Fuel Economy Question

What sort of fuel economy do people get from their golfs?  

My Mk1, 1.8 8v with supersprint exhaust and k&N is currently doing about 200 miles for ?35 of premium unleaded, which seems a bit bad to me.  Working out the averages, with a mix of town and motorway driving, thats costing me about 18p a mile?  Is this right, or have I got a problem somewhere?  If so, where do I start?

Anthony

You'd have to quote the fuel consumption in mpg to allow any accurate comparisons.

I measured mine just the once (tank-tank fill), on a motorway trip, and I achieved 36mpg which I'm well pleased with, compared to 20-25mpg for my other cars! These days, I hardly ever use the car and I've been running it a lot, stood still, to tune it, so its not really worth trying to work it out.

I think that's pretty poor myself. Your ?35 no doubt equates to roughly a full tank then I guess ? If I was to fill up my MK1 1.8 GTI I would expect a return of 300-320 miles but it all depends how you drive. I tend to change gear around the 3000 to 3500 rev range which will help and never go over 5000.

anton said

 If so, where do I start?

Anthony

CO percentage. It should be 1-2%. Its adjusted using a long 3mm allen key into the screw in the fuel distributor, once you've done it no doubt you'll need to readjust the idle speed too (7mm, hard to get to on rear of throttle body, near scuttle panel).

i get about the same out of mine but i do try to drive it up around 4500-6500rpm all the time.         

cheers for the wheels anton :mrgreen:

Not got a clue yet as i have only done about 150miles since i bought it

Thats the thing, I really dont drive it hard, generally I dont go over about 4000 and dont really accelerate that hard, which is what has me thinking something is wrong.  I could understand it if I drove like you animal!!

No worries on those wheels mate, hope you do alright on sunday.

If i adjust the mix, how do i measure what sort of mix ive got?  As you can probably tell, im not very mechanicaly minded but do want to learn.

I will get the trusty!! haynes out tommorow and see what i can do then I guess.  

In case anyone does have any other ideas, I always fill her right up, and try not to go too much in to the red, so I would say on that basis im averaging approx 20mpg!

Cheers for the help guys.

Ant

anton said

If i adjust the mix, how do i measure what sort of mix ive got?  As you can probably tell, im not very mechanicaly minded but do want to learn.

You'd need a gas analyser. I've had trouble with them in the past. What I did this time is connected it to the battery and left it for an hour, then the readings made sense.

Have a go with the instructions in the Haynes, I have done in the past - however be warned carbs aren't the easiest place to start learning!  May be worth bunging a carb specialist a few quid to sort it out.  :dontknow:

The fuel consumption will depend a lot on whether you are doing lots of round town driving with lots of starts from cold or long motorway journeys at steady speeds.  My auto, which will be worse than a manual, currently does about 25 mpg around town, which I'm not too HP with.  My previous golf, a 1.8 8v Mk2 that I did lots of long trips in, used to do about 36mpg  8)  giving me well over 400 miles out of a tank.

Hope this helps

Ian

paul_c said

anton said

If i adjust the mix, how do i measure what sort of mix ive got?  As you can probably tell, im not very mechanicaly minded but do want to learn.

You'd need a gas analyser. I've had trouble with them in the past. What I did this time is connected it to the battery and left it for an hour, then the readings made sense.

would you recomend any particuler gas analyser?

Nope! The one I got, for ?100, is a Gunson digital one but its terrible, I can't trust the readings it gives. You calibrate it in free air so it reads 2%. If you stick it in, it will give a figure, which will gradually rise and rise. So, I took it out again and now it reads something like 2.5% in free air! So, I recalibrated it, stuck it in, etc etc over and over again. It was still wavering around and doing this after I'd let it 'warm up' for an hour, but eventually seemed to settle, so I have no idea if the reading is true or not.

Maybe I just have a dodgy one?

no, i have heard this alot and thought you may have found a good one!

Sorry, forgot to mention, its a gti not carb.  My neighbour does a lot of work cars so I will see if he has one I can borrow, cant really afford to shell out at the mo for something i wont be using much!

IanT said

.  My previous golf, a 1.8 8v Mk2 that I did lots of long trips in, used to do about 36mpg  8)  giving me well over 400 miles out of a tank.

Hope this helps

Ian

Thats why im querying it, I had a mk2 8v gti before I got the mk1, same sort of driving, but averaging at least 30mpg!  Oh well, best get the tools out tommorow, hopefully it will be dry!

just had mine tuned by a good place who know the golf gti    so much better now . i had a full engine rebuild and tuned it by ear and was quite happy after setting it to the haynes guide. the car was good but still did not feel quite right .now its superb pulls through the hole rev range,ticks over at 800 rpm and is really smooth.i dont know the mpg i will keep you posted ,but i dont really care now it runs this well.
the place was bears garage services birmingham :wink:

On this topic about fuel, I've just acquired my Mk1 Gti 8v and I was wondering….

How big is the fuel tank?  I presume it's a 35 litre tank, so approx 8 gallons?

And how much in litres do you approx have left when the fuel gauge starts to go into the red?

mcleeve said

On this topic about fuel, I've just acquired my Mk1 Gti 8v and I was wondering….

How big is the fuel tank?  I presume it's a 35 litre tank, so approx 8 gallons?

And how much in litres do you approx have left when the fuel gauge starts to go into the red?

According to Haynes manual the early models had a 10 gallon 50litre tank and the later models 9.5 gallon 45 litre tank???wierd

From my Buying a Cabrio Guide….

…The Cabriolet fuel tank holds 55 litres (12 galls) and is bolted directly to the underside of the body, as opposed to the tin top (45 litres and strapped as on). They are NOT interchangeable.
The Cabby is over 100 kg heavier than the tin top…..