Good day all.My wife drives a 1997 VW polo classic and since we had it serviced the fuel consumption is very bad.You can smell the petrol inside the car when it is driven.Where can the problem be?

Check carefully for fuel leak. If it starts well and then gets worse as it warms up, check coolant temp sensor. May be it just smells like fuel because it misses so badly fuel is not being burnt and floods tailpipe. Check spark at plugs with timing light to avoid sparks where fuel may be present. Weak or irratic spark can be coil/module, crank/cam sensor. Remove plugs to see what they look like or which is not firing.

Have not seen the lay-out of a Polo Fuel tank, but it may be that the shape of the tank is bigger to the left than to the right - resulting in more fuel going to the left when turning right - adding more weight.

IF the fuel tank is not a-simetrical, it may be your right front shock that is warn OR the shock mounting rubber at the top where it is bolted to the body may be torn causing that shock to not function properly. Had that on an Audi.

I would double check that your fuel tank is sealed. Fuel fumes can be very bad for your health and can be very dangerous. Sounds as though the gas line may be leaking, or the fuel pump seal is leaking.

need to have it checked out,could be low oil or oil pump failing,,was these things checked??

get fuel pressure regulator replaced

hey , i have a vw polo 1997 and the all the clocks, (rev,speedo,fuel and temp gauge ) will cut out is this a ecu fault as i found it was wet ??

Average is 30 mpg ,
Toyota Prius - 50 mpg.
I think you doing pretty good.

Has the car been serviced recently?
If not I would suggest getting it done.Not sure if you have diesel or petrol, but oil can thicken causing more load on the motor and airfilters get blocked and can cause a rich fuel mixture.

If petrol you can take out the plugs to check if they are a light brown colour, if very dark or black you need to check and adjust carb/injection settings/filter.Need to know what engine it is really.

I believe all the 1997 VW's reset to 0 after 300k. I had a 1997 diesel jetta that did the same thing.

Hello, VW polos 1.0, 1.4. 1.6, suffer from carbon bulid up in the throttle bodys causing bad idling, esp the Bosch Mono-Motronic (Throttle Body Injection systems), a good clean with carb cleaner should repair the problem, also engine temp sensor replacement and idle speed control valve replacement can help idle problems.