How economical is your Golf?

[percymon]

Well last week i did a 375 round trip to Goodwood festival of speed, averaging 60mpg there and 58mpg on the return - on both journeys traffic around Goodwood was not great (ca 6mph!). I ran at 72mph on the cruise most of the way, air con off when i could manage it - i probably used 75mph ont he cruise part of the return journey. Thatys about as good as i can do from the 1.6TDI ona good steady run at normal speeds.

I can get 61-63mpg on my commute by sticking to 62mph on the cruise - thankfully the traffic conditions are sufficiently light that this isn't an issue to other road users, whereas on busy sections i get wooried about the number of drivers behind who don;t plan ahead and then brake hard behind me as they then can't get out into the overtakign lane (assuming every other car wants to do their 85-90mph!)

Official fuel consumption is an indicator only, to compare one car to another, conducted on a rolling road in a lab with lower surface friction, no wind resistance etc. None of the official tests use a speed above 50mph either, so for those doing lots of motorway miles its difficult to get anywhere near the brochure figures.

I have to say thogh i do wonder whether the 2.0TDI engine has better efficiency than the 1.6TDI given the weight of the car etc - the 6 speed gearbox possibly helps with better placed ratios too. No doubt though my winter tyres are 5-6mpg better than the summers.

[Rhigour]

The new golf Match 1.4tsi has come with Dunlop Sport Fast Response tyres. Not the quietest of tyres , quite a pronounced rumble over anything but super smooth tarmac. Don't know what the fast response is supposed to do, perhaps that is why they built the tyre noise in-keeps the driver awake ! Also looking at the spec.s for the tyre it is assessed as having good grip but poor on economy. Why build a car with major emphasis on economy and then stick less less than the best tyres on it ? Last Golf had Conti Eco's and they were quite good in all respects. Doubtless VW got the Dunlops at a good discount but I would have preferred to have something else. What a pity you can't specify what rubber your new car comes shod with. Guess these tyres will cost me 1-2 mpg.

[dcdick]

The new golf Match 1.4tsi has come with Dunlop Sport Fast Response tyres. Not the quietest of tyres , quite a pronounced rumble over anything but super smooth tarmac. Don't know what the fast response is supposed to do, perhaps that is why they built the tyre noise in-keeps the driver awake ! Also looking at the spec.s for the tyre it is assessed as having good grip but poor on economy. Why build a car with major emphasis on economy and then stick less less than the best tyres on it ? Last Golf had Conti Eco's and they were quite good in all respects. Doubtless VW got the Dunlops at a good discount but I would have preferred to have something else. What a pity you can't specify what rubber your new car comes shod with. Guess these tyres will cost me 1-2 mpg.

My TSI came with those tyres fitted last year & are indeed poor in all respects especially noise & rolling resistance (economy).

I "dug my heels in" with the dealer & after 6 weeks, 3 arguments, 4 dealer "inspections" 6 dealer visits ........ I came away with a set of Michelin's off a "demo" car that are 50% quieter as well as being slightly better performers & more important (for me) are at least 2mpg more economical.

Like you I cannot understand why a £18,000 car should come with "economy" tyres fitted ...... One response from the "Service Manager" was that the noise was "not the car, just the tyres"..when I pointed out to him that the car would not work properly without tyres he started talking about the weather

****.

[tourer2]

Golf Mk 6 140 TDi GT with 18" wheels on Dunlop SP Sport Maxx tyres
Brim to brim tank refills, not the trip computer
Usually 2 adults in the car
Over 4000miles measurement duration
Driven on gentle side of normal
Journeys usually 20miles and longer with only a few short trips.
Summer usage is 53-57mpg, with higher figure being achived on mainly long journeys (100+miles)
Trip computer overestimates mpg by 10% (piece of crap)
If driven hard, the car would do 40-45mpg.

[john7]

1.6TDi auto blue motion.
Today, from central London to Chipping Norton and back, 170 miles, 71.2mpg
This is my regular trip and mpg varies from 63 to 76 the main factors are wind direction, traffic hold ups (none today) and if the stop/start decides to work or not. Currently it isn't working at all, but car in for a service next month so hope to find out what the problem is.

[Keithuk]

Well I did my monthly fill up today and it showed 46.5mpg for the last month even though Fuelly still shows 42.1mpg so it must me loosening up a bit.

[Rhigour]

Well I did my monthly fill up today and it showed 46.5mpg for the last month even though Fuelly still shows 42.1mpg so it must me loosening up a bit.

After 8,330 miles it has every right to !

[Keithuk]

8,330 miles isn't actually correct because the don't count from the first fill up so you loose 500 miles of their figures its actually done 8,828 when I filled up yesterday. They say they don't loosen up until after 10k.

[Rhigour]

8,330 miles isn't actually correct because the don't count from the first fill up so you loose 500 miles of their figures its actually done 8,828 when I filled up yesterday. They say they don't loosen up until after 10k.

Lummy, that's modern synthetic lubricants for you. When I first started out at about 35K your ends started knocking.

[Hughesynights]

Just filled up, my best tank so far.

832 miles, 71.7 mpg.
Also my first tank below 4 litres / 100 km.

The range said 0 miles for some time, but there was still a couple of litres left when I filled up.
There must be some truth that the car loosens up with miles (and the warm 'summer' weather), mine certainly continues to improve.

I still have some way to go to get my average above the official combined 65.7 mpg. Hoping to do this by the end of the summer, then the winter will ruin it.