Mpg to expect

I bought a 2010 Touareg TDI that was a fleet vehicle. After driving it on mostly Interstate travel, my consumption is 22 mpg, way under what I expected. Any suggestions?

Pre-fix they were rated 21 cty 28 hwy. Post-fix surely it will be worse. Depending on how fast you were going, and perhaps which wheels/tires it has, may vary a little bit, but you are probably not far off. The hwy rating if I recall is at a pretty low speed, like 60, which nobody ever does.

It is a 5k pound beast with a six cylinder and a slushbox.... it isn't a Jetta.

You can read my sticky in the Fuel Economy section for some tips.

2010 rated at 18 city, 24 hwy, combined 20mpg. You're not too far off. Make sure tire pressure is right per the door jamb sticker (39 PSI front/46PSI rear). Other than that, make sure your speed doesn't exceed 75mph tops. I have a 2013 Touareg TDI which gets as advertised 29mpg on the freeway. Tire pressure and speed are the biggest factors.

The newer ones have two more gears in the transmission, too, although I am not sure how much RPM difference in top gear that makes.

my 2016 TDI gets close to 30MPGs on rt95 from NE to Florida. No hills and 75MPH. I go 1450 miles on 2 tanks of diesel. I'm pretty happy. If you in the moutains at higher altitudes or going 80 mph it's going to be lower for sure.

I get 23 @ 78 mph, although it appears better now with Malone and stock 20" wheels (it had aftermarket wide 20" before)

MPG improves significantly at 70 or less.

bryanmabbott said:

2010 rated at 18 city, 24 hwy, combined 20mpg. You're not too far off. Make sure tire pressure is right per the door jamb sticker (39 PSI front/46PSI rear). Other than that, make sure your speed doesn't exceed 75mph tops. I have a 2013 Touareg TDI which gets as advertised 29mpg on the freeway. Tire pressure and speed are the biggest factors.

Click to expand...

This.

The early V6s (2009-10) are just not as efficient as the later ones (especially the 2013-16 240 hp version). Couple of reasons. Yes, the transmission has two less gears and likely is ultimately not geared as tall in its final gear. Secondly, it has a proper transfer case with full time AWD. While, the later Touaregs have a transfer box of sorts and is also full time AWD, it does not have the low gear transfer case with center locking differential.

The 2009-10 cars, despite having two less gears in the transmission, weigh 200 lbs MORE than the 2011 and later versions with the 8 speed transmission for this reason. Of course that weight itself isn't making up for that much in efficiency, but it does seem the combination of having the early "4XMotion" system with the 6 speed transmission does sap noticeable efficiency from the V6 TDI Touaregs.

The later V6s also only have two chains waiting to fail in the engine, instead of four.

oilhammer said:

The later V6s also only have two chains waiting to fail in the engine, instead of four.

Click to expand...

Mr Hammer, You keep scaring me with the chains in the 3.0 TDI.
Gives me the "willies".
Hopefully if they fail while I have the car it will be within the 48K miles extended "We Screwed Everyone" warranty.
The 2012 TDI Exec is a wonderful car and does a great job around town and towing our little 16' Scamp trailer.
Any advice on how to treat the car to make failure less likely?
I bought this car after it was turned in with Dieselgate and it had regular dealer service including most of what the dealer wanted to service.
I bought it at 94K miles and have 120k miles currently.
I assume that some engines run trouble free while some percentage do give problems.
Of course a high dollar car sold to high dollar customers is different from a low dollar used car. The acquisition cost is low, but the maintenance cost continue to the premium.
I think that this is a part of driving VWs of all types.
I never considered myself a VW guy, but looking back over a lifetime of driving having owned some odd 15 VW I guess I would be guilty as charged.

I have a 2013 Touareg love it. For long trips. Before fix 29 to30 mpg at 70 mph. Now 23 to 29 mpg. Love 8 speed Asian transmission coupled to the 3 litter TDI

dlhovland said:

I have a 2013 Touareg love it. For long trips. Before fix 29 to30 mpg at 70 mph. Now 23 to 29 mpg. Love 8 speed Asian transmission coupled to the 3 litter TDI

Click to expand...

Not Asian. Aisan. Brand name. Not area of the world. Thanks.

It is Aisin. And they are from Japan, which IS considered part of Asia. So...

oilhammer said:

It is Aisin. And they are from Japan, which IS considered part of Asia. So...

Click to expand...

Thank you for Correcting me. my spelling isn’t my strong point

I thought the 2011 and up went back to ZF. At least that is what the dealer told me.

vwztips said:

I thought the 2011 and up went back to ZF. At least that is what the dealer told me.

Click to expand...

Not on the TDIs. Some of the gassers got ZFs later on, but they never "went back to" them, as the T'reg/Q7/Cayenne used Aisin from the beginning.

Amazing how little car dealers knows about what they sell. There was a thread on another site that said the dealer wanted to do a DSG fluid change on a Touareg. That's just a $500 job that doesn't exist. LOL Move on to someone else to do the work on the car that knows what they are doing