Fuel Economy Suffering?

[NeilMorey]

I did a round journey yesterday from Edinburgh to Aberdeen. The journey is a mix of dual carriageway and motorway with only a short 40/50 mph section through Dundee. The car is a 2004 GT TDI on 54,000 miles.

I drove at a law abiding (almost) 70-80 mph and yet only averaged 45 mpg on each leg. I noticed a few months ago that economy seemed to be falling away but this seems a good bit short of what I should have been able to get, or am I being over ambitious?

The A/C was on but can't have been doing much with an outside temperature of 14 degrees, automatic headlights on for much of the journey and using wipers on the way north may all have affected the economy but by how much?

The car was serviced back in February but I'm sure it was only an oil service and I'm planning on changing the fuel and air filters.

Is there anything that can be checked that might be affecting economy? I get a regular ticking noise at idle (worse on an uphill slope) which other posts suggest could be the MAF, is there any way to test it?

Thanks

Neil

[phil miller]

hi neil i know mine is only a 105 bhp golf but im like you, i only get 45mpg driving normally if i drive like a granny i can get that up to 53 if im lucky

[RickT]

Sounds normal to me,

Rick

[SC03OTT]

I'm with RickT, sounds normal. I did Edinburgh to Inverness two months ago (two passengers & luggage for a weekend) and averaged about 42mpg. There was a fair bit of traffic so quite a bit of overtaking and when it was clear, speeds that we won't discuss on a public forum.

[macmillions]

Try a simple check like your tyre pressures, just to ensure your tyres haven't deflated slightly recently. Also, if the oil was changed in feb, it wont be as economical now as it was when first done.

I recommend whilst changing the fuel and air filters, carry out and oil and filter change too. It may not make much of a difference, but hell, your engine will be better protected anyway!

[NeilMorey]

Thanks for all the replies, I'm satisfied that the mpgs are normal. Will get the filters changed over the weekend hopefully and dig out the pressure gauge.

The 2.0 TDI fuel economy just seems a bit disapointing, I had a 1.9 TDI 130 A3 a few years back and that would do about 50 mpg between Inverness and Edinburgh, a loaned Golf 1.9 150 TDI was doing nearer to 55mpg and certainly wasn't driven slowly, awesome car, although the Mk V Golf handles so much better.

[NeilMorey]

Drove back from Inverness to Edinburgh today and the computer average 51 mpg at 61 mph average- big improvement.

I discovered the tyre pressures were about 6 PSI low all round, must have happened when 4 new tyres were fitted back in July and I hadn't checked them since, whoops.