Fuel guage or just GTI economy!

[vrs lil]

Hi folks. I've owned some guzzly cars and to be fair mine is only used for short trips but still seems to use a fair bit of fuel.
What I've noticed is that this morning I had just about a quarter of a tank left. Later I went out and the needle is on the red line.
I'm positive there are no leaks and it seems to be running ok now after a few issues that I've sorted.
I've noticed on more than one occassion that the needle will suddenly drop when it gets below half a tank.
Is this normal or is there more to this than meets the eye?
Thanks
Paul

[pinson]

Mine said it does 28 MPG but dont believe it. I think it is just thirsty.

[Wayne]

I never found mine that good on fuel tbh.

[javalin]

mine varies between (reported) ~32mpg for short runs to ~39mpg for longer runs (A roads / motorways etc)

MPG varies depending on the driver and the "health" of the vehicle of course.

James

[vrs lil]

Well to be fair I've never booted it at all. I had a running issue up to about a week ago.
I have a Volvo T4 as well and that seems better and averages 32mpg and my old XR2 does 32mpg and costs less also!
It's just the gauge seems to say "I've got loads" and within a blink its saying "Best fill up again"!

[trog_nfs]

Sender design in the tank is very poor.

On mine, the last quarter of a tank seems to vanish like that, but even when curved around the stop there is still around £10 of fuel in the tank. Only reason I know this is I brim my tank each time I fill due to my mileage.

[pinson]

I am hoping after a good service mine will improve slightly. Not had the car long so have really taken it on long runs.

[thai-wronghorse]

Sender design in the tank is very poor.

On mine, the last quarter of a tank seems to vanish like that, but even when curved around the stop there is still around £10 of fuel in the tank. Only reason I know this is I brim my tank each time I fill due to my mileage.

[Bandit127]

I see you have an 8V. That should be pretty good actually.

Mine does ~32 mpg on the crawl to work (7 miles and I am lucky if I touch 40 - a lot of 10-15 mph). On a motorway run at 70-80 it will do about 42-45 mpg. The best I have had was a door to door 225 mile journey - all dual carriageway and motorway. 51.2 mpg - but I was driving like a Nun.

Check your thermostat for a start - if the temp gauge sits around 70 it is stuck open and this will increase consumption - especially on short journeys. The temp sensor for the ECU (different to the one that runs the gauge on the dash) can also fail and cause high consumption.

[Gavv8]

Having owned a wide range of cars all of all sizes and capacities and one diesel i think my 8v is pretty good on fuel, it does use a bit more on short journeys but i put £30 quids worth in the other night and did a 200 mile motorway trip at 75-80mph and it was only back to the third of a tank i had in at the start when i got home, i will say that the gauge can soemtimes have a mind of its own when under half a tank.