55 Mpg

LNXGUY said:

Not TDI's... If you notice the ones that are babied and lugged around are the ones with issues . These cars are meant to be driven and driven hard (I'm not talking abused that's a completely different thing). My old ALH is a perfect example.. 11mm pump, R520s, 1756, yada yada yada. I drove the piss out of that car and when I found the deal on my current wagon I was still driving it (With almost 600,000kms on it). If it weren't for my wagon I'd still be driving that car today.
I don't mind people driving slow as long as they aren't impeding traffic, that's my biggest pet peeve. If someone wants to sit behind the transport trucks and do under the limit, that's their choice. Definitely not mine, my time is worth more then that. I don't speed but the $0.50 I'm going to save on a fillup isn't worth it to me to be on the road any longer than I have to.

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I might drive "slow" at cruising speed... but I never said I get there slowly. Why would I have molested my Golf?

My cars never really got clogged or carbon'd up!

And the slow cruise is not really for fuel savings.. it's just a mindset I've been in for a long time. AS mentioned in another thread.. I lug around 10,000-million dollars worth of equipment and organs and other stuff. Last thing I need is to make the papers involved in an accident of sorts. Try to minimize that as much as possible.

I'm sure most would prefer it this way.. if the kidney I had in my car was going in them!

LNXGUY said:

I don't speed but .

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Not sure what its like in Canada, but anyplace I've ever lived (many places), drive the speed limit and you are the slowest guy on the road, the kind that impedes traffic, the kind that everyone sees as driving like a granny.

As for the idea that TDI's have to be driven hard to keep the engines/intakes/turbo in optimal shape - there may (or may not) be truth to this, depending on the fuel used, but this would relate to acceleration patterns more than top speeds.

Cruising at 2,500 RPM's isn't going to be better for the engine than cruising at 2,000 RPM's.

Courier is closer to the truth - lower top line rpm cruise speeds, less fuel consumption, less cumulative engine friction, less tire wear, less drive-line wear, etc.

Thank you puntmeister.

And yes, people who drive the speed limit, get passed left right and center. Most drive 20 over here in Canada. Cops won't bug you. Unwritten rule... And on the 401, you can get away with 125 ish... As long as you're not a lane weaver.

But like Bill said.. If you're gonna drive "slow", just don't be a thorne in everyone's side. Little common sense implied.

It's the person who's scared and sucks at driving that's doing under the limit that drives everyone mad.

And the person who's too cheap to spend the 50$ to have his new mattress set delivered... Nonooooooooo... He's gotta save and strap it on the roof, and not use the side roads. He wants the 401.

Yes - as if tail-gaters aren't a thorn in anyone's side.

And its not as if there is any consensus amongst higher-speed drivers. For everyone who drives 75 mph, there's someone who wants to drive 85.

Should we all then conform to the fastest car on the road - some 17 year-old who just got his license, and figures it'd be cool to drive 110?

Obviously, driving 55 mph in the far left lane would be absurd. But, as you point out, we don't drive slower cuz we're stupid.

It does take time, physiologically/psychologically, to acclimate to driving slower. We (men) are wired to want to go as fast as possible. I am no exception - I used to drive like a bat out of hell. Once I started to focus on MPG, I began to change my habits - but it wasn't easy. Its akin to learning to control one's temper.

Once you get over the hump, you do find it is actually less stressful to drive at more moderate speeds.

I agree with ya.

1/TestosteroneLevel+Age+CarWorth+1/Speed=X

The lower "x", the more dangerous.

Speed is a byproduct of smoothness.

How fast one wants to get to where they want to be, their prerogative.

Just don't be the lane swirver, the tailgater, the honker or the high beam flasher. Follow the flow. If the left lane's doin 125kph, do it, or get out of it.

And for God's sake, there's a neat feature called cruise control. People who can't keep a speed drive me batty.

And yes.. Once one starts playing with mpg's , their driving attitude sure changes... For the better! I'm still looking for that 60 USmpg tank... City mileage always wrecks my attempts!

One of my 'sales pitches ' for TDIs, is how it mellows one out when they drive them. Almost hard to road rage driving one!

I try never to exceed the posted speed limits. In the day before I retired, my 44 mile one-way commute involved staying in the right lane about 3 mph under posted limit on cruise and watched the world pass by up to 90 mph.

In those years, my Jetta rolled up 52 to 55 mpg tank after tank. Now, that I am retired, doing noting but mixed driving, the MPGs are lower. However, on the occasional road trip, it will knock out 52 to 55 mpg.

Then and now, if I need to pass a slower moving vehicle, I take the car up to speed limit and go around. If someone comes up on me doing 85 in a 70, well they generally get to practice their sign language until I get around. I make sure it is safe to drop out in the idiot lane before passing!

Alright, I'll throw things in a different direction.

Who's got the high speed-mpg record? Say 70+ mph only?

I drove from MI to FL and back in 2009 and got back-to-back 56mpg tanks. I give most credit to some meaningful aero-mods. I too, cannot drive slowly. This was all 70+ mph cruising.

My civic consumed ~21mpg @180kph? That count?

Most trucks barely get that at 70mph.

CourierGuy said:

My civic consumed ~21mpg @180kph? That count?

Most trucks barely get that at 70mph.

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im with you dude my 99 civic with a dmotor and a 5speed got 22mpg @ 100mph, the reason i know is because i use to have a really hard time getting out of bed to be at work, and would regulatly cruise 90-100 mph on my morning commute at 5am with almost no traffic on the freeway hardly at all. i have recorded my tdi getting between 29-32 cruising 100mph in 3-5 mile incriments. ive slowed down alot, but with a 50 miles commute to work i cant drive less than 60-65mph, which in summer time i can squeeze 50-53mpg at that speed.but 80mph over 70mph cuts two hours of driving off my 1000 mile trips to get my daughter. never get more than 43 mpg on those trips tho. completely stock tdi tho, cant wait for a tune and straight pipe exhaust. hope to see some more mpg gain when my foots not in it.

35 on my last tank!! Not near what I expected! My 99 b5 gets 29 all day long.

There is this 84mpg tank world record and this 78mpg average over 8100 miles.

I'm much too impatient for half those numbers!

Rico567 said:

I've driven trans-Montana once, and doing 75-80 is like standing still. I can only imagine that 55 must be pure frustration.

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More like being tied to a mast and flogged with a cat 'o nine tails, and people who think a 150 mile drive or so is long distance do not understand.

Although I'll likely only rarely drive 80 mph on the highway, Montana is talking about raising the limit on rural interstates to 80 which brought out the old ladies at the local paper yowling about traffic deaths. Most of the traffic fatalities here involve someone who's drunk or otherwise intoxicated, can't manage to maintain control on a four lane highway and goes from ditch to ditch before they end up rolling several times. Seat belt use is also not to be condoned because that might wrinkle the clothes, although I have to say my denim has never noticed.

Didn't Montana not even have a speed limits on some roads? It hasn't been that long has it? I swear the road I was on towards Whitefish (Coming from Calgary) had no limit, this was back probably 20 years ago.

I average 46-47 and get get low 50s without to much trouble. I've had1 tank that got 62. I was going for 900+ mild on a tank. 902ish with 14.5 gallons.

puntmeister said:

Not sure what its like in Canada, but anyplace I've ever lived (many places), drive the speed limit and you are the slowest guy on the road, the kind that impedes traffic, the kind that everyone sees as driving like a granny.

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That was me, this morning. I was going 5 over and I was passed the whole way.

I haven't hit more then 41 mpg max on the highway. Traffic sucks in my area with the holiday seasons and I stopped calculating my mpg, but I'll guesstimate it to be around 33-35 at the very moment.

I'm definitely seeing a drop, but it's gotten cold, i'm on blizzaks, my radiator isn't blocked off on the wagon and it has no heater. I think my sedan is doing a bit better. I've switched to an earlier schedule for work too, sick of waiting for damn traffic and accidents. I'll see how it does. It's still too early to tell though. I don't have enough tanks through it, just yet. I think it's capable of 55+ from what I've seen other members get with the same car.

puntmeister said:

Yes - as if tail-gaters aren't a thorn in anyone's side.

And its not as if there is any consensus amongst higher-speed drivers. For everyone who drives 75 mph, there's someone who wants to drive 85.

Should we all then conform to the fastest car on the road - some 17 year-old who just got his license, and figures it'd be cool to drive 110?

Obviously, driving 55 mph in the far left lane would be absurd. But, as you point out, we don't drive slower cuz we're stupid.

It does take time, physiologically/psychologically, to acclimate to driving slower. We (men) are wired to want to go as fast as possible. I am no exception - I used to drive like a bat out of hell. Once I started to focus on MPG, I began to change my habits - but it wasn't easy. Its akin to learning to control one's temper.

Once you get over the hump, you do find it is actually less stressful to drive at more moderate speeds.

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I've discovered since moving to central Texas that it doesn't much matter how fast you drive. You still reach your destination in about the same time. None of the lights are synchronized. You can drive 65 mph and I can drive 45 mph and the only difference is the faster car spends more time sitting at the red lights.

puntmeister said:

As for the idea that TDI's have to be driven hard to keep the engines/intakes/turbo in optimal shape - there may (or may not) be truth to this, depending on the fuel used, but this would relate to acceleration patterns more than top speeds.

Cruising at 2,500 RPM's isn't going to be better for the engine than cruising at 2,000 RPM's.

Courier is closer to the truth - lower top line rpm cruise speeds, less fuel consumption, less cumulative engine friction, less tire wear, less drive-line wear, etc.

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To claim a "hard driven" engine lives as long as a babied engine is a stretch. I'd like to see some empirical evidence rather than opinions and testimonials.

I drove it easy for a whole tank once and got 56.1 mpg over 976 miles, damn near drove me crazy. Now I drive like a sane person and usually break 50 mpg in the summer and 45 in the winter, but I always measure on a full tank and not the (lying) MFA gauge, on which I've hit 69 mpg before.

55 mpg is nothing, especially if you just 'hit' it and didn't measure the whole tank.

JohnWilder said:

To claim a "hard driven" engine lives as long as a babied engine is a stretch. I'd like to see some empirical evidence rather than opinions and testimonials.

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It's not really a stretch at all. Look at what happens to TDIs that are babied and driven like little old ladies. Clogged this, clogged that, etc etc. It's been proven here about a million times. Although, it does depend on what your definition of 'hard' is.

There is 'driven hard', 'worked', and 'babied'. Diesels like to be worked but not beat upon, it's not a race engine. I agree with LNXGUY that most of the problems I have seen are from people under-driving their car.

Bottom line... best mpgs come from moderate constant speeds and minimal accel/braking from reading traffic ahead of time.

As for beating on cars...I don't know about you guys.. but I very rarely shift past 3500rpms. It's just pointless.

And diesels engines last longer than gas cars. Gas car engines last longer than motorcycle engines. Simply put, the less you rev them, the longer they last. The better mpgs you will get. Diesels cruise at 2k, gas around 3k and bikes around 7-9k rpms... just a rough set of numbers, but you get the idea.

That being said, I seriously do miss my 8000rpm red line on my Honda. 100kph in 2nd.....3rd gear from 50 to 142 was wild. Never red lined 4th as governer kicked in at 185... Hehehe.

CourierGuy said:

As for beating on cars...I don't know about you guys.. but I very rarely shift past 3500rpms. It's just pointless.

And diesels engines last longer than gas cars. Gas car engines last longer than motorcycle engines. Simply put, the less you rev them, the longer they last. The better mpgs you will get. Diesels cruise at 2k, gas around 3k and bikes around 7-9k rpms... just a rough set of numbers, but you get the idea.

That being said, I seriously do miss my 8000rpm red line on my Honda. 100kph in 2nd.....3rd gear from 50 to 142 was wild. Never red lined 4th as governer kicked in at 185... Hehehe.

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You drive a stock car though right? A stock TDI is pretty much puke and die above 3500rpm, so I can understand why you wouldn't even bother.

As for rpms being the basis as to why engines last, I think that might be part of it, but not the main factor. The cylinder pressures in a diesel compared to a gasser engine are night and day.. You either build a diesel right and it lasts, or you don't and it explodes 4 days off the dealer lot. It's simply the design of the engine that results in a long lasting engine.

My brother in law had a Civic SIR. It was fun to wind out, but man, you had to do that all the time to have any sort of fun in it.. It definitely wasn't 'fast' either.

The jetta gets 2200rpm shifts, all day long with the odd 3rd gear long pull to clean out the pipes.

The golf... I'll rarely venture past 3k, shift the majority of the time at 2400.

Rings wear less on low rpms. Wear more on high rpms. Worn rings... Oil consumption... Low compression... Etc etc.. On way to the grave or the machine shop.

Then there's 2 strokes hehehe... Short lived. But a spark at every TDC makes for awesome power no coasting or pulse and gliding for them pistons LOL

As for 8k redlines on rice cars... Honda's and Toyota's are kinda built, IMHO, with low torque and high revs for the hp. You putt putt around in low rpms and get top mpgs, and you spool the crap out of them for power.

American 4bangers have torque, but can't touch japs for mpgs because they're always on power in low or high revs.

At least that's how I kind of see it. If you know what I mean by my rough explanation.

I think the 'grave yard' for a TDI is a way higher threshold then your typical gasser. I drove my previous 99.5 extremely hard, and it hit 600,000kms with ease. To me, that's proof enough It still wasn't dead, I just got a killer deal on my wagon so that was the end of the road for the 99.5

If I could have one 'fun' weekend car it would be a '98 ITR in Championship White One of the funnest cars I've ever had the chance to drive.