11k miles --- Update ...highs n lows

[rallypug]

Well... not been on here for a while, but thought I would give you good folks a bit of an update.
Had the car since late Dec 13 and have now covered nearly 11k miles... this has been mixed motoring...long motorway journeys, weekend blasts, and some city traffic jams. I have always had many cars, execs/classics/rally cars/family cars and this is the most flexible car owned. You can drive it hard ... very hard and it is very stable. The diff is excellent, throw it into a hairpin in 2nd and nail the throttle and it pulls you round the corner..the smile just grows the more you throw at it. The mid range flexibility is also smile generating .... cruising at 70 followed by a squeeze of the throttle and you will find yourself into triple figures very easily. I have found the manual gearbox notchy at times, and have missed a few critical gearchanges around 2nd and 3rd, but that might just be me  .

Niggles - drivers seat creaks...  it has gone into dealers today to be fixed, this is the only time it has been back there in the 7 months of owning it. The sat nav can be slow at 'booting up' and can be frustrating when you want to get in the car, enter a postcode and go...but you can't  The fuel gauge is not linear... the last half tank of fuel falls at twice the speed of the first half..(bit of a calibration issue I think). The augmented cabin sound in Sport mode can be a bit too false and would rather prefer it to come from the exhaust.

Economy - over the 11k miles I've averaged 34mpg, had 46 mpg on a long run  , and got 18mpg after a local blast this weekend 

The Adaptive Cruise is great once you get used to it, makes driving through roadworks less stressful. The front assist has saved me a couple of times, although it can be a bit premature at roundabouts, but on balance works very well.

I have not had any front suspension creaks etc... although I will be interested to see if the dealers have done any updates whilst it is with them today...?

Overall ...cracking motor... the car loves to be driven, and I love to drive it 

[andrewparker]

I've found exactly the same with the fuel gauge. Get excited because I've got 250 miles on the first half, then only get 150 on the second half.

[Jackie Treehorn]

Glad to read you are enjoying it nearly fault free, so many times forums light up with faults from owners who helpfully share problems, so you sometimes think the car has been built by halfwits, but rarely do people share the good experiences.

The fuel tank sounds similar to other fuel tank gauges in Audi's, perhaps its a VAG thing?
also the soundaktor can be unplugged, to prevent the false sound in the cabin, apparently its a simple plug

[mcmaddy]

It's the shape of the fuel tank not a calibration fault.

[andrewparker]

So VW haven't calibrated the fuel gauge to the shape of the tank...

[mcmaddy]

How can they do that? The tank is smaller at the bottom so the fuel doesn't last as long. How can they calibrate something for size?

[itavaltalainen]

simple 2nd degree polynomial could account for tank shape.... but only theoretically unless you put tilt sensor in the tank.... quite expensive so they just apply a linear function to tank I assume....

it's a bit of a 1st world problem isn't it

[mk7gti]

I actually know a guy who designs fuel gauges for cars.  Apparently it's a very complex algorithm to code due to the excessive amounts of movement of the fuel on a normal drive. He did tell me most manufactures design the algorithm to make the first part of the tank appear to last longer. It's all about making you feel better about spending £70 notes filling your car. 

[andygou]

Well... not been on here for a while, but thought I would give you good folks a bit of an update.
Had the car since late Dec 13 and have now covered nearly 11k miles... this has been mixed motoring...long motorway journeys, weekend blasts, and some city traffic jams. I have always had many cars, execs/classics/rally cars/family cars and this is the most flexible car owned. You can drive it hard ... very hard and it is very stable. The diff is excellent, throw it into a hairpin in 2nd and nail the throttle and it pulls you round the corner..the smile just grows the more you throw at it. The mid range flexibility is also smile generating .... cruising at 70 followed by a squeeze of the throttle and you will find yourself into triple figures very easily. I have found the manual gearbox notchy at times, and have missed a few critical gearchanges around 2nd and 3rd, but that might just be me  .

Niggles - drivers seat creaks...  it has gone into dealers today to be fixed, this is the only time it has been back there in the 7 months of owning it. The sat nav can be slow at 'booting up' and can be frustrating when you want to get in the car, enter a postcode and go...but you can't  The fuel gauge is not linear... the last half tank of fuel falls at twice the speed of the first half..(bit of a calibration issue I think). The augmented cabin sound in Sport mode can be a bit too false and would rather prefer it to come from the exhaust.

Economy - over the 11k miles I've averaged 34mpg, had 46 mpg on a long run  , and got 18mpg after a local blast this weekend 

The Adaptive Cruise is great once you get used to it, makes driving through roadworks less stressful. The front assist has saved me a couple of times, although it can be a bit premature at roundabouts, but on balance works very well.

I have not had any front suspension creaks etc... although I will be interested to see if the dealers have done any updates whilst it is with them today...?

Overall ...cracking motor... the car loves to be driven, and I love to drive it 

Great update Rallypug, echoes my experiences exactly!

Enjoy!