Tyres

[smartypants]

I agree the balanc eof perfromance and MPG / tank range swayed me to th golf rather than the ford or honda which I was reliabily informed could not really manage 300+ miles on a full tank.

I have also found that 40 PSI (front tyres) as suggested by a few people on here actually improves the evenness of my tire wear.  This I asume (maybe wrongly) means the tyre is working closer to its design specs??.. than if they were ran at the fuel flap figure.

The recommended on the flap is something like 36/37 anyway, and rear tires up to 43 when fully laden - so 40psi is hardly excessive.

[rotor]

Honestly it's not my driving, also had the same with my previous car, I have tried my very best to get the max mpg out and used to get 38mpg. No matter how hard I try 32 is the absolute max I get now!

I also did some research and came across numerous tests with that tyre that also reported 10-15% drop in economy. I'll try and get the links... 

Sorry for reviving an old post (I'm researching tyres at the moment). Driving 24,000 miles in a year, using vPower fuel (approx. £1.25 per Litre) gives the following figures:

38 mpg = £3,589 per year
32 mpg = £4,262 per year

That's a £673 per year difference -- not trivial!

[FamilyDub]

Driving 24,000 miles in a year...

I'm thinking the 'average' GTI driver doesn't do anything like 24k a year - I've only done 9k in 14 months, for instance.

Want MPG? Buy diesel.

Simples

[rotor]

I'm thinking the 'average' GTI driver doesn't do anything like 24k a year - I've only done 9k in 14 months, for instance.

24k was what the original poster reported. But you're absolutely right about 24k definitely not being the 'average' -- your mileage would give around £215 difference per year (3+ full tanks), so while not breaking the bank, still measurable.

I think it's fairly safe to say that if you're driving a GTI, fuel economy isn't your primary concern. However, for those who do care even a little bit about fuel economy, then it is useful to know that some tyres are more fuel economical than others, and if all other things are roughly equal (i.e. same price and performance), then why not buy the more fuel economical tyre?

And speaking of all things being roughly equal, it's been a long time since I've researched such an emotive topic. "Best tyres I've ever owned" and "absolute rubbish tyre" said about the same tyre; "really noisy" and "much quieter than my previous tyres", etc. etc. The magazine reviews are inconsistent (hardly scientific) and the conclusions rarely match up with the individual results. Overall a difficult subject to research!