[hayleyfreeman]

Wonder whether anyone else has the same problem as me.I brought my high Up end of September last year, so have only had the care arounf four months.
I have noticed that the petrol gauge drops quite dramatically, even if I do a 5 mile journey.
I have also done a journey to Milton Keynes - which is all motorway and around an 80 mile round trip - and it used half tank of petrol.
I know the tank is small on these cars and i can roughly get 250 - 280 miles out of a tan.
Does anyone else have this problem? i just can't believe that even on my 5 mile journey to work it drops down one bar.
I have taken it to thegarageto be looked at but they could not find a problem and could find no petrol leaks and have jut told me to monitor it.
Other then this problem, I love my new car and love all the little extras that comes with it, especially the seat heaters in this cold weather!
Thanks

 

[Finnster]

I can get around 320 miles on a tank when pootling around in the rush hour, with motorways/long journeys I can get way over 400. Half a tank for 80 motorway miles is very excessive unless you traveled the entire distance in first gear!!!

 

[Davec86]

Short journeys are terrible on the fuel consumption. I travel roughly the same to work, most days, and it kills m MPGs. On longer runs, I get much better, with up to 60mpg per M&M readout over say, 60/80miles.
You shouldn't use half a tank over 80miles. No way.
I drive fairly carefully, but not stupidly slow. And sometimes I just need to get places, and my average, calculated brim to brim, so far has been about 47mpg.
At what point do you change gear? If you change late or have a heavy right foot your consumption is bound to be high. Sorry if I'm stating the obvious!

 

[Allybasher]

One thing on the Up is the way the petrol gauge responds. It seems to stay on full for the first 70 miles or so and then drop like a stone with about 70 miles for each quarter. This means that if you don't brim it, it seems much less economical than it actually is. I find that even if I really hammer it, I get 350 miles to a tank, which is about 45mpg

 

[yapmaul]

Which half of the tank? That's the question. From 'half full' to the fill up warning is less than 100 miles and probably only about a third of a tank. From full to half usually two hundred or more. It's one of the most irritating things about the car. Why can't VW make a reasonably accurate fuel gauge when the car is full of cutting edge tech? Who knows?

 

[Milos]

I don't say that there is no problem with your car, but first you have to find out your car's accurate fuel consumption. The only way to do that is that you fill your tank full, drive for a, 100 miles for example, and then fill the tank again. Then you know how much fuel have you needed for 100 miles, and easily get your mpg or l/100km. Board computer (m&m), or fuel gauge are not accurate enough. Anyway, try this first, and then let us know what results you've got.(sorry for my bad english)


Edited by: Milos

 

[Davec86]

(sorry for my bad english)

You shouldn't ever feel the need to apologise about that!
Sound advice, should give a good starting point that.

 

[AlanG]

Just filled up my move up 60 and I had done 307 miles on the previous tank in diabolical cold snowy conditions so I would hope that's the least miles I get on one tankful this year. In addition, my journey is only about 4 miles so I'm doing virtually all my driving with a cold engine. Rather than be concerned about your fuel dial, do a brim to brim test but ignore m&m as it's stupidly optimistic by most accounts. My short cold engine journeys usually give me 46mpg though the last tankful in the snowy conditions gave me 43mpg. I should add that I'm not a slave to the gear change indicator either - I usually change into 5th at around 50mph which is much later than the indicator suggests.Edited by: AlanG

 

[Rednaxela]

Which half of the tank? That's the question. From 'half full' to the fill up warning is less than 100 miles and probably only about a third of a tank. From full to half usually two hundred or more. It's one of the most irritating things about the car. Why can't VW make a reasonably accurate fuel gauge when the car is full of cutting edge tech? Who knows?

I agree with you 100%. The gauge is shocking.
They may have well got rid of it like they did the temperature gauge, for all the use it is.



Perhaps someone will produce an aftermarket overlay that can be stuck over the top to showthe real profile.

 

[Upmeister]

The fuel gauge on the up is typical of most cars I have owned - staying on full for a long time and dropping like a stone past half full. Overall though I would say it is pretty accurate when it matters most - when you need to fill-up. I regularly get more than 34 litres of fuel in it when I fill up - at which point both the gauge and M&M indicate the car is all but empty i.e. about 10 miles range on M&M.

 

[gordoac]

I agree with all members who have recommendedcalculating the mileage bybrimming the tank. Slightly anally, I have recorded every tankful of petrol since buying our up! in September and my mileage has varied between 45.60 and 52.08mpg. The most I have filled up with was 34.17 litres, when the gauge told me I had enough petrol for 15 miles. I don't have to use the car in heavy traffic and do a fair amount on motorways at 70 ish.

Hope that helps, I also agree with those who have said the petrol gauge does not move until a fair number of miles have been covered since filling up, but it's something one quickly gets used to.

 

[windyup]

What speed are you doing on the motorway? If it is above 80mph the poor little engine is having to work quite hard to overcome the aerodynamic drag and the revs are up a bit too.
I generally stick to 75mph and you get over 50mpg without making too much of a dent on the fuel bill and still get to get to your destination in reasonable time. My journey to work 1/2 motorway and 1/2 A/B roads is returning 60mpg average on the trip. I've not checked the fill volumes to see how accurate the trip is yet.
I think the car could do with a 6 speed box if I'm being a little critical of it.

On the other hand I have a brand new Corsa 1.4 petrol which has a dire economy of 36mpg averageat the moment for the same journey & same speeds. Just goes to show how the little Up is so far ahead of the competition. Great car!!!!

Edited by: windyup

 

[Beevee]

I agree with windyup the Up! is a great car in my opinion. I can't help thinking that a good deal of the adverse comments relating to the Up! are linked to the way it is driven. I am pleased to report I have not felt any need to modify my Up! or have any intentions to!!

 

[yapmaul]

The fuel gauge on the up is typical of most cars I have owned - staying on full for a long time and dropping like a stone past half full. Overall though I would say it is pretty accurate when it matters most - when you need to fill-up. I regularly get more than 34 litres of fuel in it when I fill up - at which point both the gauge and M&M indicate the car is all but empty i.e. about 10 miles range on M&M.

Guess I must have been lucky with my own previous cars. they all made far more sense than the up, great car though it is. And I agree that the gauge does give a reliable indication of when you need to fill up (though on all my other cars you could do another 40 miles once the needle hit the red, and I wouldn't advise trying that with the Up!). But why design a dial that says 1/2 and 1/4 and 3/4 when all it's telling you is how far round the dial the needle has gone so far, and not how much fuel is in the tank? The 1/2 label should actually be about where 3/4 is.

@rednaxela Great idea about the overlay! Might have to have a play with photoshop.

The Polo I had as a courtesy car was no better though. When the gauge hit the red the computer told me I had 60 miles of fuel left. Drove a mile and it went down to 55. Another mile and it was 50. Three miles later I only had 30 miles in the tank. At that point I realised how glad I was I didn't have a trip computer or an m&m in my up.

Edited by: yapmaul

 

[Rickenbacker]

Just done another brim to brim, mpg 51, I'm thinking I'm happy with that but then remembered back in the 90's I don't mind admitting I had a Nissan Micra 1.3, it was quick, reliable and averaged about 46 mpg not too far behind the 1.0 3 pot UP

 

[Allybasher]

Even though the Up is light for a modern car, it's probably a hundred kg more than the Micra. Weight is the enemy of economy.

 

[stratcast]

If you google how most fuel gauges work, you will find out that this is the worst possible way of determining how much fuel the car uses. Especially from a full tank.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-gauge.htm
"This mechanism is one reason for the inaccuracy of fuel gauges. You may have noticed how your gauge tends to stay on full for quite a while after filling up. When your tank is full, the float is at its maximum raised position -- its upward movement is limited either by the rod it's connected to or by the top of the tank. This means that the float is submerged, and it won't start to sink until the fuel level drops to almost the bottom of the float. The needle on the gauge won't start to move until the float starts to sink.Something similar can happen when the float nears the bottom of the tank. Often, the range of motion does not extend to the very bottom, so the float can reach the bottom of its travel while there is still fuel in the tank. This is why, on most cars, the needle goes below empty and eventually stops moving while there is still gas left in the tank."

At first it will show full for a loooong time (and I always fool myself that the up! is super economical even when driven hard), before it (the float in the tank) starts dropping.When it starts to drop it will drop much faster than if it would drop from the time you filled it.

I support the method of brimming the tank and calculating it manually to get 100% accurate measurements.

But personally I don't care about the fuel consumption, as one of the reasons I bough the up! is that it can be driven with a full roof box and a lot of luggage, and it will still use a lot less fuel than larger cars. My T5 bus usedapprox. 2-3 times more fuel.






Edited by: stratcast