Poor fuel economy in Q3 2016?

**Project Quattro** · 01-31-2016 11:49 AM

My girlfriend picked up a 2016 Q3 2.0T Quattro back in November to join my B8.5 A4 in our garage. She replaced her previous car, a 2010 VW Tiguan SEL 4Motion, which shares the entirety of its powertrain and driveline components with the Q3. Since she picked up the car she's been irritated with how often she needs to fill it up, which I initially assumed was due to a smaller fuel tank. Nope; they're the same size. Upsizing from the Tiguan's 17 inch wheels to the 19s on this car could explain 1 mpg or 2, tops, but she's been getting 17.6 mpg with this car vs. the 25.5ish she got with the Tiguan.

Anyone have any insight on this? Is it something Audi can rectify with a software update? She likes the car otherwise but this is a huge annoyance.

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**passingas** · 02-02-2016 01:50 PM

I'm currently looking at ordering Q3. You'll have to let us know if this changes.

**r8ders** · 02-03-2016 02:25 PM

Originally Posted by Project Quattro

My girlfriend picked up a 2016 Q3 2.0T Quattro back in November to join my B8.5 A4 in our garage. She replaced her previous car, a 2010 VW Tiguan SEL 4Motion, which shares the entirety of its powertrain and driveline components with the Q3. Since she picked up the car she's been irritated with how often she needs to fill it up, which I initially assumed was due to a smaller fuel tank. Nope; they're the same size. Upsizing from the Tiguan's 17 inch wheels to the 19s on this car could explain 1 mpg or 2, tops, but she's been getting 17.6 mpg with this car vs. the 25.5ish she got with the Tiguan.

Anyone have any insight on this? Is it something Audi can rectify with a software update? She likes the car otherwise but this is a huge annoyance.

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Is she calculating her mileage on the Q3 by the OBC gauge reading or manually calculating it by dividing the mileage driven by gallons filled?

**Project Quattro** · 02-03-2016 02:52 PM

Originally Posted by r8ders

Is she calculating her mileage on the Q3 by the OBC gauge reading or manually calculating it by dividing the mileage driven by gallons filled?

Computer mostly, but she usually runs the digital speedometer and she noticed the fuel economy first because of how often she needs to fill up now. She's going to do some long calculations for the next few tanks.

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**s4sprint** · 02-13-2016 01:03 PM

My guess is that since she picked it up in November and is located in CT she is experiencing the typical losses due to cold weather. Wait until summer to draw your conclusions. And let us know then. With actual accurate calculations.

**Project Quattro** · 02-13-2016 04:23 PM

That's certainly possible, but a 30% drop seems steep just from winter gas and conditions

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**HowYouDoin** · 02-17-2016 08:30 AM

I've averaged over 24 mpg over 11,000 miles. The Q3 doesn't get stellar mileage to begin with (the 700 pound heavier Q5 gets the same EPA ratings), but if she's doing a lot of city driving in the winter, I can see 17 mpg average.

**str77** · 02-18-2016 09:42 PM

I had the Q3 as a loaner. I was not impressed with consumption in winter ( Quebec, Canada).
With the Q3 I averaged about 22mpg...The big tires 255, XX 19'' are as large as the one on my Q5 255 45 20. So it does not help for sure.

Usually when it's cold you lose about 20-30% in MPG. I think it's normal as I have noticed the same difference in MPG with my car...

**Project Quattro** · 02-19-2016 04:32 AM

Originally Posted by str77

I had the Q3 as a loaner. I was not impressed with consumption in winter ( Quebec, Canada).
With the Q3 I averaged about 22mpg...The big tires 255, XX 19'' are as large as the one on my Q5 255 45 20. So it does not help for sure.

Usually when it's cold you lose about 20-30% in MPG. I think it's normal as I have noticed the same difference in MPG with my car...

That's the hope, and that was my initial thought when she first brought it up. The fact that everyone here corroborates my thinking has been helpful, we're going to ride it out for a bit and see how things get in the spring.

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**str77** · 02-19-2016 04:40 AM

Yes, I would not be worried. I see it when temperature changes here from 5 to 41 F.

**WinterRunner** · 06-09-2016 07:08 AM

My wife has one, has been driving for a little over a year now, the mpg is not quite where I had initially thought either. I attribute it to 2 things: big heavy wheels/tires (255/35/19), last generation transmission (older 6 sp. automatic). It's certainly not bad, and does improve with warmer weather somewhat. I would say we average around 20-21 mpg. I'm also coming from filling up every ~220 miles in my RS4 so.....

**949** · 06-09-2016 08:14 AM

my Q3 has normal to low MPG. I didn't think it would get good MPG, it is an suv after all. now to help with not going to the pump much I have done a small list of things that I am happy to share with you all.

-make sure the tires are fill properly all the time. the tires tend to drop quite a bit even during a weeks time. I have seen mine drop about 3 psi/week a few times.

-a custom tune on the ecu will give it more power but what many didn't know is that it will also give you better gas mileage. its because when we tune maps for the ecu, we will lean it out more from factory. the factory tune is pretty rich most of the time.

-the fuel gauge can be adjusted. I used my vag-com to adjust mine. the stock setting give you a red empty way before your time. i tested this out by leaving it stock and drove past the "0" warning indicator. i did a few times and got past 30 miles every time. each time i never got to the "real empty, stuck on the road" scenario. so i adjusted to the max which give you 30 more miles before it states its empty. this is why i tested for 30 miles only. i believe it can probably do 40+ more miles on stock form but i don't have a spare gallon fuel tank to bring with me when i do this test.

-make sure you don't bring around with you extra stuff in the boot. unless your doing some moving i wouldn't advise carrying extra weight everwhere you go. its a huge drag on the car.

so theses are the things that i use to help with mpg and not needing to go to the gas station more often than i would like to.

**Project Quattro** · 06-09-2016 11:02 AM

Originally Posted by WinterRunner

My wife has one, has been driving for a little over a year now, the mpg is not quite where I had initially thought either. I attribute it to 2 things: big heavy wheels/tires (255/35/19), last generation transmission (older 6 sp. automatic). It's certainly not bad, and does improve with warmer weather somewhat. I would say we average around 20-21 mpg. I'm also coming from filling up every ~220 miles in my RS4 so.....

Hers still hovers around 17.3, although her drive cycle is very heavily city biased and trafficky. Even the occasional long trip doesn't move the needle much. She's stopped mentioning it, but she still isn't happy with it. I'm also dissatisfied with it, even considering the wheel/tire package and the transmission... that car is WAY too small and light to get the same fuel economy as a Suburban.

Originally Posted by 949

my Q3 has normal to low MPG. I didn't think it would get good MPG, it is an suv after all. now to help with not going to the pump much I have done a small list of things that I am happy to share with you all.

-make sure the tires are fill properly all the time. the tires tend to drop quite a bit even during a weeks time. I have seen mine drop about 3 psi/week a few times.

-a custom tune on the ecu will give it more power but what many didn't know is that it will also give you better gas mileage. its because when we tune maps for the ecu, we will lean it out more from factory. the factory tune is pretty rich most of the time.

-the fuel gauge can be adjusted. I used my vag-com to adjust mine. the stock setting give you a red empty way before your time. i tested this out by leaving it stock and drove past the "0" warning indicator. i did a few times and got past 30 miles every time. each time i never got to the "real empty, stuck on the road" scenario. so i adjusted to the max which give you 30 more miles before it states its empty. this is why i tested for 30 miles only. i believe it can probably do 40+ more miles on stock form but i don't have a spare gallon fuel tank to bring with me when i do this test.

-make sure you don't bring around with you extra stuff in the boot. unless your doing some moving i wouldn't advise carrying extra weight everwhere you go. its a huge drag on the car.

so theses are the things that i use to help with mpg and not needing to go to the gas station more often than i would like to.

Once the warranty is gone I think she'll tune it. Her one regret (before we found out about the fuel economy) was that it wasn't faster than her older car. My A4 is tuned and I enjoy it, even though I can't keep my foot out of it so my mileage dropped a bit. Lol.

**WinterRunner** · 07-06-2016 08:19 AM

Actually tunes will improve your mileage slightly. Don't foget that little 4 cyl works hard to move that SUV around, the 3.2 would have been my choice if offered, but this is fine, I rarely drive it and my wife is super pleased with it, plus it's a lease so... We will get the Macan S next go around, I've convinced her!

**S4'ed** · 09-24-2017 06:25 PM

My 2015 Q3 Quattro averages (the dash display) about 28MPG, country road driving, some highway driving (70MPH and above). I have no complaints...it gets about the same fuel mileage as my 2012 VW CC 2.0T DSG, front wheel drive.

**Milabrega** · 11-01-2017 02:39 PM

2016 Q3. Have it for over a year, and it averages at 21-22. Shift out of that sport mode- the mileage will improve. I too regret the day wife discovered the sport mode.

**Project Quattro** · 11-01-2017 04:36 PM

Originally Posted by Milabrega

2016 Q3. Have it for over a year, and it averages at 21-22. Shift out of that sport mode- the mileage will improve. I too regret the day wife discovered the sport mode.

My girlfriend’s has been in sport mode like 6 times... 4 of those I was driving. Lol.

She doesn’t keep the mileage on the center display anymore, I don’t know what the average is now that it’s 2 years old but I need to check.

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