1.6 hdi very low MPG

[onix45]

Hello,

The C4 in my signature gets around 33-35 MPG on my trip to work and back. I drive about 4 miles to work, and then 4 miles back at the end of the day, so both times the engine is cold and never reaches operating temperature. It is a round 0 Celsius here right now so this consumption does not seem to bad to me. But the problem is, that no matter what i do i can't seem to get over 40 MPG in the city. Even if the engine is warm, and i even drive on the country roads for a bit my mpg is about 43.
So i was wondering what could be the culprit of this? I drive with the flow of traffic, and i don't push the car if i don't have to.
I was wondering if cleaning the EGR would help? If you think i should clean it, would one of those spray cleaners into the intake be sufficient, or do i have to take it off and manually clean it with a brush etc?
I am not getting any faults and the car drives fine and has plenty of power, but i heard that cleaning the EGR might still help. The car has 36000 miles on it.

[GiveMeABreak]

I wouldn't bother with any of that - I think it is more to do with the engine not really getting to temperature before it is stopped - plus idling in any city traffic won't do much for the MPG. If this is the extent of the journey's then I suspect it is not running very efficiently and you are getting the low end of the MPG scale as your norm.

[Bick]

As above ^^^^ that mpg sounds about right with the usage you describe.

[Stickyfinger]

Any HDI is not the car to do 4 miles in cold weather......mpg is lucky to get to that.

I do have to question the need to drive 4 miles ?

[onix45]

Any HDI is not the car to do 4 miles in cold weather......mpg is lucky to get to that.

I do have to question the need to drive 4 miles ?

Its a combination of bad public transportation and laziness.



But what about my regular city mpg with a warm car, lots of driving etc. I cant get over 40-43 mpg, and that's on a good day. Is that normal too?

[Stickyfinger]

As said, lucky you get that in a HDi (or any oiler).

Your coolant may be warm but the guts of the engine and exhaust systems will never get to an economical temperature in a city. Oilers are not designed/effective/efficient for short trips/city driving.

[myglaren]

I get similar results from my 2.0 HDi. Similar driving distances too - I do 4 miles to work, 4 miles back then my son does the same.

[Richard_C]

Cold starts can be frighteningly bad for consumption. My old SAAB (petrol) had an instantaneous mpg readout, I got 33 mpg overall but the first mile on my local country road on a cold winter morning I often saw 13-15 mpg.