Hello everyone

[Tao]

Hi all,
I just bought a GOLF 202 1.6 S, and become a proundly VW onwer

The car is great, small but high integrity. The only thing I have not quite used to is the samll engine, especially driving a 100K ph on freeway, the engine is working really hard with 3000 rpm. So I just wonder fuel efficiency wise running cost definite will be higher than normal road, and long time hard run will reduce the engine life for this small car, am I right?

Cheers,
Tao

[Jarred]

hey Tao, welcome to the forum! You've defiantly come to the right place, as this forum is bursting with knowledge!! Just not from me, about this!

Congrats on your purchase and again welcome

[99gti]

Welcome aboard!

I think yo0u'll be suprised with the efiency of the 1.6

An important thing to remember it's not the RPM the motor is doing but how far the throttle is open at the time. If it's labouring away at 3k with an opent throtle then yes, you will use alot of fuel but at 3k with minimal throttle, I know another member got 800km out of a tank on a freeway run to Sydney from Melbourne!

Congrats on the purchase - I'm sure you'll love it.

[FknDubbin]

I have the 1.6 and get great fuel consumption. Drove to Sydney on 1 and a bit tanks.

[craig_the_german]

1.6

Hi all,

I too have a 1.6L MK4.

I travel 60km to and from work each day mainly on the freeways in Brisbane.

I am getting 750km out of every tank of fuel and the most has been 780km and this is before the fuel light comes on.

I guess if you have been driving a much bigger car, it would seem like it is working harder but it is normal if you are used to smaller cars.

My previous commuter car was 3cyl 0.9L Daihatsu Charade....you really knew you were at 100km/h in that

As one of the latest VW adverts says...."maximum performance....minimum consumption"

[Tao]

Yeah, I have got some idea about how efficient the car runs. Since I bought it, each tank of fuel Shell95 can run about 600km on normal 80k roads, and I only need to fill it every third week now.

thanks for the hint for how to operate the throttle, but still have a query:
Why rpm is high but engine is not working hard? As my old carmy when driving on freeway as long as I release the gas the rpm will quickly drop to 1500 rpm, but golf always stays 3000 rpm?

Anyone has some idea?
Thanks.

[qsilverza]

If you are releasing the throttle and your speed is decresing the revs should definatly drop. If not you have an idling problem, also make sure that when you are releasing your foot cruise control is off.

[phaeton]

Welcome to VWwA Tao

[Tao]

If you are releasing the throttle and your speed is decresing the revs should definatly drop. If not you have an idling problem, also make sure that when you are releasing your foot cruise control is off.

Thanks mate.
I did another test on my rental car during X'mas. The rental is Toyota RAV4, similar thing happened, eg. traveling @80km/h downhill, without flooring the gas, the rev was @1.5k rpm. While on my golf, the rev will stay @ the same rpm abouth 3k rpm. It seems like that Toyota has a different transmission mechanism on idelling mode. When only accelerating will the transmission be engaged with engine, that means engine only work hard when required. Well on VW, the transmission is always engaged with engine.

Toyota: better petrol consumption
VW: safer as more engine constrain on the transmission

Is my theory (on observation) right?

[Treza360]

Firstly welcome.

The reason the revs differ on different cars is because the gear ratios on each car are different. From what you described the gear ratios on your old Camry and the Rav4 are longer than those that are on Golf. This will have the effect on the Camry and Rav4 of decreasing acceleration and increasing fuel economy at cruising speeds. My guess would be that because the Golf has such a small engine VW have put shorter gear ratios than the other two to improve the acceleration, however this will increase fuel consumption.

However you will also find that piston revolution for piston revolution between the cars the Golf will be using less fuel in each stroke due to the smaller size of the cylinder. The whole concept of the gearbox and engine pairing in most vehicles is about finding the balance between acceleration, top speed (these two are performance) and fuel economy. For a 1.6L Golf economy will be the first priority but to ensure the car is not a total slug they have of course decreased the gear ratios to ensure that the golf has some performance.

In any case you're going to be getting a lot better fuel economy than me. I have a 62L tank in the R32 and anything above 400km out of the tank before I fill up is a bonus. I do mainly urban driving and the fuel economy for that can range form anything from about 500km down to 250km depending on how spirited I drive and traffic conditions. For highway driving it will go up to about 685km. For my last 100 hours of driving I averaged around 425kms a tank.

[Tao]

Firstly welcome.

The reason the revs differ on different cars is because the gear ratios on each car are different. From what you described the gear ratios on your old Camry and the Rav4 are longer than those that are on Golf. This will have the effect on the Camry and Rav4 of decreasing acceleration and increasing fuel economy at cruising speeds. My guess would be that because the Golf has such a small engine VW have put shorter gear ratios than the other two to improve the acceleration, however this will increase fuel consumption.

However you will also find that piston revolution for piston revolution between the cars the Golf will be using less fuel in each stroke due to the smaller size of the cylinder. The whole concept of the gearbox and engine pairing in most vehicles is about finding the balance between acceleration, top speed (these two are performance) and fuel economy. For a 1.6L Golf economy will be the first priority but to ensure the car is not a total slug they have of course decreased the gear ratios to ensure that the golf has some performance.

In any case you're going to be getting a lot better fuel economy than me. I have a 62L tank in the R32 and anything above 400km out of the tank before I fill up is a bonus. I do mainly urban driving and the fuel economy for that can range form anything from about 500km down to 250km depending on how spirited I drive and traffic conditions. For highway driving it will go up to about 685km. For my last 100 hours of driving I averaged around 425kms a tank.

Thorough explanation!!

[torque]

Is your car a manual ?

[DIDZ]

Thorough explanation!!

+1

Cars with a higher displacement require less energy (and revs) to maintain a certain speed.

[fredquist]

Welcome to the Forum!!