, then most other VW Group cars are being sent out with a band of "Velcro like" (soft part) round the seat belt buckle bodies, well at least my 2011 Audi S4 came with that from factory and I added it to my wife's 2015 Polo 1.2TSI when it started to annoy me, bought the material in Halfords.

 

[Deleted member 120738]

collywobble said: ↑
We now have the rattling seat belt buckle on both front seats....what happened to German build quality!

If you mean that the plastic body of the seat belts rattle off/on the seat plastic trim at certain settings, then most other VW Group cars are being sent out with a band of "Velcro like" (soft part) round the seat belt buckle bodies, well at least my 2011 Audi S4 came with that from factory and I added it to my wife's 2015 Polo 1.2TSI when it started to annoy me, bought the material in Halfords.

Bought some self adhesive black velcro yesterday and did the job this morning which worked perfectly - interesting that both front seat belt sockets (for want of a better word) have a black material built into them which obviously wears out after 4 years!

 

[RUM4MO]

Bought some self adhesive black velcro yesterday and did the job this morning which worked perfectly - interesting that both front seat belt sockets (for want of a better word) have a black material built into them which obviously wears out after 4 years!

That is a nuisance, I'd expect that "work around" that VAG use would last for ever, though it could be that your car gets the front seats adjusted into a position that demands that that absorbing tape does its job, with my wife's Polo, it was only "now and again" that her side, passenger seat with her in it made noises. Though I've hardly ever been in her car and not me driving it, unless being collected from beer festivals!

I can't claim the same "work around" in my 2011 Audi S4 is any better quality - sadly it has yet to complete its first 26K miles of its 8years 9months life - only used for "high days and holidays" as it seems "bad boys" still like to steal them even at that age!! Plus, so far no one has shown any interest in my wife's 2015 Polo, so it can get left parked in most locations without any worries(famous last words).

 

[Deleted member 120738]

That is a nuisance, I'd expect that "work around" that VAG use would last for ever, though it could be that your car gets the front seats adjusted into a position that demands that that absorbing tape does its job, with my wife's Polo, it was only "now and again" that her side, passenger seat with her in it made noises. Though I've hardly ever been in her car and not me driving it, unless being collected from beer festivals!

I can't claim the same "work around" in my 2011 Audi S4 is any better quality - sadly it has yet to complete its first 26K miles of its 8years 9months life - only used for "high days and holidays" as it seems "bad boys" still like to steal them even at that age!! Plus, so far no one has shown any interest in my wife's 2015 Polo, so it can get left parked in most locations without any worries(famous last words).

On our car it was the drivers side that made the noise...still now I have enough black velcro to replace it when necessary! The fuel consumption seems to be settling down too - filled up yesterday with 95 RON as per the label in the filler cap and the consumption was 41.42mpg - shopping and SWMBO's drive to work - mind you I do like to be first away at the traffic lights!

 

[RUM4MO]

We went up to Elie on Saturday and average consumption was showing over 60MPG for quite a few miles, ended up being over 57MPG when we got to Elie (57miles?), coming back yesterday it was down to 54MPG which is still okay.

 

[ITzadamZz]

Whats wrong with supermarket fuel dude...

 

[KXL]

Whats wrong with supermarket fuel dude...

Nothing wrong with it, just like there's nothing wrong with supermarket branded beer or cereal. The beer still gets you intoxicated after (quite) a few, cereal still goes into your milk, and it's made of wheat etc. However I don't know anybody, when buying beer, automatically reach for supermarket beer, they will go for the branded ones, likewise i would go for cereal by Kellogs, it just tastes better.

Likewise petrol/diesel from supermarkets would run your car fine to get you from one place to another. Just the fuel from branded retailers (Shell/Esso/BP/Texaco etc) have a special additive formula that could/should benefit your engine in the longer term. Me personally, I don't see or feel any difference between the 95 RON branded fuels. Just that their higher 97 and 99 RON fuels I see a difference in mpg, but wasn't enough to offset the extra price. Likewise my experience of supermarket diesel (petrol I felt/see no difference) on a single tank gave me the worst ever mpg on a tank.

Same can be said about tyres, they are all rubber, and they all grip the road, but most premium tyres tend to grip better (especially in the wet) than budget tyres. I guess it's all down to you get what you pay for.