M.P.G - 54 leon TDI 130

[Gjh1960]

Hi Guys, I've recently bought a Leon TDI 130 and in normal driving around the suburbs and 8 mile motorway journey each day cannot seem to get more than 43 Mpg, would this be average ? as i heard talk of 50 Mpg for my car from various websites and reviews.

What might have a bearing on the issue could be that from start my car takes about 5 miles before it reachs 90c.. I had a mechanic test the diagnostics and he could find nothing wrong but did coment that it did seem to take a long time to warm up.. Anyone have any ideas..:confused:

[Gjh1960]

I guess no clues then...

[kimandsally]

I would say there's something very wrong, I have the VW Sharan which weighs 2 ton and I get 46MPG, I measured it very carefully because I just had it chipped at RS Tuning I'd have thought the Leon should do over 50MPG it's so much smaller and lighter than mine.

Things to try are the air filter and a new thermostat to begin.

[Gjh1960]

Thanks for that. The car is going in for a new temp sensor to be fitted on Monday as it seems to be taking ages to reach 90oc and the heater is also warm before then. I read on a thread that the temp sensor is also linked to the engine ECU and suspect that if this is faulty could have a bearing on my MPG. If this does not improve things then i will try the air filter as it's the next economical item i could easily replace. I only bought the car recently and it has a full service history so would have thought the filter would have been replaced. But no harm in putting in another, other than the MPG the car appears to run ok..

[Gjh1960]

Well changed my Air filter even though the old one did'nt look to bad and now well pleased...:D the cars now doing between 50 and 53 Mpg around the London suburbs. Going on a run tomorrow so will be interested to know what Mpg i get......:D:D

[kimandsally]

Well changed my Air filter even though the old one did'nt look to bad and now well pleased...:D the cars now doing between 50 and 53 Mpg around the London suburbs. Going on a run tomorrow so will be interested to know what Mpg i get......:D:D

It's very common that, at the price of fuel these days air filters are cheap, consider even buying a K&N filter fully washable so you could do it say every 10,000 miles then it would save it's £36 price in fuel in less than 25,000 miles. Plus you'd never need to buy another filter.

Pleased for you mate.:beerchug:

[Gjh1960]

Well went on my 300 mile run but computer still only showed about 52-53 Mpg and i drove no faster that 75Mph.. I filled the tank before i set of and re-filled when i got home and doing the math the old fashioned way was getting a real figure of 48 Mpg which would seem a little less than what i should get. ..

[wackyracer]

Never trust the trip computer! They can be way out. Remember alot of it is done on averages so you may have been getting 65mpg at one point but only 45 at another! I found the other day that doing about 70ish on a dual carriage was for about 15 miles or so i was getting in excess of 60mpg in my golf gttdi 130. However when i went onto 'town' roads it dropped to about 47mpg. I reset the computer when i came off the carriage way to get a more accurate figure.
On the subject of temp sensors... had the same problem on my Seat leon 20vt cupra, Changed the sensor and it was quite scarey the difference in fuel economy! Oh and put a performance filter on you TDi, i have and it not only feels alittle quicker, but had smoothed out the 'pull' as well.

[Gjh1960]

Thanks for the response, I certainly dont trust the trip and always check at the pump for the True mpg which does'nt seem to have risen above 46-47 mpg. I drive mixed town / urban/ motorway over the week. Temp sensor and fuel filter will be changed at the next service which is about 1500 miles away so i'll see how that goes. i'll also consider a performance filter but being in my late 40's my 'Spirited' driving days were at the wheel of various 70's and 80's Cortina's and Capri's...:biglaugh::biglaugh:

[wackyracer]

Maybe just a performance panel filter then...! And as for Capri's......... i seem to remember the hugely powerful 2.8litre on the roads.... hmmm maybe 40 isn't that far off for me ?!!!

[kimandsally]

Thanks for the response, I certainly dont trust the trip and always check at the pump for the True mpg which does'nt seem to have risen above 46-47 mpg. I drive mixed town / urban/ motorway over the week. Temp sensor and fuel filter will be changed at the next service which is about 1500 miles away so i'll see how that goes. i'll also consider a performance filter but being in my late 40's my 'Spirited' driving days were at the wheel of various 70's and 80's Cortina's and Capri's...:biglaugh::biglaugh:

Something else I had done is had it remapped at RS Tuning and the economy on my Sharan is 46MPG combined around 12-15% better than before it was chipped. £300 on offer at the moment but at todays diesel prices would recoup that in 16 months plus it's now 179hp hell of a lot quicker than standard, would turn a late 40 year old back to a 30 year old, plastic surgery has nothing on a enjoyable car.:beerchug: