7th Jan 2004, 08:02
I've got the same model 2003 Polo 1.9 TDI PD, it's done about 4,000 miles and drives great, but my fuel economy never gets up to 50mpg, even when I drive it really carefully. You say you get 55+ mpg when you drive it hard and 60+ driven carefully - after how many miles did it get this high? Can anyone else back up these figures? At the moment Volkswagen are refusing to look into it, saying I shouldn't expect anything higher than mid 40's.
Many thanks.
7th Jun 2004, 12:19
Just bought a Polo 1.9 TDI sport, already when I'm driving it carefully it normally (with a bit of harsh acceleration when I want to put a smile on my face!) it will easily do 52 MPG. When I am being very careful I average about 63 MPG, but pull away too harsh or get caught up in traffic and that will plunge back down to the mid 50's. I have found that by not using the throttle when cruising, the engine will use hardly any fuel than compared to putting the clutch in and going in to neutral. Modern diesels are very good at this, so when your going down a steep hill, don't coast the car, just take your foot of the accelerator and watch your MPG increase. Anyways you have to make a trade off with these kind of things, its almost a "hot" diesel so if you do let the engine go above 3000 RPM you will drink fuel quite heavily. Hope this helps!
14th Apr 2006, 14:35
If VW somehow manage to fix your heater problem could you post back on here what the fix was?!
I've got a late 2002 petrol model that's doing exactly the same thing, though fortunately not too often at the moment...
Cheers.
18th Jul 2003, 10:20
I doubt if the throttle is electronically controlled as such. There will be a brake sensor that limits the fuel intake when the brake pedal is operated - this sensor may be at fault, or more likely a bad electrical connection.
As for rattles, break problems etc this is all to common with recent VWs - they did make good cars in the past. I got rid of my 3 year old Golf before the warranty expired. Sorry to hear that the new Polo is no better.