Hi, apologies if I post this in the wrong area as I am still fairly new here!

I have a 1.2 57 Plate VW Polo which has done just over 25,000 miles. Its fuel consumption has been annoying me for some time and I only now have the time to deal with it.

Full tank on it won't give me any more than 230ish miles which for a 1.2 seems pretty low? I've seen forums with people complaining that they only get 300+ miles out of it. Tank is 42 litres and costs around £50 to fill it up in Glasgow. I've tried driving like a granny and it has absolutely no effect whatsoever, gives the same miles as me having foot to the floor 24/7. Car doesnt even carry about excess weight, took the spare wheel out aswell (whether it could have made a difference I don't know). I agree that in city driving/start-stop mpg would be low but this low?

Anyone have any ideas as to what could be causing this? I read somewhere that with 1.2's the lamda sensor seemed to be a common problem?

Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

Edited 23 February, 201412 yr by Aayx

I get about 270mpg in my 02 plate 1.2, really not sure why though, I do quite short journeys but other than that I don't have such a heavy right foot , tyre pressures are fine etc etc etc, think it might just be these engines

First when was it last properly seviced? get it onto a code reader to see if there are any underlying fault codes (not all will put the fail light on!!) City driving will always be the poorest MPG but yours is low!

Don't go replacing things on the hope of a fix, it'll work out cheaper to get any fault codes first and then take it from there!!

I get about 270mpg in my 02 plate 1.2, really not sure why though, I do quite short journeys but other than that I don't have such a heavy right foot , tyre pressures are fine etc etc etc, think it might just be these engines

Still better than mine, i think its probs something to do with the heavy body:small engine ratio.

First when was it last properly seviced? get it onto a code reader to see if there are any underlying fault codes (not all will put the fail light on!!) City driving will always be the poorest MPG but yours is low!

Don't go replacing things on the hope of a fix, it'll work out cheaper to get any fault codes first and then take it from there!!

December, full service was done, all it did was make the car a little more nippier. And yeah I've booked it in for wednesday to get the codes checked. I'm still adamant that anything below 250ish miles to a full tank is exceptionally low for a 1.2 petrol car.

Same as mine give 200 miles aswell its an 1.2 60 bhp polo I had the timing chain changed the water pump and it still gives me bad mileage

Spritmonitor says average of post 2010 1.2l 60hp Polo is 6.6l/100km or 43mpg. (Though these may be drivers who drive frugally).

 

https://www.spritmonitor.de/de/uebersicht/50-Volkswagen/451-Polo.html?fueltype=2&vehicletype=1&constyear_s=2010&power_s=50&power_e=60&exactmodel=1.2&powerunit=2

 

With a 42l tank that consumption would allow 390 miles to completely empty.

Or maybe 337 miles to have a gallon for 43 miles left.

 

If it was using 12l/100km for only 200miles range I'd expect the exhaust to be very sooty black.

 

Wonder if there's a fuel leak? Guess it has a plastic tank but there's a cap that might not fit, so it could lose some around corners?

Any smell or spill signs on paintwork?

 

Is it maybe telling you too soon that is time to refill?

(carry a spare can of fuel and drive until it actually runs out if you can be sure do this somewhere safe to refuel at side of road)

 

Check the consumption with full tank.

Brim it. Drive 43 ish miles. See how much fuel is needed to brim it again. That'll tell you consumption when full (carrying you and the weight of the fuel) dividing distance by fuel.

 

Then measure the consumption when driving with low fuel in the tank.

Drive until it says time to refuel. Add exactly 5 liters or exactly 1 gallon

(4.55 litres).

Drive until it tells you to refuel again.

Divide distance covered by the exact fuel.

 

See what the difference is if any?