just2zang 0 Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 I use Shell Optimax, but have noticed that it seems to be more uneconomical than other fuel. For instance two weeks ago, cruising I was getting 28 mpg on normal unleaded. and it was going down to 23 with very hard driving. Now I have had optimax for 3 tanks, my economy gets as low as 14mpg!! The engine is sounding throatier and healthier tho and I seemed to have gained 2lb throughout the rev range. You guys say that your getting 23-26 mpg on average with this fuel thats very good.. perhaps I have a problem as I only got 167miles out of last tank.Has anyone else noticed their economy change this way with different fuels?[ chris_vr6.jpg ] Link to post Share on other sites
nickbee 1 Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 Yeah, I used Super Unleaded for a while, but I didn't notice much (if any) difference in performance. All I noticed was that not only was the fuel more expensive, but I was using more of it. I use the ordinary stuff now.A lot of people swear by Optimax, but there are no Shell garages with about 20 miles of me so I haven't used it ehough to tell! Link to post Share on other sites
amit 0 Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 man my car sucks on petrol. I have never seen more than 24 MPG. I dont know if autos suck more petrol but mine seems to swallow 20 quids worth of fuel quick time. I usually get around 15-19MPG, and if i drive like a granny, i might be lucky and get 24MPG. For example i could go from Heathrow to camberley andb back and just that will swallow approx £10 worth of petrol. I was thinking of getting a ecotek valve, as i had on my previous motor and worked excellent.[ Edited Thu Feb 05 2004, 11:17AM ][ Edited Thu Feb 05 2004, 11:18AM ] Link to post Share on other sites
nickbee 1 Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 Yes, all autos use more petrol. Link to post Share on other sites
amit 0 Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 yeah a mate of mine did mention that to me, but i thought autos always drove in the most economical gears. Link to post Share on other sites
ukdub 0 Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 i allways use optimax as the shell garage is only 2 mins away aveage day to day driving is about 26 to the gallon . on a run on the motorway i get 32-34 at a steady 80 Link to post Share on other sites
simey 0 Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 I get approx 25mpg from auto VR which is good as sc, cams VSR etc.Amit, with the auto box keep the revs up and don't labour the engine otherwise it would drink Guiness quicker than my mate North!N.B. When driven flat out, 10mpg Link to post Share on other sites
just2zang 0 Posted February 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 I'm not known to take it easy, but 14 mpg, is taking the glorified biscuit! Just been nursing it german and swedish, still showing 16mpg. Apparently when im caining it i've been getting better mpg. Something very wrong.. The last guy drove it like a puss, it had fvwsh, 70,000 miles, all receits and mots, the alloys dont even have a scratch. BUT he was a plasterer so the engine bay has picked up loads of dust and its due its service.. The filters must be proper fcukt. hopefully service should see full potetial Link to post Share on other sites
VR6Pete 1,455 Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 i hope my service does! average between 18MPG and 24MPG.... although i always use ultima in mine! optimax sucks Link to post Share on other sites
tommy 0 Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 I use Shell Optimax' date=' but have noticed that it seems to be more uneconomical than other fuel. For instance two weeks ago, cruising I was getting 28 mpg on normal unleaded. and it was going down to 23 with very hard driving. Now I have had optimax for 3 tanks, my economy gets as low as 14mpg!! The engine is sounding throatier and healthier tho and I seemed to have gained 2lb throughout the rev range. You guys say that your getting 23-26 mpg on average with this fuel thats very good.. perhaps I have a problem as I only got 167miles out of last tank.Has anyone else noticed their economy change this way with different fuels?[img']vr6oc_files/public/chris_vr6.jpg [ chris_vr6.jpg ]I only use optimax in my vr....will get down to my gf house (140 miles) on under half a tank travelling between 85-100....I get 225miles out of a tank and never run the car into the red so it cost about 30ish quid to fill up...the bottom line is economy and a 2.8 will never go together Link to post Share on other sites
just2zang 0 Posted February 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 economy? hehe.. I dont expect economy, but that don't mean 14mpg isnt something to worry about!! especially since some of u are getting 50% better economy than me.if your going slowly, i.e. max 2K revs in every gear, in 5th @ 40 mph, the car reported max of 20mpg. u telling me this is normal behaviour if your not stuck in heavy traffic?? :? Link to post Share on other sites
simey 0 Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 just2zang, if your getting 14mpg something must be seriously wrong &| before the car was modded it was approx 32-33mpg. Link to post Share on other sites
amit 0 Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 funny you should say that simey, its actually true mate, ive noticed if i keep the revs up, then fuel doesnt go as quick as it normally does. I always thought keeping the revs low increases fuel consumption. Link to post Share on other sites
patrick green 0 Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 Re Amit's point about the Ecotek, I also had one on my previous car & it did cut fuel consumption as I was getting 35-40 mpg during motorway driving at speeds of 70-110mph. One thing tho, I had backfires,missing then awful idling with the engne sounding like the exhaust manifold was shot. Then the brakes started to go so when I removed the Ecotek filter the top had unscrewed itself! Thats why the engine sounded so rough & why the brakes were crap coz it was in the brake-servo hose. So Ecotek users b warned! Link to post Share on other sites
amit 0 Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 F**k me (not literally!), that is bad news. do the vr's require one or two ecoteks' Link to post Share on other sites
ukdub 0 Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 vr6pete why do you say optimax sucks Link to post Share on other sites
mina 0 Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 My car will do 250 to a full tank on a motorway run if I take it easy - that's 80mph all the way.If I give it some then, I reckon I get around 10-14mpg. But that's only because my car runs green injectors. Link to post Share on other sites
Dr.Pepper 0 Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 I did a thousand miles or so on normal unleaded and then a thousand or so on optimax. Costs more for the optimax obviously, but the actual mpg was near enough the same. Link to post Share on other sites
just2zang 0 Posted February 6, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2004 here's something really interesting i noticed.. I changed to program or user setting 2 on the wiper stick and mpg went right up!! changed back to 1 and now mpg's back i the 20-26!! Very strange as I know i did 165 miles on last tank, ive now done over 70 and ive got 5/8 of fuel left in tank. Does anyone know if its better to unplug ecu for it to properly adjust itself to new fuel? Link to post Share on other sites
nickbee 1 Posted February 6, 2004 Report Share Posted February 6, 2004 What do you mean you changed the setting? One position shows data from your last journey (it resets itself after the car's been off for 2-3 hours). The other shows data since you last re-set it. So you'd expect the two to be very different! Link to post Share on other sites
patrick green 0 Posted February 6, 2004 Report Share Posted February 6, 2004 As Nick says the 2nd setting on the MFA gives an average of all figures since the last time it was re-set so this will be v.different from the 1st setting which only shows the last trip you made in the car. I use the 2nd setting for each week to get an overall picture of milage, fuel consumption etc.About the Ecotek you are supposed to use 2 of them coz of the size of a VR's engine but really one is enough as this does 90% of the job so the extra outlay isn't worth it. Link to post Share on other sites
DundeeDub 0 Posted February 6, 2004 Report Share Posted February 6, 2004 I must have a special car then, usually around town with max journey time of 10-15 mins i'm getting 26 mpg, went for a drive on the motorway and then up into the country and got just over 200 mile on half a tank. Ended up with about 320 miles out of the tank. Max i've ever had was 380 miles but that was nearly all motorway driving.Must be the cold air up here in scotland giving better combustion....lol Link to post Share on other sites
VR6Steve 0 Posted February 6, 2004 Report Share Posted February 6, 2004 My journey to work is not the greatest as far as free flowing traffic is concerned. Its a little over 5 miles and usually get around the 20mpg mark. Done almost 200 motorway miles today, with some slow traffic and got about 31mpg. Link to post Share on other sites
amit 0 Posted February 6, 2004 Report Share Posted February 6, 2004 arrrghhh!!! what the f**k is up with my car then??? Nearly everyone seems to be getting in excess of 20mpg. Life was soooo good when my neighbour used to work for renault. He used to bring home the fuel card everyday and let me fill up the tank for a tenner. Now hes buggered back off to manchester. please come back mate. i miss you. [ Edited Fri Feb 06 2004, 04:43PM ] Link to post Share on other sites
VR6Andy 0 Posted February 6, 2004 Report Share Posted February 6, 2004 I do around 120 miles a week to and from work etc, this uses about half a tank (20 quid in the north). I only use normal unleaded and get on average 25-30 MPG on my trips to work.On the 2nd setting on the wiper stick it shows that over the past 2000 miles the average MPG was 28. I'm happy withthat. it will do around 33 on the m-way although my MK 3 GTI 16v did 40/45 on a long run!!!!!! Link to post Share on other sites
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