22MPg in a 1.3litre POLO.

barryfitz

Anyone know what size petrol tank would be in a 95 polo hatch?
im assuming its around 40 litres (form fills at the pump), based on this ive worked out the MPG and im only getting about 22MPG. Granted its mainly only used to get me to the trainstation and back but god that seems low. Anyone ever noticed this before?

she's a beast or else I have a leak. or my mathematical skills are failing me.

CJhaughey

How far is the drive? Through Traffic? Cold engine? Heavy right foot?, Tyres have low pressure?
All of these things will make your fuel consumption heavy.
Fuel consumption is only partially related to engine capacity.

Cookie_Monster

Driving everywhere in 2nd are we:p

That does seem quite low though.

Owen

If you're driving it hard (Over 2k rpm when you change gears), or if it's an Auto, it'll drink the stuff.

daveharnett

barryfitz wrote: »

Anyone know what size petrol tank would be in a 95 polo hatch?
im assuming its around 40 litres (form fills at the pump), based on this ive worked out the MPG and im only getting about 22MPG. Granted its mainly only used to get me to the trainstation and back but god that seems low. Anyone ever noticed this before?

she's a beast or else I have a leak. or my mathematical skills are failing me.

I suspect your maths tbh. Even with the least economical conditions and habits, I can't see that motor going below 28-30mpg if everything is in good nick.

Is it in need of new filters/oil/plugs?

Alun

Are you using the right conversion factor for litres -> gallons? You need to use the factor for Imperial gallons (0.219969157) and not the one for US gallons. Using the wrong one can make quite a significant difference.

The Real B-man

I think the fact its a 14 year old car mention it when getting it serviced probably needs a good one! yeah the polos and ibizas have 40litre tanks :rolleyes:

barryfitz

I used the UK Gallon conversion.
Its only a short drive to the train-station, maybe 5 minutes or so (I understand the engine isnt at normal temp for most of the journey but I wouldnt be driving the life out of it either, especially not over the latest cold spell), but its gets a further run at the weekends, it even had a run from dub to portlaoise and back during one of the tests but still getting sh1t mileage.

Yes the gearchanges would be over 2K RPM but rarely higher the 3K (id consider this normal driving) changing before 2 would be nursing the car IMO.

Changed oil/oil filter 500 miles ago. Plugs might need changing, oh yeah I forgot to mention the exhaust manifold obviously had work done because theres fibre glass coloured stuff all around it. dont know if that would have a huge effect though as its not injected its carb.
B-man whats that rolleyes for?

partyguinness

Not an expert but that is terrible MPG:eek:

Defo something wrong. I mean thats 4-5 litre Italian sports car territory.

Ferris

GF's Rover 214 gets 25mpg, thats bacause it rarely does a trip over 4 miles or 5 mins, and her trip home is up a hill.

Cold engines are very uneconomical in both supercars or supermini's.

Funny thing is at the mileage you do its probably uneconomical to get a mechanic to troubleshoot and fix if indeed there is a problem.

CJhaughey

barryfitz wrote: »

I used the UK Gallon conversion.
Its only a short drive to the train-station, maybe 5 minutes or so (I understand the engine isnt at normal temp for most of the journey

The engine will hardly be warmed up after 5 minutes, Not sure if that car has an Automatic choke or not but sometimes they may not be operative after that short a time, driving with choke on will definately be bad for economy,
What are the tyre pressures like?
Is your Airfilter clean? Maybe have a look at the airbox while you are at it and make sure there's nothing blocking it.
Handbrake not binding?
Brakes ok not binding?
Start with the basics, it is entirely possible that with a cold engine and the choke on that this is what sort of mileage you are getting.
The carbs on some of the VAG stuff are a bit of a pain especially the pierburg ones, they are complex and troublesome. I fitted a weber replacement to a mk2 Golf I had trouble with and never looked back.

alias no.9

barryfitz wrote: »

dont know if that would have a huge effect though as its not injected its carb.

Are you sure it's not injection? Very few cars post 1993 had carbs following the introduction of mandatory catalytic converters. If it is carburetted, then the carb could be out of whack. Get it into somebody with an exhaust gas analyser and get them to tune it up.

S.I.R

could you not leave her turning over for 5 misn to heat up, namely when doing a decent run, cause my 306 barely gets over 20 unless shes heated up...


thats if theirs green lights all the way, with the wind behind me going down a hill :rolleyes:

partyguinness

So generally speaking, is it better to have the car engine running in the driveway (to warm it up) before setting out. Does that save on fuel?

Ferris

partyguinness wrote: »

So generally speaking, is it better to have the car engine running in the driveway (to warm it up) before setting out. Does that save on fuel?

No because you're getting 0mpg , you might aswell be driving.

barryfitz

Tyre pressures are fine aswell (~30 psi all round) . Yep she's definetly carb, and yep she's automatic choke. Cheers for the input by the way. To be honest its not a car im planning on spending any money on (it only cost me 100 snots) so I wont be changing the exhaust or changing the carb, but cheers for the suggestions. I was just wondering was this kind of mpg typical for these polos?

Before anyone says, you get what you pay for........i know this im just curious.
Might change the airfilter see if that makes a difference and the plugs but il only be doing those if im the airfilter doesnt make a difference.

milltown

barryfitz wrote: »

Tyre pressures are fine aswell (~30 psi all round) . Yep she's definetly carb, and yep she's automatic choke. Cheers for the input by the way. To be honest its not a car im planning on spending any money on (it only cost me 100 snots) so I wont be changing the exhaust or changing the carb, but cheers for the suggestions. I was just wondering was this kind of mpg typical for these polos?

Before anyone says, you get what you pay for........i know this im just curious.
Might change the airfilter see if that makes a difference and the plugs but il only be doing those if im the airfilter doesnt make a difference.

Seriously, why bother?

If you managed to double the economy to 44mpg somehow, if the car is only being driven 5 or 10 minutes a day, how much actual cash would you be saving?

Curious though, is this a recent development with this car or is it like this since you got it? If the latter then is there an NCT on it?

barryfitz

Its like this since i got it last November and yeah its NCT'd till November this year. It was lying idle though for 3 or 4 months but dont know why that would have an effect on fuel efficiency, the plugs lying idle shouldn't have any effect.

zilog_jones

If you're working out your mileage using your trip counter from when the tank is filled, next time take down how much petrol you put in your tank to fill it afterwards - it'll probably be only 35 litres or even less despite how empty it may seem on the gauge, so your mileage should be slightly less awful.

garyegt

you mentioned manifold work?

make sure there are no leaks or anything around this as the engine does need some backpressure and this can effect the performance of the car. also prob sounds obvious, but although you may not feel it, timing could be an issue aswell

green-blood

he's only driving it 5miles at a go, in old money its not getting off the choke, its not rocket science here