my 96 2.8Q manual gest about 400 km to a tank. With city and highway driving. Is that normal? it seems low to me. I know its not a 4 cyl but any thoughts or what i could do to get better fuel economy.

 

Is the car's engine light on? I would suggest Vag-com to get at the problem though.

Don't let anyone tell you a 2.8-6 can't give you good mileage. I drive my e36 a little more than "spirited" and it still manages 600kms to the tank. The B5 on the other hand, let's just not go there.

 

Does sound on the low side dependent upon driving style. With a B5 1998 2.8Q 5 valve motor I used to consistently get 11-11.5 l/100 km (Mixed city & highway). Much more (9l/100 km) on highway trips up to Whistler. VCDS scan and check of tire pressure and alignment is suggested.

Smooth driving is needed with our cars as they are too heavy for continual stop start; leave a larger gap and try to stay off the brake; they have plenty of low end torque so in heavy traffic it's easy to be in 2nd or 3rd gear at 1000-1500rpm with very light throttle.

 

No the engine light is not on. It just had 2 chemical engine flushes ( previous owner didnt take care of it). It runs awesome, and I do drive spirited. But ill try those suggestions.

 

the 2.8 is rated to what, 28 mpg hwy?

I have a 1.8T, on an avg tank I get about 600+ kms per tank, around 31-32 mpg, with "spirited" driving. However, my driving has also got a fair bit of Ant Henday/Whitemud pseudo-hwy to it, so it tends to average out on the high side. If I was going all hwy I'm looking at 700+ kms a tank easy.

2 things I have noticed are:
1. shutting the car off and on a lot sucks up a lot of mileage in this car... like if I'm out making a buch of short trips, with stops, the mileage tanks.

2. Where do you fill up? It seems like if I fill up at Esso, Petro, and especially Husky, that my mileage isn't as good as when I fill up at Shell. Sure, there are lots of other factors that can/are be in play besides just that, but if you're putting ethanol blended fuel (such as Husky) you will lose fuel economy (but produce fewer harmful emissions ). Either way, as a rule of thumb I try to stick my V-power.