I tried searching this , but came up with more 1.8vs.2.8 performance. I'm shopping A4's and will be using the car primarily for commuting, which one gets the best MPG, is it really close, it's only off by a mile or 2, giving the nod to the 1.8, in Edmunds etc. but I'm wondreing abt. real world figures, even better, if anyone on here has owned both. Also, so as not to start another thread, can anyone tell me what a speed sensor is, I found a car at a good price, but it needs a speed sensor, what is it, is it expensive, easy to change?

 

I don't know about the speed sensor (maybe a wheel speed sensor which you can probably search for and I think would be reasonably easy and relatively inexpensive to replace), but the consensus seems to be that the 2.8 will have a combined mpg in the low 20s and the 1.8T's combined figure will be in the mid to upper 20s. Both get over 30 on the highway. Neither is especially economic.

 

Ive checked out fueleconomy.gov andI would say that for a 4-door sedan both engines get good mpg. If youre a do it yourself mechanic it i would imagine it would be easier to work on the smaller engine if you ever need to do a repair. Also the 1.8T gets around 2 more mpg city and 5 mpg highway.

 

Haaaa my V6 gets horrible city MPG.However Highway its a completly different story.

I drive to baltimore everyweekend coming from phila. I hop on 95 and just cruise my gas barley moves, then i go to 695 same thing, 695 drops me off in baltimore i will go from a 3/4 to 1/2.

 

My 1.8T gets below avg. mileage. If you want a slightly quicker car without modding and will be a freeway commuter, get the 2.8. BUT, if you have quite a bit of city driving in your commute, and don't really care about being quite as fast as most cars, get the 1.8T. You'll get an average of 3 MPG city/highway better than the 2.8. (I left out modding the 1.8T because it doesn't seem like you're interested in THAT as much as MPG.) I have no clue how to get 30 MPG highway on my 1.8T. If someone know what speed/RPM in 5th gear gets the highest MPG let me know!

 

I think 55 mph is the most economical, but even I get 30+ going around 70 mph, so you may want to look into seafoaming, check your tire pressure, fuel filter, spark plugs, etc.

 

i get about 25 highway and 20 in city my car needs to be tunes really bad tho and i ahvea few leaks here and there so its a little below that to be honest ( those are the numbers from when i first got it with bad spark plugs ect)

 

The speed at which I get the best fuel mileage is at 65 mph, without getting run over by other cars and trucks. I have a www.scangauge.com hooked up and it shows me getting anywhere from 20MPG to 50MPG depending on how my right foot behaves. Generally, the lighter the RF the more MPG. Also, when going uphill it's more economic to allow the car to slow down a bit rather than maintaing full speed ahead. And going downhill you can accelerate while using less fuel (momentum really helps).

All in all, with 17" wheels and Quattro and chipped I get 26-27 MPG average. That's about 380 miles per tank.

 

haha, the 2.8 is much easier to work on than the 1.8T- and more reliable. Combined driving I get 325 miles a tank on 91.

 

I've mostly read that the 1.8T is the easier of the two to work on if for no other reason than that there's more room to work.