Average shift point & MPG

Just curious, where does everyone shift? Usually I shift at 3000, and get about 42MPG (I do a lot of town driving).

I forgot to include in the above post that I have a '97 Jetta TDI.

You may call me an old granny, but I shift around 2200 rpm. Don't forget this engines' peak torque occurs at 1900 rpm. As for mileage: 40-42 around town; 46 in mixed driving; 55-61! on the highway.

I drive mostly on the highway, with about 25% in-town. Before the Wett chip, I'd average 47 mpg shifting at 2200 rpm. Sometimes, if I were in a really jaunty mood, I'd race around shifting a 3000 rpm, and still get 47 mpg. Now, with the Wett chip, I shift at 4000 rpm as often as not, and average 45 mpg. It doesn't seem to make that much difference.

-mickey

Hi all: I have written this before but felt the urge to write again. I have spent a lot of time trying to determine the best point to shift for fuel mileage. My results?... I actually get slightly better mileage if I shift at a higher RPM than a lower. I tried to shift at (or below) 2,000 RPM's and it did absolutly nothing for mileage. I now don't pay any attention to where I shift. If I am entering the freeway I'll bring it up to 4,000 RPM's (to the point of leaving a puff of smoke out my exhaust). Normal driving 2,500 - 3,000. And agressive driving 3,000 - 4,000. I find that the biggest thing that kills my mileage is how fast I drive on the expressway. I used to only drive at 60MPH in a 55. I could expect over 47 - 48 MPG. I know drive the speed of traffic (usually keep it below 80 in a 65). I have seen my mileage drop to 45 MPG or so. I have a 97 Passat TDI. Thanks - Ian.

Most of my miles are from freeway commuting at a speed of 65 MPH with the cruise control on. Sometimes at night on the way home I'll do 80 or higher. I usually shift at 2000-2200 RPM's and in the 6000 miles that I have put on my Jetta TDI I have only averaged 43.6 MPG. I was expecting better because of the constant speed that is associated with freeway driving. I don't know how anyone out there in TDI land is getting close to 50 MPG.

CJ, I assume you have a 5-speed, not an automatic. If that is the case, then I'd say your mileage is unusually poor. The worst I ever got was 44 mpg, and I had to really work to get it that low.

-mickey

I commute 48 mi. one way to work, most of it 55-65 mph on back roads and about 15 mi. on the 4-lane at 72 mph(why 72mph?..who knows!)
and on the way home at midnight I keep it 55-60 mph all the way because the deer out number the cars after dark! I (almost!)always shift between 2200-3200 rpm and the worst mileage I got was 48.5 on my first tank. Now with 4800 miles on the clock the best is 52 mpg and other than the first tank all have been over 50 mpg. Just started using the a/c regularly on this tank but it does not look like it is affecting the mileage much judging by the gauge. Oil consumption has been nil. I've used Amsoil cetane boost and diesel fuel modifier starting with the second tank of fuel. Oh-yeah, 1999 A4 Jetta GL TDI.

I doubt there's much difference between the different TDI motors unless one of them has a problem. Peter, I think you're just about a worst-case scenario. These cars really start to drink fuel above 75 mph or so (relatively speaking) and stop-and-go driving is never good for fuel economy. Those folks with Passat TDIs can probably expect a bit lower fuel mileage simply because they're bigger, heavier cars. NB drivers, like me, can expect worse mileage on the freeway than Jetta/Golf drivers because of the relatively poor aerodynamics of the Beetles. We have to make sure we're comparing apples to apples, and there are a lot more factors involved than you'd think at first glance. I'll say one thing for sure: All properly functioning TDIs get excellent fuel mileage, but there seems to be a lot more variation than among gas engined cars. I think the biggest single factor is climate! Gas cars will get slightly worse mileage in the winter, but very cold weather seems to make a much bigger difference to diesel engines. (As you would expect. Diesels love heat!)

-mickey

Well here we go again
Im a easy shifter. 2,000 to 2,300 rpm's

At 2100 rpms Im doing 100 k's
got 65 mpg on the weekend.
Im aver. 60 plus mpg
I keep my speeds under 100k's
The speed traps around here will kill yea
other wise, one way or the other.

PS
this is canadian figures

[This message has been edited by Tazzman (edited June 21, 1999).]

Hi new jetta tdi..just hit 1000 miles today
Drive a combo of highway and lots of stop and go, traffic too. Even highway is maybe 22 miles then I am stopping. It seemed at first I was about 45 miles per gallon. Today I got gas I am filling up before I hit half tank and it worked out to 42.72mpg. I shift around 2000-rpms depending. I'm on Long Island, NY.

Have a new (7600 miles) GOLF. Getting 53 mpg like clockwork. Originally shifted at about 3k but now shift at about 2K. No real difference. Coming from Dodge Cummins background. Susupicions about all this: there a a huge number of facotrs that enter into it all. Probably most likely is driving style (speed, accelleration, etc.) followed by things like tire pressure, road types (hilly, flat, etc.), wind conditions, etc. Plus, as a computer nerd myself, I wouldn't be too surprised to learn that the chip may have minute variations that have an effect.

Personally, I drive like an old fudd - hell, I AM an old fudd - keep it below 70 (I can hear you guys cringing out there - I stay in the slow lane, dudes)and like that. Also, spend the vast majority of my time on the highways and long trips (40,000 miles per year).

As someone up above said, even the worst case is getting better mpg than anyone else we know...if you are enjoying the wheels, you got to be doing it right.

Must be doing it right because I'm enjoying the heck out of my wheels! Yeah, I'll admit that I drive too agressively for good mileage. Maybe one day I'll decide that mileage is more important to me than fun, but, I don't foresee that anytime soon. The torque, especially with the Hopa module is like a drug: Keeps you coming back for more and you keep doing it even though you know it's bad. Somebody help me! I've been bitten by the torque bug and I can't help myself!

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'98 Jetta TDi with Hopa Module and custom short shifter

CJ, Peter and myself all have one thing in common when it comes to owr lower mileage: We all live and play in the great state of California. Home of reformulated gas and diesel fuel. On 3 tanks of diesel: 45mpg, 42mpg; and 39mpg(mostly city). The enviro-nazis including Mr. Gore and the Sierra Club are all pleased that we Californians are required to pay top dollar for **** fuel that is poisoning our water supplies.

Utah county, south of Salt Lake, has been required to use oxygenated gasoline during the winter for the past several years, due to excessive pollution during winter temperature inversions. (Unlike SoCal, our big smog problems occur during the winter. It can be 25 degrees, foggy and smelly in the valleys and 40 degrees under glorious sun up at the ski resorts, on the same day! That's why I work in Park City!) Anyway, a recent study has concluded that the crappy fuel has no effect on the pollution levels in Utah county. What small positive effect is gained through use of the crappy gas is negated by poor fuel economy. Why do government types refuse to see the obvious? If they really want to reduce emissions they'd cut the taxes on diesel fuel down to nil and tax the hell out of big, fat sport utilities!

-mickey

Mickey,
Studies have shown that the smog levels in California cities have decreased greatly since the 50's. But our fearless enviro-**** vice leader won't be happy till everyone is riding bicycles and/or "public" transportation. I am sure you have a great public transportation system throughout the Utah area. If they really want to make a bigger gain in cleaning our air, they need to go after the industrial polluters and not allow them to skate the pollution laws with pollution credits bought from other less-polluting companies. Those boys(not SUVs) are the biggest cause of pollution we have right now. Government right now is obese and getting fatter unless we JUST SAY NO!!! Too many regulations and "user fees" aka TAXES. Sorry guys, enough of my soapboxing.

Wow, you guys are making me depressed. My car has almost 30k miles on it and I've been averaging low forties. Ocasionally get 38MPG average on a tank, but never better than 44MPG. Once got 50MPG on a long trip with the cruise set to 70MPH and went from almost sea level to over 7000 feet above sea level and back (raced two cars in the mountains but otherwise was a good boy ).

My theory is that it depends on two factors. The first is how you drive and driving conditions. I drive in a lot of stop-and-go commuting and when the road clears, blast to 80~95 until I hit traffic again. The second seems to be luck. Some of us get lucky and get a mileage champ that will never get less than 45MPG, while others, myself included, have to drive slow to get that kind of mileage. Am I off on this?

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'98 Jetta TDi with Hopa Module and custom short shifter

Boswell Bear: The only thing you didn't mention was fuel quality. But it looks like others have picked up on this issue.

N Dennis and others: Most fascinating! I hope that poor mileage is attributed to Calif. fuel rather than car variations. It should be interesting when Calif. owners take trips out of state and check their mileage. Also are there any fuel additives that you might try to see if it makes a difference?

Re: Ian

I bought a 99 Jetta GLS TDI with all the goodies and I find as you have that only the speed at which you drive on the interstate determines MPG. I got my baby in Denver and had to drive home to the mountains about 50mph because of the weather and I got 53mpg. I commute 78 miles each way to work and driving 80 I get consistantly 46-48 mpg, but NOT 53. I love that 600 miles to a tank! I've had mine a month and I have 5,020 miles on it already!

I shift at around 3,000 and 4,000+ when zooming. Everyone says that the TDI generates its peak torque at 1,900 but why then does my engine really come alive at 2,500? When I use moderate pressure on the gas and don't vary the position the car drives off briskly but around 2,500 it pulls ahead really strongly up to 4,000+. If peak touque is at 1,900 what am I feeling at 2,500? I think those of you who shift so low are losing out on the fun of the engine.

cage, it has something to do with the difference between Torque and Horsepower. Your torque peaks at 1900, but the horsepower peak is much higher. Horsepower is just torque x rpm / a constant. (Which explains why diesels have high torque and low hp.) So, the faster the engine the higher the horsepower, until the torque curve drops off so far the the product of the equation begins to drop. Make any sense? I doubt it, since I have no idea what I'm talking about. I've often wondered the same thing. Maybe somebody who didn't flunk physics can explain it coherently.

-mickey

I don't know how everyone's doing it. I have a '99 Jetta with 2200 miles on the odometer and the best AROUND TOWN mileage I can muster is 36 MPG. What's REALLY amazing is that I got 52 MPG on a 450+ mile highway run a couple of weeks ago... Go figure! Doing a LONG trip this weekend 1500 miles in three days, most of it highway, and am looking forward to that awesome highway mileage...

2600 RPM which feels right to me. 48 mixed, 52 highway. Now using Redline Dielel Catalyst and don't know if that will improve me to 55 mpg. Use Shell Rotella T. This has stopped any oil use. 98 Jetta TDI with 26,500 miles in 11 months. Previous 86 Jetta 1.6 Diesel. Traded in 91 with 135K and unfortunately kept my wife's car. Have grown up since then.

Translation for the European

Stickshift = gearlever
shift = change gear

Thanks Guys..where are all you Europeans??

They all emigrated to America. Didn't you see Titanic?

-mickey

No some of us stayed behind so that we could get good engines on our cars

If the wife is in the car with me I change about 2,300 and adhere to all speed limits etc, at that pace I get about 60mpg. If however I’m on my own and not in a built up area, I change at about 3000 in order to use some of my 136hp, that returns about 55mpg.

I find that the torque that’s on offer at lower revs (242lb/ft@1900) is so usable that you don’t need to use high revs. Unless your: a) Driving at very high speeds or b) just like the extra engine noise of higher revs.

Min fuel consumption that I ever had was 50mpg max 65mpg.


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been on the road for a couple of weeks.

yeah, didn't mention fuel quality. here in wisconsin it seems fairly consistent in terms of actual quality ... but, of course, we have to expect a decrease in mpg come winterized fuel. more diesel #1 they mix in, the worse the mpg gets.

don't know how long this thread has been running but i wouldn't think anyone is dealing with winter mixes right now (unless you live up in winter park, co. or something). i've seen (and bought fuel at) several places that have "premium diesel" vs (i assume) not-so-premium diesel. frankly, i've never noticed much difference with the mpg between the two. usually, a few cents per gallon in price (which i sometimes pay what with a miserly, little 15 gal. or so tank -- i mean, live it up for $.30).

probably see a difference if i were to inflate the tires to their 44 lb limit as opposed to the 36-38 vw recommends but i sort of like the ride as is.

I pumped up the tires on my '99 NB to 44psi HOT, which equates to about 41 psi cold. I noticed no difference in the ride or handling, and after 10,000 miles there is no unusual wear pattern on the treads.

-mickey

I personaly think it depends on the driver.My wife avereges about 45-46 mpg when she drives and she always shifts around 2200. My self I get about 39-40 mpg and thats with a lead foot. I generaly shift at 3200rpm or if feeling a little cocky because of the little civic hatchback next to me ill take it to 4000rpm.

GolfIV GLS

Hey, Andres, put a Wett chip or Hopa module in it and you won't need to rev it to 4000! I don't even mess with Civics anymore. No challenge.

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'98 Jetta TDi with Hopa Module, restricted EGR, bypassed PCV, modified airbox, and custom short shifter