Mr Audi (as Alex calls it), my ’96 Audi A4 has returned a fantastic set of figures for me.
Purchased for £1,700, this Audi A4 may be quite cheap and have a high mileage (114,000), but if you look carefully you can find a bargain. This one has a full service history and has been very well looked after.
Frugal Mr Audi
Even for an old, high mileage car it is in great condition and all the toys work. Better still the TDi diesel engine has been well maintained and is still very tight and smokeless.
Even better…. Mr Audi just returned 55mpg to me getting me 771.2 miles from a tank of fuel.
That’s a true 55mpg over a complete tank of fuel – not just the best “one off” trips.
I ran down to the red line and refilled with 63 litres (officially the tank holds 62.5 litres…. I was very close to running out of fuel on my way home!).
This is the true reading! I was still running at this stage (I had just got to the garage!)
Using the iPhone application “Road Trip” I have been tracking all my costs on the Audi to make sure everything is in order, and to ensure I capture anything that might look like it is about to go wrong. A reduction in fuel economy can mean a problem with the car, so that alone is worth keeping an eye on.
Since purchase....
On the above picture from “Road Trip” software, you can see the drop to 47.03mpg during the recent Goodwood circuit outing – which really wrecked my last economy figures!
I decided to pay a little more attention over my latest tank of fuel. I didn’t drive over-slowly, In fact I kept up with most of the faster moving traffic at around 70mph. I drove sensibly by slow acceleration and looking a long way ahead to try and avoid too much braking. I slowed by taking my foot off of the throttle in advance, rather than braking later.
Just this gentle driving was enough to raise my previous best 630 miles from a tank up to this great 771.2 miles. Driving smoother really does make a huge difference – Give it a go.
ROAD TRIP data view
Sometimespace 
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