My petrol car is so expensive

Misteek

Hi guys i have a 1.6 petrol car golf 08 plate. ... it just drinks fuel like no other car ive had in the past..

Ive ahd the car for 3 years snd never had it serviced. Could tjis be the cause? But even then it was very expenive to run. 

Does  anyone know what the reason is? Or any suggestions?

Grumpy_chap

What mpg do you get from the car now?
What mpg did it do when you first purchased it?
Cars need a bit of love and attention - they do not like to be neglected.

Herzlos

A service certainly wouldn't hurt, it'll have to work harder to deal with clogged filters and gloopy oil.
What kind of driving are you doing?

Ian1961

What's your style of driving, does it change between Winter and Summer, how far do you travel each day/week/month? Various things can cause a loss or increase in fuel.

Stubod

Misteek said:

Ive ahd the car for 3 years snd never had it serviced.....

..I understand that Golfs are very good cars and therefore should never need servicing.....?

macman

After 3 years without a change, if the oil now has the consistency of treacle, then it's hardly going to assist your fuel consumption, is it?

couriervanman

Misteek said:

Hi guys i have a 1.6 petrol car golf 08 plate. ... it just drinks fuel like no other car ive had in the past..

Ive ahd the car for 3 years snd never had it serviced. Could tjis be the cause? But even then it was very expenive to run. 

Does  anyone know what the reason is? Or any suggestions?

macman said:

After 3 years without a change, if the oil now has the consistency of treacle, then it's hardly going to assist your fuel consumption, is it?

Could be way longer than 3 years if previous owner skipped a couple of services......even just an oil and filter change would make a big difference

Goudy

There could be a whole host of reasons why it's heavy on fuel even without considering a fault somewhere.
Generally, this time of year cars tend to use more fuel due to the low temps, using more electrical items like heated screens, seats, having the lights on all the time. The power to run all these has to be generated by the engine and that uses fuel.

It's worth remembering that engine in the Golf wasn't the most efficent to start with.

It would be interesting to know what mpg you are actually getting and over what sort of trips.
Lots of cold starts and short, stop start trips can seriously effect mpg, mine almost havles it's mpg between commuting to work and longer motorway trips.

Your lack of proper servicing isn't going to help, but there are obviously other mechanical problems that can cause mpg issues.
Things like the brakes binding, problems with the fueling system, like a duff O2 sensor will cause the car to run a rich "safe" mode. An air intake or exhaust leak can fool the car into running rich as well as can a faulty airflow meter.

Also some model Golfs suffered a problem with the stepped motors in the throttle body that control the idle, this can cause it's fueling to screw up similar to an intake leak.

Your best bet is to do a tank to tank calculation of mpg and record your trip lengths.
Fill right up and record the mileage, run it a while (at least half a tank) and fill up again taking note of how much fuel it took to fill it back up and the current mileage. This will give you how much fuel it used and the miles you got out of it.
If you now average out your trip lengths, you'll get a good idea of what it's doing fuel wise.

Another rough test is to start the car and after 5 or 6 minutes sniff the exhaust, I don't mean getting on your hands and knees and getting a lung full, but stand around the back of the car for a sniff of the air as it idles. 
If it smells of petrol or rich and heavy with a rough idle this tends to point to a fueling issue somewhere.

macman

Could just be something as mundane as the OP doing shorter, less fuel-efficient journeys during lockdown? Given the complete lack of detail provided, all anyone can do is speculate.

facade

Is there any oil in it? A petrol VW will burn the entire contents of the sump in 3-5000 miles, depending on model, if it isn't topped up.

If the emissions pass at MOT there can't be much wrong with the fuelling, and you need to look at things like tyre pressures and dragging brakes (again brakes would be spotted at the MOT)

Stubod

...if the car has not been serviced for 3+ years then the tyres are probably flat and that will have an impact of reducing mpg....particularly combined with sooted up plugs, a clogged air filter, binding brakes and no oil in the sump.....