[TuffLittleUnit]

An update for you...

I did the return run from Slough to Leeds again yesterday (M4 > M25 > M1) outside peak time and got an average of 45.5MPG over the 206 mile journey at an average speed somewhere in the mid 60s. Although I had to slow to 50mph for quite a few stretches of roadworks there were other bits where I could travel a little faster if you know what I mean. There was no stop/start traffic so most of my acceleration was restrained which has a very positive impact on the 1.8T (floor it and you can get single figure instant MPGs )

On the run down on Monday morning I hit a lot of traffic and ended up having to travel a little faster than normal but I still got about 40MPG over the journey.

I can't see it getting much better than this unless I travel everywhere at 60mph and don't accelerate/brake.

 

[TuffLittleUnit]

45MPG's!! That's increbibly good. How did you manage that? I've been driving very conservatively up and down through the gears (speeds on motorway of about 132kph) and don't look like getting anywhere near the 40 mark never mind 45. Must be just the extra 15/20kph making the distance.

I have had a bit of stop/start/crawl through some road works, this must be having a bigger impact than anticipated too.

The trip was virtually all motorway, I didn't get caught in any stop/start traffic, there were sections at 50mph which is always good for economy and probably most significantly I avoided rapid acceleration.

I filled the car up before the trip, which is just over 200 miles each way, I've done a few short journeys since my return on Tuesday and the range indicator in the DIS still says I've about 60 miles left on the same tank of fuel.

I've just been out and checked the 2nd trip computer which I haven't reset since I got the car and it's saying I've driven for almost 48 hours, averaged 31mph, covered about 1500 miles and have an average fuel consumption of 34mpg.

Given that I do a lot of very short runs which are terrible on fuel economy I'm really pleased with this figure.

 

[TuffLittleUnit]

I believe that's 38.6 mpg (you can actually type 6.1 liters/km in mpg into google, but then you have to multiply by 100)

Just stuck this in the UK Google site and it says 46mpg.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?sour...tnG=Google+Search&meta=cr=countryUK|countryGB

This will be the difference between the imperial and US gallon (the imperial gallon used in the UK has a greater volume).

Pretty certain this is right because the next Google link has an article about a Hyundai which does 6.1 litres/100km and expresses it as 46mpg.

 

[TuffLittleUnit]

Not sure it was all down to conversion. Obviously you shouldn't expect 45mpg on every run ... not even every motorway run. On the same journey that I report above I've had everything down to 38.5mpg ... but I did have some fun on that one

Re the colour. Absolutely, definitely avoid Quartz Grey. Terrible colour. Looks crap in all light conditions. Awful to keep clean. Everyone I know hates it. Young children point and give derisory laughs in the street. (Can't have too many quartz A5's now, can we?)

 

[TuffLittleUnit]

I'm a bit lost on all this remapping business ... if a remap can greatly increase both performance and economy why don't Audi ship it this way? Is it something to do with increased wear and tear or is the whole remap thing misrepresented?

 

[TuffLittleUnit]

I'm not being funny but it might be worth checking the fuel cap is on properly. I really don't trust the one on the A5 as it doesn't have the same "ratchet" system I had on the A3. It's hard to tell whether the cap is securely shut (on the A3 it used to click ... a bit like the childproof cap on a medicine bottle so you were assured it was sealed).

The other thing to do would be to get to a nice clear stretch of motorway, clear the average MPG on trip computer 1 and just cruise for about 30 miles or so. As others have posted, avoid rapid acceleration and you should be getting in the low 40's after about 30 miles.

Note when I say cruise I don't mean use the cruise control ... I'm sure this consumes more fuel but can't explain why. I've noticed this on all the cars I've had over the last 10 years or so. Clarkson also found it on the episode of Top Gear when he took an A6 (or was it A8?) from London to somewhere in the North and back on a single tank.

On the occassions I've averaged about 45mpg one of the key points is that I got into high gears ASAP, used only very gradual acceleration and made a real concious effort to drive with the flow of the traffic i.e. predict what's going to happen much earlier and take my foot off the gas to slow down, keeping off the brakes as much as possible. This sounds really anal but it's perfectly achievable to do this at between 70-80mph on the motorways outside rush hour and get 45mpg. I'm now convinced that if I were to go no higher than 60mph I could get close to 50mpg on a long motorway run with negligible in town driving (but who's going to pootle along at 60?)

One other tip is to make sure you're not carrying a lot of dead weight in the car. When I go on work trip I remove all the family crap from the car, mainly because I like my car tidy inside when it's just me but also because it's daft to be carrying an extra 40KG or so of car seats, books, spare clothes etc which I don't need.