New motor - hoping cordoba tdi doubles mileage?

[syncro_user]

Well, since buying a house out of town, fuel consumption has become a really important issue. With the mk2 Golf the weekend trip to the house was equating to almost half the mortgage payment every month - not good.

So bought this:



So far, so good. Double the mileage for towing a trailer, and an easy 50 mpg on the open road, but can't help feeling there's more to come. Winter tyres aren't helping for sure. Basic 90hp vw tdi engine, cable change gearbox already has the lowest 5th gear I've come across so far (apart from the super-rare t4 transporter syncro 5th). Nice body shape, next mods planned are a duct tape grille block and rear wheel skirts. Already have an engine undertray which should fit this car. Might get rid of the cat and centre box if the rules allow.

Anyone have any experience with these cars? Is a Kamm back worth bothering with?

[RiderofBikes]

Congrats on the new car! must be a total change from a mk2 Golf lol. Just at a glance, notchback? Kamm would sure help especially since it doesn't have to be long to reach the end of the car. Those mirros look huge and not entirely "aero", and your front mud flaps would be decent starting places. PSI increase in the tires.

Those wipers are high, anyway to lower them, or add small deflector.

Wiki has your model car listed a .32 Cd, and 20.99ft^2 CdA.

What are you proposing to all do the the vehicle, mod wise?

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

That's a nice base for an ecomodding project. You could even take many weight-saving ideas from the former Seat Cordoba WRC and Kit Car versions...

[syncro_user]

Cheers! Yes quite different in appearance from the old mk2, but almost identical front suspension/subframe/brakes/transmission. A good car to strip eventually for parts was my thought upon buying it, but it's starting to grow on me. Very smooth to drive, and the smallest diesel for the money.

Mudflaps must go, you're right. Wheels have already been changed for some pirelli p-slots so an almost flat face. Girlfriend uses the car as well so both mirrors will have to stay. Rear seats will come out soon to save a bit of weight. It is a notchback, and a kamm back will be looked into, if I can make it work with the boot lid.

I'm finding the tank quite hard to top off though, seems like from 1st click to gurgling up the pipe can be as much as 4 litres? I read something about an 'expansion tank' in the filling system?

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by syncro_user

Girlfriend uses the car as well so both mirrors will have to stay.

You don't need to do just a rearview mirrors delete, but could look for some more aerodynamic ones.

[drainoil]

Forgive me but when I first saw Cordoba in this post, I automatically thought of this




If they are legal where your at, a convex mirror works great and allows you to altogether remove the opposite outside mirror.

[syncro_user]

I think it may legally be possible to remove the passenger side mirror, but what kind of a saving would I be looking at? If I could find something just a little smaller that would fit on both sides I'd consider it, but anyway I'll keep an eye out for one of those convex mirrors next time I'm in the parts shop, ta.

In the meantime, I've stuck some black duct tape over the upper grill, and hole where the intercooler used to be. Removed the mudguards as they don't seem to guard much mud anyway, and pumped up the tyres to 40psi. Got the mains electric engine block heater, and cabin heater working, which help, but the engine still takes a while to warm up so I think the thermostat is going to get tested/replaced when I do the coolant change later this week. Maybe even do a partial lower grill block too.

Haven't managed to get the engine undertray on, as it needed a little trimming to fit. Hopefully this week it'll get done, as after a very warm autumn the temperature has started to drop off outside at last. Now -13C and snow falling thick and fast!

[drainoil]

You could do the convex to cover the area behind you and the passenger side and mount an interior mirror for the driver side.

I'm curious, do they apply salt to the roads there or just use sand??

[syncro_user]

That's the kind of interior mirror I should be looking for I think. Good one.

I'm pretty sure they use lots of salt, as the Golf has rusted faster here than it did back in England. I think they only use it when the temps are around freezing though, not when it's really cold as it simply wouldn't work. Yesterday evening it dropped suddenly to -24C, real brass monkey weather.

[mcrews]

Originally Posted by drainoil

Forgive me but when I first saw Cordoba in this post, I automatically thought of this

I thought the exact same thing!!!!!
shows our age!!!