Haven't posted in this thread in a while!
Last week I was up in San Jose to do some TDI work, the next day on the way back home, filled up in town, drove to a couple (by a couple I mean 5) Pick-n-Pull junkyards in the area, ending with two in Moss Landing, got back on Highway 1 afterwards and drove South through Monterey all the way down to San Luis Obispo. Gorgeous drive! Highway 1 ends for a while and I had to merge onto 101 South to get back home to Santa Maria.
The next day I was getting set to drive to Las Vegas for a TDI GTG. But first I get a call from a friend in L.A. asking to look at her car. Long story short, I didn't leave LA until it was after 9. Started my way towards Vegas, in the middle of the high desert, very little in the way of civilization, the fuel light comes on. I take out my phone and open the Gas Buddy app, load which stations near me have diesel. It comes up with NOTHING. It tells me the filter settings are too strict to load any stations.
So I begin messing with the filter settings, expanding the distance which it searches for stations. It finally loads a couple. I load the map view, start scrolling ahead of my current location, closest diesel was in Baker, CA for $4.79/gal. OUCH. I scroll ahead some more and the next diesel isn't until the Nevada border! More than 60 miles away. And it's WAY cheaper. $4.35/gal!
Well, the fuel light hasn't been on THAT long. I could PROBABLY make it. I slow down and get into the "Truck Lane" for slow moving vehicles up the long, somewhat steep grades getting into the high desert. Just trying to make sure I get to Nevada.
Watching the fuel gauge closely as it gets through the red zone and eventually the last white hashmark below the red zone. I'm sweating a bit now
Phone's GPS says it's only a couple more miles until the exit anyway and the road had been going downhill for a bit, I'm practically coasting in gear at this point anyway.
I finally make it to the Chevron station just across the Nevada border. I quickly find out the only diesel is on the truck side. Haven't done that in a while. After turning around a couple times, I finally get myself situated in the correct direction. Go inside, prepay for the fuel only to have the attendant tell me the truck nozzle won't fit my car. I had to reassure her that it would and that I had done it before, she then tells me that it won't automatically shut off and would make a giant mess, again assure her I've used these nozzles before and can take care of it, it's no problem.
I do the usual top off, all the way up the filler neck while avoiding making a giant mess. I went 650 miles and the tank held just a hair over 15 gallons. That's about as far as I've ever gone in a Mk3!
If I had slowed down for more of the tank it would have gotten better, sure. Considering there's a few hundred pounds worth of tools (if not ~1000 lbs) in the back of my car for the entire tank, I'm not going to complain at getting 42 MPG, especially considering my lead-footed driving style in the twisties