Help needed

Shanee.

Well i bought a golf back about a month ago...everything was going grand, as i thought but then started to realise this car is burning so much petrol...i have a 1.4 golf petrol and i put €50 in when it was basically empty...price was 1.50c per litre...anyway got about 220 miles out of it, and just wondering is that normal for a golf or is there something wrong?

CiniO

Shanee. wrote: »

Well i bought a golf back about a month ago...everything was going grand, as i thought but then started to realise this car is burning so much petrol...i have a 1.4 golf petrol and i put €50 in when it was basically empty...price was 1.50c per litre...anyway got about 220 miles out of it, and just wondering is that normal for a golf or is there something wrong?

Your figures make 9.46 l/100km.
That's big figure, but if it was only city driving in big traffic jams, it's possible with golf 1.4

heate

Was the tank totally empty when you filled it up because I can't think of a car with a 33 litre tank? I assume you'd have noticed a leak? Is your foot welded to the floor?

Anan1

Brim it, zero the trip meter, drive to empty, and see how much fuel it takes. You can then calculate your exact fuel consumption - post that here, along with the kind of driving you're doing, and people will be able to tell you what they think.

166man

Wow its funny you should post that, a friend of mine has the same problem. He has a 2001 Golf 1.4 with 54k on the clock and in a weekend we drove about 120 miles and used exactly half a tank, I do not understand how it is that thirsty. It does only have about 75bhp though... so right foot is almost permanently welded to the floor...

EPM

Anan1 wrote: »

Brim it, zero the trip meter, drive to empty, and see how much fuel it takes. You can then calculate your exact fuel consumption - post that here, along with the kind of driving you're doing, and people will be able to tell you what they think.

^^^
what he said. It's the only way.

Atlantic Dawn

Could also be a dodgy garage with pumps not giving you proper measures of fuel...

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0824/1224302897578.html

UP TO 1,400 fuel pumps tested by the National Standards Authority of Ireland last year were found to have been damaged, defective or wrongly calibrated.

More than 17,000 measuring instruments, such as supermarket weighing scales, taxi meters and petrol and diesel pumps were tested for accuracy by the authority’s legal metrology service in 2010. Almost half of the instruments tested were fuel pumps.

Of the 8,000 petrol and diesel pumps tested at 1,300 service stations some 1,400 were found to need adjustment or recalibration and were the subject of warnings from the authority.

Shanee.

It wasnt even full with the €50...ill drive her empty so and fill it and see how it goes...drive it hard enough considering where i live is rural and roads arent the best

Atlantic Dawn

Shanee. wrote: »

It wasnt even full with the €50...ill drive her empty so and fill it and see how it goes...drive it hard enough considering where i live is rural and roads arent the best

It wouldn't be, it has a 55 litre tank, €50 only buys around 33 litres worth, so would just be over half a tanks worth.

challengemaster

A small underpowered 1.4 in a 1200kg car is never going to be light on fuel tbh

heate

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Could also be a dodgy garage with pumps not giving you proper measures of fuel...

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0824/1224302897578.html

I don't that a pump would be off by that much without someone notice and as unscrupulous as a lot of business people are they'd never get away with that variance!

If you are driving it hard and not shifting to higher gears quick enough you will suck fuel out of the tank - you're currently doing about 19mpg which is an achievable low figure in a 1.4 Golf

Shanee.

Going by this http://www.eforecourt.com/calc_mpg.htm i get 33mpg..thats not too bad is it?

si_guru

166man wrote: »

...I do not understand how it is that thirsty. I.. ..right foot is almost permanently welded to the floor.

Question and answer!

Shanee.

This seems to be crazy...i put 10 euro petrol at 1.51c per litre and got 50 miles. Surely that cannot be right?

challengemaster

That's 32-33mpg...

Shanee.

Is that good for a 1.4 golf?

challengemaster

I wouldn't say good, depends what kind of driving you're doing but it's probably in around normal

matt70iu

Shanee. wrote: »

Is that good for a 1.4 golf?

No wouldn't think so. I have a 1.8t mk4 golf and can get 40-42mpg if I go easy with the foot. 33mpg is the sort of milage you'd expect out of a high performance car, not a 1.4 golf.

Now if you bury your foot and red line it the whole time it's a different story:)

Shanee.

Yeah that would be my kind of driving...thinking of upgrading to a 1.9tdi golf good idea or not?

challengemaster

Any reason you'd stay with a golf?

Are you doing enough mileage to warrant a diesel?

Shanee.

Yeah clare to galway twice if not more a week and galway to limerick once or twice a week...just from what people are telling me it seems to be more viable...just like golfs and they are reasonably cheap

heate

€10 is 6.6 litres of fuel if it went 80km that's 8.25l 100/km or near 35mpg.
You should be able to eek more out of a tank!
But the diesel? Well no how much milage do you do?
It more tax and a little more maintenance - given that your throwing €10's an €50's into the tank currently the diesel might break the bank.
Mid 40's should be achievable on longer runs at contant speeds local and town driving will drag your average down!

matt70iu

Shanee. wrote: »

Yeah that would be my kind of driving...thinking of upgrading to a 1.9tdi golf good idea or not?

Yeah I can understand wanting to stick to the golf. They're reliable solid cars.

The TDI's are worth it especially if you are doing a lot of miles. Diesels don't like around the town short run driving. These sort of short runs drastically affect your MPG also.

Having owned both, I'm afraid I'm a bit of a confirmed patrol head:)