I'm doing a contract job at the moment which requires me to do up to 500 miles per week. My 16V MK2 has been a brilliantly reliable car but it seems a shame to pile the miles onto it (it's at 110,000 at the moment) and a 100 mile round trip costs very roughly ten quid (I think) so I'm sure a little Polo or something would give me better economy. Am I right? Would a little 1.3 Polo be much cheaper to run? What kind of economy would you expect from a 1.3 Golf or Polo? The MFA in my 16V usually indicates between 30 and 33 mpg which sounds about right going by my dodgy mental arithmetic. So maybe my 16V is pretty good anyway. Thanks, Trev
My girlfriend used to have a polo coupe 1.3 and the fuel economy wasn't actually that great. Maybe thats because i used to rag the sht out of it Have you thought about going derv? Oh, and my valver has also done 110k
me mate bought a 1L polo 100 tax and tested 6 months i drove it to bham from cardiff fine he sold it for 37.50p
Same here monza Ive got a 1 litre and i only get about 33 mpg out of but you do have to rag the titties off it.
A Diesel astra estate about M reg. Probably get 150-200 miles on that same tenner? And would be more comfy long distance then a polo, have lots of.. well space. However you wont find many for 100.
the GT i have seems to be great how ever big the tank is saw me well over 300 miles and thats with some motorway driving and general hacking about the country lanes enjoying some speed and thats for sale too
So anyway, is it true that diesel is still economical? I've heard people argue that these days a little petrol Polo is going to be better due to the increasing cost of diesel. But is diesel still much cheaper to run? And are there any other good diesels to consider besides the Astra estate?
I borrowed a mates pug 205 1.8 diesel for about a fortnight, using it everyday when the mk2 was getting painted. I don't think I filled it up once Not a bad little car iirc.
Petrol polo worse MPG than 8v Mk2 in my experience. For economy you have to go derv, its the way forward, new VAG Tdis are terrific, give a standard 16v Mk2 a spanking yet get 50mpg while doing it.
Have to say my mk2 1.3 carb is ok, depending on how you drive it and at what speeds. Mine being a 4-speed model, around town its ok and can serve a good mpg at speeds below 50mph. However under heavy gas, which it needs due to being underpowered and motorway runs at more than 80mph, it'll drink fuel. If you cruise daily at 60-70mph then the 1.3 carbs are fine as long as you don't give it too much right foot abuse. When I did motorway driving at now more than 75mph, I managed to return around 45mpg which wasn't too bad, but that was constant driving with no need to accelerate. However in normal 'A' road driving conditions, i usually get around 30mpg However the golf being heavier, i assume the polo will return much better mpg as most of my gas drinking comes from accelerating the golf upto speed. Edited by: G-Man
If you are doing 500 miles a week, I would think a slightly bigger but nasty diesel such as an Astra or Escort etc, would be preferable to some tiny engined Polo etc, as it'd be a less stressful drive.
I agree with MrBen. A simple 100 mile drive for me in my 1.3 golf gets a bit tiring after a while, i had to stop to take a break. The engine revs get a little noisey at motorway speeds, esp with a 4-speed box and crap interior insulation. How about the best of both worlds-a mk2 Golf GTD?
My 1.6 MK2 driver used to get 37mpg on average, got it up to 49.5 doing 40mph in 'E' Used to get 250+ miles out of 20 regularly! But be prepared to put the work in to fix the carb, or take it round to me and I'll do it for you
