Audi A2 1.2 TDI 2001

[hege]

Greetings from Finland.

I've been lurking here for some time. My previous car was a Scoda octavia combi with 1.9TDI engine. It ran quite well and during the ~30 000 miles (45 000 km) I drove last year i got 51.5 mpg (4,57L/100km). The only mods were upper grill block and tire pressure set to over 45 PSI (3 bar)

The Scodillac can be found in the ecomodder garage where I occasionally recorded best tanks in the fuel log. Details: Scodillac - 2000 Skoda Octavia Combi Fuel Economy - EcoModder.com

I wanted to further decrease my driving costs, so a couple weeks ago I got a new car. It's a black Audi A2 1.2TDI. It's the early 3L model as the average consumption is listed as 72.5 mpg (3.2L/100km). Best trip this far is 81.4 mpg (2.89L/100km). My aim is to lower my fuel costs to half of what they were with my previous car.


Picture of how the car looked like when I got it.

I would love to get it to constantly go above 112 mpg (2.1L/100km), so I would have enough range to only do one fill-up every week.

Current ecomodifications:
Tire pressure raised to 45psi+
Lower grille blocked

List of repairs needing to be done:
Check wheel alignment
Check bearing and brake drag
Getting the automatic transmission sorted out

Future modifications:
Engine block heater
Scangauge or other tool to more accurately monitor temperature and consumption
Minimizing the front air intakes
Maybe engine tuning
145/80R14 tires (currently 175/65R14)
Tire deflectors and boat-tails behind tires
Rear wheel skirts
Flat underbody
box section the rear
filling the front wheel arch gap

[hege]

Vekke from Tuneko came by today and made a lower grill block to the audi. Today I'll be going on another long trip. Hopefully the consumption will be lower.

Just got a message from the local audi dealer that the 3L wheel covers have arrived.



I need to add a hole to the grill block for the outside temperature sensor. Now it blocks the airflow so the temperature reading is not accurate.

[Daox]

Welcome to the site Hege! Many here will be jealous of your car.

We'd love to see pictures. I increased your post count so you can post images right away.

[mcrews]

welcome!!!!
have you raised the psi in the tires?
try 40+

[hege]

Thanks Daox!

I have 45 psi pressure. It is good and comfortable. The interior noise didn't raise because of the raise. I'm going to raise a bit more. I have the standard bridgestone tires that are 175 wide, and they seem to have a very soft sidewall. With my previous car the ride was not comfortable with 40 psi with continental tires.

The front grille block helped, but I can't tell how much difference it made. I will have to see what the fuel consumption will be at the next fuel up, but I guess 81 mpg will be close to the figure.

[cptsideways]

Welcome to the forum

I'm a Lupo 3L owner which I bought instead an A2 3L (I could'nt find one in the UK) I know my way round these now so any questions fire away.

[nick666]

How did you drive it to get 2.89 L/100km ?

[hege]

Thanks cptsideways for making me feel welcome. I have many questions about the car, and it has been driven 170 000 miles so it isn't new and there are many parts that have to be repaired and I will need lots of help.


nick666: It was highway driving. It was pretty hilly terrain so I didn't have the patience to follow the slow big trucks. I just tried to keep the fuel consumption under 3.1 according to the fuel consumption display.

I drive normally. No engine off coasting or anything special. The audi has start-stop automatics as stock and when you lift the throttle the car freewheels with the engine idling.

I wont say that the 2.89L/100km value is absolute accurate. It isn't easy for me to get the value 100% right, so you should take the fuel consumption values I post with a pinch of salt. I've tried to get the odometer value accurate by comparing it to GPS and I try to fill the tank as good and accurate as I can.

The fuel consumption is pretty much a function compared to speed. Below is attached a graph that was made by a magazine in 2001.



I don't have the smooth wheel covers, so my consumption is probably a bit higher. With 81mpg (2.9L/100km) consumption the average speed is according to the graph somewhere around 55mph (90km/h).

[hege]

I refueled after this weekend. 81.4 mpg (2.88L/100km) average.



Picture of the 3L model wheel covers. You can also see the holes on the grille block, now the outside temperature sensor shows more correct values.

[hege]

It seems like the car hasn't been well maintained. A couple weeks ago the audi did not start for a week because the gear box needed a "basic settings" done. The gear box needs to be calibrated every ~20 000 miles to take into account clutch wear and to check if the gear box is in good condition. Eventually the car won't start if you don't do it.

Oil consumption has also been high, 1 quart every 700 miles. It also did not pass the yearly inspection because the tie rod ends were too worn. I'll first have to change the rod ends, and then I'll start looking where the oil is going. The engine looks wet, so it's probably leaking the oil. This far it hasn't been very easy, but I hope I'll quickly get familiar with the car.

Last saturday I had the time to go through the garage entry for my car, and updated all fuel logs. This far my average fuel consumption has been 68.5 MPG (3.4 l/100km). It is a bit too high, and I think lack of measuring fuel consumption for each trip I make is the cause.

I have started to reset the fuel consumption gauge before each trip so I can have better control of fuel economy goals and can adjust my driving more quickly. My goal at this point is to get close to 78.5 MPG (3.0 L/100 km).