Driving the 4.2 efficiently while still having fun

[PetrolDave]

I am sorry, but if you have the slightest worry or concern about MPG, then you have the wrong car.

Foot to the floor, as they say.

+3
When I want to save fuel I drive a different, much smaller engined car, which I do 4 days out of 5 going to work. That means on the 5th day I can drive the RS4 the way it was designed to be driven - like you stole it!

Funny how my colleagues notice within minutes that I'm in a good mood when the RS4 in is the car park

[AndrewRS4Avant]

Sometimes I drive my girlfriends 1.3 Yaris. It's one of these modern day frugal 50MPG petrol cars, needs much revving to overtake and there's even enough time to look round and pull a few funny faces at the missus and make silly noises during the process! In the RS4 that would be suicide.

[sonny]

As a side note, always make sure your air filter is clean, tyres are at the correct pressure and that you are carrying no excess baggage in the boot. Try as well having the climate control set to economy (however your windows may mist up in this weather). Also having windows closed. All these help in fuel economy.

[Ian_C]

I think we all agree that a taller sixth would be handy on the manual, quieten things down slightly when you want to gobble up motorways at 90 and 100. Fifth and sixth are so close - there must be drives where I don't use fifth once (go straight from fourth to sixth)

[AndrewRS4Avant]

I think we all agree that a taller sixth would be handy on the manual, quieten things down slightly when you want to gobble up motorways at 90 and 100. Fifth and sixth are so close - there must be drives where I don't use fifth once (go straight from fourth to sixth)

Definitely, 6th does seem a bit lame.

[adsgreen]

Agree - would be good to have it geared lower. Say 2.5k rpm at 80.
That was the vxr8's party piece - 70 at 1500 rpm!

Iirc myth busters tested air con vs windows and windows open at low speed was more economical.

[Ian_C]

Strangely enough I did a few long distance trips in the summer with the climate off and all four windows down (Bedford - Swindon was the longest - yes I was alone in the car and yes I am very mad) and got surprising mpg despite the fact I was going for it cross country

[PetrolDave]

I think we all agree that a taller sixth would be handy on the manual, quieten things down slightly when you want to gobble up motorways at 90 and 100. Fifth and sixth are so close - there must be drives where I don't use fifth once (go straight from fourth to sixth)

I regularly deliberately miss gears out, shifting from 1st to 3rd to 6th.

6th is good to ridiculously low speeds, it really needs to be geared closer to 35 or even 40mph per 1000rpm to make it a useful gear - but this was an issue with the S4 as well and the RS4 uses the same 'box.

[Ian_C]

Yeah I miss gears, it feels perfectly normal doesn't it! Dave, you probably remember Gizze on Tyresmoke, he sold his red '54' plate B6 S4 Avant almost immediately as he couldn't live with the short sixth manual long distance / fast night driving etc. Doubt he is the only person who has fallen foul of this. Back then four pot diesels were already offering 40 mph in sixth, so it did seem odd the V8 was geared so short

[PetrolDave]

Dave, you probably remember Gizze on Tyresmoke, he sold his red '54' plate B6 S4 Avant almost immediately as he couldn't live with the short sixth manual long distance / fast night driving etc.

When I got my first B6 S4 I kept thinking I was in 4th and not 6th for the first few months.

[Terry1948]

I remember that saabs had a big Knurled nob that you turned and it then freewheeled I think it was a saab 99 and no you did not buy it from the ice cream van. Double d clutching is really for non synchro boxes for matching you engine speed to your road speed and with modern boxes it can cause premature wear on the synchros however it does sound good. My average fuel usage is 21mpg. I have just read that we may be about to enter a mini ice age so get your cars out and warm the world up.

[P_G]

Was there not something written a while ago that in modern engines and particularly FSI that neutral coasting actually used more fuel than in gear deceleration because the engine ECU's matche fuelling and timing to the in gear sensors. If they don't have this they overfuel slightly?

[adsgreen]

I remember that saabs had a big Knurled nob that you turned and it then freewheeled I think it was a saab 99 and no you did not buy it from the ice cream van. Double d clutching is really for non synchro boxes for matching you engine speed to your road speed and with modern boxes it can cause premature wear on the synchros however it does sound good. My average fuel usage is 21mpg. I have just read that we may be about to enter a mini ice age so get your cars out and warm the world up.

Don't think we're talking about true double declutch - agree it wears the box faster than normal shifts.
I think we're saying 'off throttle, on clutch, change gear, blip throttle and release clutch'.
Still using the synchros as intended just reducing the drivetrain and attitude shock when downshifting.

[Jules]

i have never got near those figures,i once tried to get a good mpg as i was early getting to a place,i managed 24mpg,but god it was boring

[adsgreen]

Best mpg I hit was an average of 32 but that was about 20miles of motorway roadworks.