Real World MPG - 6 speed Manual

Just came back from 1600 mile roadtrip. Car still in breakin, now has 3068 total miles.

Two adults, two dogs, fully loaded trunk. A/C on the entire way.
Had cruise set on 72 on way up. Got 52.2 mpg.

Set cruise on 75 on return, got 53.1 mpg. On one stretch of about 150 miles, turned cruise off and stretched the mpgs by constant throttle position, letting the mph run up and down. MFI went to 56.2 avg.

Man, this car just eats up the highway!

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Miles this tank- 991.1
Fuel used- 17.03 gallons
MPG- 58.2
Range remaining- 65 miles

I had 75 miles to my next known good fueling source and with Sunday traffic I didn't want to chance running out and I fueled up early.

IXLR8 said:

Miles this tank- 991.1
Fuel used- 17.03 gallons
MPG- 58.2
Range remaining- 65 miles
I had 75 miles to my next known good fueling source and with Sunday traffic I didn't want to chance running out and I fueled up early.

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Outstanding MPG. What tires/size are you running?

psd1 said:

Outstanding MPG. What tires/size are you running?

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Michelin Primacy MXM4's, stock size for the SE which I think is 215/55-17, 38psi. I lost just over 1 mpg going to these tires from the OEM Hancraps, but the increase in handling and decrease in noise is more than worth it.

Miles this tank- 996.6
Fuel used- 17.61 gallons
MPG- 56.6
Range remaining- 20 miles

With dropping temperatures coming I suspect this will be my last tank of the season near the 1000 mile mark.

^^^ Outstanding!

I'm liking what I see so far, if not what I'm reading in the news.

I still averaging almost 50 mpg driving around southern Indiana and Ohio where there is no flat stretches of land. I just past 13k.

My average since I have owned the car is 47.8 mixed city hwy over 4400 miles. Best tank was 60

"These are my principals and if you don't like them...well, I have others" Groucho Marx

2012 Passat TDI 6MT

10/10/15: 840 miles: 15 gallons, 56 MPG

Latest tank: 617 miles, 15.3 gal. 40.3 MPG. Yes, my wife and I drive too fast.

I still average about 45mpg after 120k miles in my VW Passat SE M6.

I peg mine at 44 average. 765? or so miles a tank. What kind of crazy things do they do to get 1000mi on a tank?

JimJamie said:

I peg mine at 44 average. 765? or so miles a tank. What kind of crazy things do they do to get 1000mi on a tank?

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I run my tires at 38psi, I can tell if I have lost 3-4 psi in one tire. 95% of my driving is on the highway, at 63 mph. I accelerate gently and anticipate stops and coast to them. I can't be bothered with the Pulse/Glide procedure to improve mileage. I have had 6-7 1000 mile tanks this summer.

JimJamie said:

I peg mine at 44 average.

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Fully doesn't lie!

43,000 in and way more than I expected from a, normally, 60/40 split highway/city.

My worst tank ever was 36 and that was the midwest super-freeze 2 winters ago.

Best tank was 50.6. A little more highway.

My highway trip averages, read commutes, are upper 50's in the summer.

Most miles out of a tank for me was 823.

Previous vehicle was getting me 12mpg.

727 miles, 16.2 gal.

44.9 MPG.

Not bad for another tank at 85+.

I've had Range Remaining at 0. How many miles can one go beyond that?

I did it again- 1000+ mile tank

Miles this tank- 1045.3
Fuel used- 18.14 gallons
MPG- 57.6
Range remaining- 10 miles

This tank I had a 400 mile trip from Long Island to Mid-Coast Maine where I had a 20+ mph tail wind, averaged 64.2 mpg for that trip.

JimJamie said:

I've had Range Remaining at 0. How many miles can one go beyond that?

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You never want to run a tdi dry.

JimJamie said:

I've had Range Remaining at 0. How many miles can one go beyond that?

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As mentioned, don't run it dry. Very bad and expensive things can happen.

Range Remaining is never more than a rough guess based on the latest calculated MPG. If you have been traveling on the freeway for some time and then leave it for surface streets, the RR may say 20 miles, but once off the freeway your real RR is significantly lower. It is only a reasonable estimate as long as you continue the same type of driving you've been doing for the last 5-10 minutes.

When I leave the freeway on my way home, I may show 480 miles remaining. But as I pull into my garage it may have dropped to 420. That is because I now am dealing with traffic signals, stop signs, and a significant hill climb to my home.

The same thing happens in reverse in the morning. I may show that same 420 miles remaining as I leave home, but then I have my 1/4+ mile descent down the hill before I even need to touch the accelerator. Since I leave my home at 4:30 AM, I have virtually no traffic, I usually make every light to the freeway, and the freeway itself is free flowing at the limit. Where I leave the freeway I again have a slight downhill, then a flat, straight stretch of 35 MPH road until I virtually coast into the parking lot. As I arrive, my RR has increased back up to 460 or so, and I have shown as high as 53 MPG as I roll to a stop. I've tweaked my MFD, so it's actually reading slightly low.

I run at 72 MPH on the highway. A 20 mile drive to work. I should try a couple of tanks at 65 MPH and see how much the MPG goes up. In Spring or now to try to keep my MPH where it is in the coming cold weather.

atc98002 said:

I've tweaked my MFD, so it's actually reading slightly low.

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How do you tweak the MFD? I'm constantly 3.0 mpg over on the MFD on a empty tank I would love to get it to less than 1 mpg off.

radtech83 said:

How do you tweak the MFD? I'm constantly 3.0 mpg over on the MFD on a empty tank I would love to get it to less than 1 mpg off.

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Using a VCDS you can access the instrument computer and tweak the miles calibration and the fuel used calibration to make the MFD more accurate.

IXLR8 said:

Using a VCDS you can access the instrument computer and tweak the miles calibration and the fuel used calibration to make the MFD more accurate.

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I forget the exact bit setting, but the default is set to 100% and I changed mine to 105%. I think I need to drop it to 104%, as I am constantly a hair low. My last tank the MFD said 37.5 MPG while fuelly calculated it at 40.3. I've tracked the Passat on Fuelly since the day I picked it up, and since I tweaked the setting I've only been off the other way once, which I blame on not filling the tank completely on the previous fill up.

JimJamie said:

I've had Range Remaining at 0. How many miles can one go beyond that?

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As others have said, it's a bad idea to run the tank low (many don't even let it get beneath a quarter tank). Primarily that's because the fuel pump uses fuel as a coolant... No/little fuel means no/little coolant, and your pump burns out.

That said, I've read on here that some people have gone 50-70 miles past where the range read 0. Again, a very bad idea, unless you're fleeing the zombie apocalypse and every mile might mean the difference between life and death.

Don't use fuelly any longer. Got behind, couldn't find receipts, etc. Took a trip Saturday during the beginning of the snow storm that flew through Michigan. Left home @ 3 and got to Albion @ 545. Was going to drive the jeep but decided, WTH. Just put the ice tires back on for the season. Topped off before I left. Refueled less then 2 miles form home. Car's computer was saying avg was 55.4. Math said 51.

Guess that's not bad considering I was driving into the wind/storm, car had about 3 inches of ice/slush on the front. I had also just put the grill covers on so the whole front was like a snow plow. Coming back home was a nice drive.

So, I'll settle for the 51. Not bad running winter blend fuel.

I do have a new gripe. Driver side door (front) froze. Not the seal but pulling the handle wouldn't release it. Once, I was able to enter the passenger side and open it. Monday morning, after the temps got into the upper teens, it wouldn't budge. Ended up having to pull it in the garage, fire up the garage heater and let it thaw. It's fine now but I've never had a door freeze on me like that other then a total ice over.

Oh, the final snowfall for where I went and spent the night was 13 inches. Had to drive around a Prius (who was delivering pizza to the campus of all places) because he was trying to get up a hill and couldn't make it. Bet he thought my VW had AWD or something. Those ice tires work great.

Yesterday...437 miles from Horseheads, NY to Williamsport, PA on to Hamburg, PA. City driving in Williamsport due to errands, then rural mountain roads from Danville to Hamburg.

Return was via mountain roads to Rt 81 and north to Binghamton, then 17 west and home. Weather was nasty with fog and rain almost all the way. Very unfavorable for TDI economy.

This morning a trip over the hills to my son's house which rough on fuel economy. Next to Painted Post for fuel.

47.9 mpg and I filled it to the brim!

Nord, just wondering: can you share what tire air pressure are you using?. Just wanted to know if that is helping your low fuel consuption (besides the manual transmission, final gear ratio is lower in the manual) I've found that it can increase MPG with higher tire pressure, but in the other side, too much pressure and you will be decresaing your tire life by uneven wear, and also reducibg tire grip.

c-wagen said:

Nord, just wondering: can you share what tire air pressure are you using?. Just wanted to know if that is helping your low fuel consuption (besides the manual transmission, final gear ratio is lower in the manual) I've found that it can increase MPG with higher tire pressure, but in the other side, too much pressure and you will be decresaing your tire life by uneven wear, and also reducibg tire grip.

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I am running 38psi on my stock 18" wheels. Seems to be a good balance between mileage and uneven tire wear. I have about 65K miles on my present tires, Michelin Primacy MXM4, and they seem to be wearing evenly. I was running 42psi and after 10-15K miles I could detect slight center wear and then dropped it back to 38. I am also using a better quality tire pressure gauge than a standard pencil type gauge for pressure accuracy and repeatability.