2015 Audi S3 - sedan

[gsaltan]

Hi everyone,

I have had my 2015 Audi S3 (sedan) for only 2000 km. Typically, my commute is about 7-8 km one way, so I fill up about once a month. I am driving this car at the most economical way - acceleration and deceleration all smooth - no hard brakes. I am driving this monster like a grandma (it is a shame). Yet my average consumption is 12.6 lt/100 km. This is way above the rated fuel consumption for all city driving. Yet a good portion of my drive is on the highway and the city I live in is small, hence no traffic jams, etc.

I don't know what your experience is, but I find it very very high and I am confident this car cannot be driven any more cautiously than I do. Is this something that can change? Car shows very high consumption, upwards of 20 lt/100 km, during small gears. It starts to get reasonable at the 5th and 6th gear. One time I managed to get 11.4 lt/100km out of a tank, and it was 50-60% highway driving.

I would appreciate any comments.

[SteveMak]

Hi gsaltan! A big part of your problem is that you take short trips. That's significant because when you first start an internal combustion engine or diesel, it's a fuel hog for the first several minutes of operation, even if you drive super gently. This happens to help a cold engine come up to regular operating temperature. Once it warms up, it becomes considerably more fuel efficient.

With your pattern of driving -- many short trips -- your engine spends much of its time in the "fuel hog" mode as it comes up to regular operating temps from a cold start. There's very little you can do about that.

If you're inclined to do a little experiment, next time you fill you car with fuel, (a) note your odometer, (2) go for a 3 hour drive, (4) fill up and note how much fuel you took on as well as your odometer, (5) do the math to determine your actual fuel economy. (BTW, Fuelly does a great job at all this.) I believe you'll be pleasantly surprised to see you gas hog suddenly becomes much more reasonable.