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Low Petrol

Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 1:48 am
by sylonien
Hi guys.

Well I was wondering is it just me or does the Polo, well mine - 1.4 petrol drink petrol like a waterfall or something?! 'cos I filled the tank for with a fiver, which gave me like 6-7litres I think, well 2 bars on the gauge.

But I've lost 1bar after ~14miles. Is that normal?! I wasn't driving really crazy, i.e. high revs. :?

Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 9:58 am
by tornado_ally
Mine does that. I think the guage illustrates how much goes in the tank but doesnt account for how much petrol is taken into the engine and piping once the car gets revd up. What i noticed is when you take the guage down to half way mark and put a fiver in, it goes down a lot faster back to half way than it would have done normally.
Another odd thing i noticed is once the petrol beep/light comes on, you can make it go away by driving like a grandad- this is a useful technique to save a few blushes for when you have lady frineds in the car

Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 1:20 pm
by sylonien
Hehe true, having said that, I drove 130miles using 1 bar on the gauage! Couldn't believe it. Well I changed gear under 2000rpm and drove 60miles/h on the motorway. Quite amazing acheivement. Didn't know it could do that. :D

Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 7:46 pm
by GaryUK
That low petrol warning beep scared the crap out of me when it first came on! I thought I had engine trouble or something!

It's very patronising to be honest and I'm sure it's just there for dead heads and old grannies.

Anyone know how to turn the damn thing off?

I do have eyes to tell me when I'm low on fuel. I look at the handy fuel gauge! :roll:

Thanks VW, a beep to let me know I'm flying low would be more useful.

Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 9:01 pm
by Neimad
GaryUK wrote:That low petrol warning beep scared the crap out of me when it first came on! I thought I had engine trouble or something!
The 'Frost warning' beep scared the hell outta me as I was driving back from the garage in Manchester the day I bought it. Wouldn't have been so bad but for the fact that I didn't know the roads round there, and I wasn't comfortable with the car either! :?

Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 9:07 pm
by GaryUK
That's another warning beep to look forward to then!

As if I need to be told when it's frosty, I'm gonna ask my dealer disable them!

Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 9:17 pm
by sylonien
GaryUK wrote:That low petrol warning beep scared the crap out of me when it first came on! I thought I had engine trouble or something!

It's very patronising to be honest and I'm sure it's just there for dead heads and old grannies.

Anyone know how to turn the damn thing off?

.
How about filling the tank up!? :P

Shocked me too a little with that loud beep to be honest, like everytime! Had it like 3 or 4 times now since I've had the car.

Tell you what, last night, with the Low Fuel light on, I had to drive around town to find a petrol station which was still open at 1AM in the moring. That was scary! Not knowing when it will run out.

Then had to drive to another nearby town (Bristol) to fill it witha fiver. That was an experience. :D

Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 9:37 pm
by GaryUK
Has only happened once to me and that was enough,

I normally make sure I have plenty in the tank, optimax of course!

Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 12:19 am
by sylonien
Can't afford it. I jus use Sainbury's.... :(

Are they better? And according to the manual, when it lights up there's still about 7litres left in the tank I believe.

Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2004 8:48 am
by carmadaaron
7litres but depends how u drive.

its 1/8 on the gauge but isnt really 7litres tho :?

Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2004 4:26 pm
by sylonien
Personal experience or what?! Well I just quoted from the manual. :P

Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2004 11:12 pm
by M7
my petrol consumption is going down lately for some reason and i dont drive as 'heavy footed'

the past few tanks i have only got 260miles from a tank which cost about £32 to fill!!! i usually work on 100mile to £10. alot of this has been motorway driving.

i find sometimes when i drive the car a little harder, ie. not high revs, but accelerate harder i seem to get better consumption??

it baffels me anyway! :roll:

Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2004 10:36 am
by carmadaaron
what engine have u got?

im getting just under 30MPG all the time, but i only drive into town which is about 8miles and none motorway drivin.

i thot motorways mean higher MPG too.

Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2004 1:53 pm
by M7
iv got the 1200 65bhp model. it used 2 be great milage. once i got 330 on motorways only. then i went to york the other week and nearly used a full tank (from newcastle)
just for some reason consuption has gone down from a full tank lately

Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2004 1:58 pm
by algenon_iii
U using different petrol to what you were before? I've noticed that with certain brands you get about 30miles less out of a tank for the same journey.