1.8 20v Poor Fuel Consumption

[Woz]

Hi All

I have recently bought a 1998 1.8 20v non turbo 2wd A4 Avant B5. It only seems to doing 27mpg or about 100 miles to £20. Is this the norm for this car?
I have just sold my BMW 328i sport and that did about 25mpg and I used to thrash it, where as i drive this as if you were driving Miss Daisy. It should be getting more mpg than the BMW, I have dropped 2 cylinders and a 1000cc.
My daily drive consists of approx 6-7 miles to work then the same back home. Could it be a case of the car is not having enough time to warm up? And I have recently replaced the tempreture sender as i beleive that can have an effect on the mpg.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Woz

[joz119]

hi mate i get about 260miles to a full tank motorway miles

[Woz]

hi mate i get about 260miles to a full tank motorway miles

Thanks for the reply. A full tank will cost about £70+ (62 litre tank), makes mine look like a Prius

[joz119]

Thanks for the reply. A full tank will cost about £70+ (62 litre tank), makes mine look like a Prius

it costs about 46 pound for full tank on my 1.8 20v 1995 it must about 40litre tank mate but the 260 miles is never into the red.

[audifula28]

Hi there, im afraid they just seem to be like that i have exactly same car as you .And have allways been miffed about mpg on long run upto 300 miles would get nearer 30 mpg but usual town use 26-27 mpg thats allways what i get £60 to fill up and she will do 280-300 to a tank depending how i drive.
There is one thing you can check the variable inlet manifold butterflys ,nearside of engine, its black four fingerd inlet,and @ the front most part a triangulated cover which pops off inside this a pivot which moves butterflys in the said plastic manifold this was to give more mid range power when driveing as the revs rise the butterflys move to open the inlet more!

Anyways this pivot is plastic and breaks off shutting the inlet and restricting it using more fuel well my one did until we found it U./S. £85 If i remember. Helped mpg too a bit.

Its a heavy car for that 1.8 motor to move about 120 bhp ain,t really enough.

[ike]

Par for the course I think. It's the short journey that killing it + it's a small engine working quite hard to get nearly 1.5 tons rolling. Any engine will use up to 60% more fuel until it gets to normal operating temp. My 2.8 30V is no different - 18-19 mpg pottering to and fro, a reasonable 32mpg on the M-way, and an overall average around 24-25mpg.

[Woz]

Thanks for the replys guys. Gutted! wish i had of kept the beemer now, this purchase was supposed to be a cost saving exercise, ah well you live and learn.
And to top it all off the heater matrix has burst this morning, can my day get any better!!!

[custom24]

Try running it on super unleaded, my 1.8 t gives far more mpg against regular unleaded, worth a try.

[Woz]

Cheers I'll give that a try try next time I fill up.

[spyralmale]

Cheers I'll give that a try try next time I fill up.

maybe take it to a VAG diagnostics - if your fuel consumption is alot, say 20mpg for 1.8 on motorways, maybe a lambda sensor fault, making the engine chuck more fuel into it.