Mk7 Baby Tank 800 Mile Club

The Tortoise

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2017
Location
Ottawa
TDI
2015 GSW Trendline - White
Yeah, my minimum cruising speed is 70 mph. 80 if possible. But these are usually 4 hr drives so the extra speed makes a big difference on travel time.

While the fuel economy takes a hit, it's still WAY better than a gas equivalent at those speeds. At least that's what I tell myself.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
The old TDI rule was 60 MPG at 60 MPH, 50 at 70, 40 at 80. More or less. Seems that may still be true, except perhaps for the 60 at 60. I seem to see 42-44 at 75-80. Fine by me.
 

STOKTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
May 31, 2016
Location
Ohio
TDI
2015 Golf MK7 TDI
While the fuel economy takes a hit, it's still WAY better than a gas equivalent at those speeds. At least that's what I tell myself.
My buddy will absolutely baby his Civic SI for one tank and brag about his 32 mpg (normally 22-25 mpg). This is pushing clutch in on downhill and mostly 70-75 mph. I got 38 mpg going to school with cruise set at 82 plus stop/go traffic lol I just nod and say good job to him as he pays $3.50 for premium and I am paying $2.70 for diesel.
 

Blue_Hen_TDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 23, 2005
Location
Slower, DE
TDI
owned: 96 B4V, 06 Golf, 12 NMS, 15 GSW
I've done some experimenting with my '15 Golf DSG and the FE drop off from 60 mph to 80 mph is dramatic. Mid 50's to low 40's. Temperature is also a big factor. -30F and 80 mph is a ticket to mid 30's. Just this morning I had to contend with a 45 mph construction speed limit for most of my 27 mile commute home. Mid 50's temperature and 5000 foot altitude , up and down hills. I run my tires at 40 psi. The lie-o-meter said I got 55 mpg which really means 50 mpg. I imagine if you could drive on a warm day at sea level with the cruise control set at 45 mph you could get that low 60's average. Not practical for 99% of the world but there are always outliers.
If you set cruise at 45 mph, you would probably get close to 70 mpg. I would never drive that slow though. I always do speed limit or higher.
 

mxtdiguy

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2017
Location
Mexico
TDI
'16 sportwagen TDI sel 6mt
I love that our TDi's worst mpg's is better than a TSi's best mpg.

Now that diesel is the same price as gas in many places, TDI's should hold their value and hopefully VW can sell many of the ones they are storing.

Last month I did a 5800 mile trip through the southwest and my lie-ometer said I got 50 mpg over a 2000 mile stretch even though I was loaded inside with a extra large thule box on top.
This is after I adjusted down the lie-ometer by 10% with VCDS !


I found wind resistance to be the biggest variable so I used the ACC cruise control to draft behind trucks. The indicated difference was almost 10mpg better when drafting.
 

marcusku

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2003
Location
Madison, Wisconsin
TDI
Golf Sportwagen, 15', red
I've done some experimenting with my '15 Golf DSG and the FE drop off from 60 mph to 80 mph is dramatic. Mid 50's to low 40's. Temperature is also a big factor. -30F and 80 mph is a ticket to mid 30's. Just this morning I had to contend with a 45 mph construction speed limit for most of my 27 mile commute home. Mid 50's temperature and 5000 foot altitude , up and down hills. I run my tires at 40 psi. The lie-o-meter said I got 55 mpg which really means 50 mpg. I imagine if you could drive on a warm day at sea level with the cruise control set at 45 mph you could get that low 60's average. Not practical for 99% of the world but there are always outliers.
I bet at high altitude you'd get better fuel economy since the air is thinner and therefore less air drag.
 

sloinker

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 27, 2015
Location
Casper, Wyoming
TDI
'15 Sportwagen '15 Golf Hatch
I bet at high altitude you'd get better fuel economy since the air is thinner and therefore less air drag.
It's a trade off. Less barometric pressure means less oxygen density.
Sea level @80F, flat no trafffic roads without stop signs/lights and a 40MPH speed limit , no wind and High barometric pressure should net you a 1000 miles on the Golf's baby tank.
 
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marcusku

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2003
Location
Madison, Wisconsin
TDI
Golf Sportwagen, 15', red
I don't think oxygen density makes a difference so long as there is enough to burn what you are asking. And the turbo makes up any deficiencies in air pressure.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
I have to chuckle about threads like this, because we are so spoiled. I was rear-ended in my Golf over a month ago, and have been patiently waiting for "a friend" at our body shop to get it in, and have been suffering driving my gasser Passat wagon most of the time.... that struggles to get 25 MPG (on premium, no less). And every couple days when I have to feed it yet again, I feel my butthole pucker and think "this is how most Americans live" :rolleyes:

I may have to license and insure the backup ALH Golf soon if this keeps up.
 

sloinker

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 27, 2015
Location
Casper, Wyoming
TDI
'15 Sportwagen '15 Golf Hatch
I don't think oxygen density makes a difference so long as there is enough to burn what you are asking. And the turbo makes up any deficiencies in air pressure.
There must be some difference. When the NHRA visits Denver every year they talk about the large horsepower hit the fuel cars take and those cars are supercharged. Maybe someone has some technical information that discusses fuel economy versus altitude in diesel artificially aspirated engines. My brother says his old diesel Jetta takes a fuel mileage hit from his California home versus the Rocky mountains when he visits. It would be cool if Fuelly had a map overlay on their MPG charts.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
I have to chuckle about threads like this, because we are so spoiled. I was rear-ended in my Golf over a month ago, and have been patiently waiting for "a friend" at our body shop to get it in, and have been suffering driving my gasser Passat wagon most of the time.... that struggles to get 25 MPG (on premium, no less). And every couple days when I have to feed it yet again, I feel my butthole pucker and think "this is how most Americans live" :rolleyes:
I may have to license and insure the backup ALH Golf soon if this keeps up.
Actually that's better than most of America. I doubt the millions of Grand Cherokees, F150s, and Tahoes out there are getting 25 MPG. Probably more like 15-18.

My brother gave my son his '90 Ford F150 last month. The catch was he had to drive it home to Massachusetts from Montana. 16 MPG if he was gentle. It was a bit of a shock after years of driving ALHs.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Oh yeah, my F150 which is a 6cyl 2WD regular cab manual truck gets 15-19. My V8 diesel F350 with a supercab, 4sp slushbox, and a 4.10 rear end got the same. :p And it didn't care what was hooked behind it. Like, at all.
 

Claybreaker

Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2018
Location
Maryland
TDI
2015 TDI Golf SE
I have not come close to 800 miles. But I average about 42mpg mixed driving in Md to NOVA every day. Way better that my 14 RAM 2500 Maga cab. 6.4 Hemi. I would love to get 650 or even 600...is there something I am doing wrong.
 

Blue_Hen_TDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 23, 2005
Location
Slower, DE
TDI
owned: 96 B4V, 06 Golf, 12 NMS, 15 GSW
I have not come close to 800 miles. But I average about 42mpg mixed driving in Md to NOVA every day. Way better that my 14 RAM 2500 Maga cab. 6.4 Hemi. I would love to get 650 or even 600...is there something I am doing wrong.
No, you’re not doing anything wrong. The car is doing what you tell it to do. Conditions (environmental and your right foot) will dictate your mileage. For instance, the same car I posted about getting the 800 mile tank has been getting ~550-650 tanks and only 48-50 mpg as I cruise the Midwest at 70-75 mph on the 3,000+ mile road trip I’m currently in the middle of.
 

dataiv

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Location
Ottawa, ON
TDI
2015 Golf Wagon TDI 6MT
Since we're on this topic of the baby tank size ;) ...

Last trip I drove 961km on the tank (600.6 miles) and was getting nervous with 20km left on the range display and the needle was almost pointing straight at 0. I topped it off right to the top, fuel visible in the neck, same as previous fill-up, and I was only able to put in 43.321 liters (11.44 US gallons).

This suggests quite a bit of fuel remaining after 0km on the range display if it truly is a 50 liter tank. Are your fill-up amounts similar or can you fit more in? I sure do miss my A4 Jetta tank size, and thought the MK6 size was a bit small too, but this one takes the cake!
 
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marcusku

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2003
Location
Madison, Wisconsin
TDI
Golf Sportwagen, 15', red
There seems to be some variability there with different cars. When I get close to "0 miles remaining," I'm able to put in about 13.1-13.2 gallons. It would be nice to know what the actual capacity is when you fill to the top including the filler neck. Problem is to figure it out someone would have to take one for the team and run out. :eek:
 

jtree

Active member
Joined
Jun 30, 2017
Location
Mexico, DF and Tepoz
TDI
2016 sportwagen TDI SE
I'm very happily getting 35mpg with my 2016 DSG Kerma tuned TDI while driving 95% as fast as I did with my previous MK7 Golf R which averaged 20mpg.
 

nomadic

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 2, 2018
Location
So Cal
TDI
'15 Golf TDI S dsg
The key here is as you said a little, not a lot. I don't care what it sez on the sidewall of the tire 45psi is a lot more than factory recommendation. What happens when the tire warms up? I run 38 psi in 16" tires on my Passat and it is a slightly heavier car. I ditched the stupid hard riding 18" tires the car came with. I also run dedicated snows in winter at 36psi not no 45 psi!.

You are correct. Whatever the recommended psi on the door says, maybe 5psi more is OK. But 45 psi sounds over inflated to me.
 

tdiinsc

Active member
Joined
Feb 28, 2018
Location
Greenville, SC
TDI
2015 Golf Sportwagen TDI, 14' Jetta TDI
On most of our long trips, we are getting a hand calculated 50mpg (cruise set to 70) in my wifes sportwagen (phase 1), with a car indicated 57. Ive been trying to get her to note down what the car indicated vs what she is calculating so i can get the vag com out and adjust.

When you guys are filling up your cars, do you just fill up until the first click or do you try and squeeze in as much as you can before it starts to overflow?
 

Grigg3

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2006
Location
Lexington, VA
TDI
05 Jetta wagon, 15 Golf wagon
I fill it slowly until it almost overflows, otherwise the per tank mileage calculation isn't accurate.
 

Blue_Hen_TDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 23, 2005
Location
Slower, DE
TDI
owned: 96 B4V, 06 Golf, 12 NMS, 15 GSW
I fill it slowly until it almost overflows, otherwise the per tank mileage calculation isn't accurate.

Ditto.


And tdiinsc, your mileage seems pretty consistent with what I just saw on a 3,300 mile road trip. 70-75 in the Midwest and I returned 49 mpg.
 

sootchucker

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2013
Location
Colorado
TDI
2015 Golf
just did a trip from San Fran to Colorado...

1160 miles traveled. 72 MPH average and 48.2 MPG average....per the car. not bad.
 

Homerjj

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 29, 2007
Location
Canada
TDI
1984 Jetta Turbodiesel, 1983 Caddy AAZ, 2015 TDI Golf Sportwagen
Just drove straight home from Montreal to PEI (11ish hrs).

2015 Sportwagen, with DSG, 20,000 km, with: aftermarket rims & tires, roof racks, AC on, one passenger & some cheap Quebec beer on board. :)

Driving at mostly 128km/hr (79 mph) . I averaged 4.7l/100km (60 mpg).

Pretty awesome!! :)
 

Blue_Hen_TDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 23, 2005
Location
Slower, DE
TDI
owned: 96 B4V, 06 Golf, 12 NMS, 15 GSW
Just drove straight home from Montreal to PEI (11ish hrs).

2015 Sportwagen, with DSG, 20,000 km, with: aftermarket rims & tires, roof racks, AC on, one passenger & some cheap Quebec beer on board. :)

Driving at mostly 128km/hr (79 mph) . I averaged 4.7l/100km (60 mpg).

Pretty awesome!! :)

Most of the rest of us dropped into the 40s mpg under those conditions. Great mileage for 79 mph, AC on, two people, cargo, and a roof rack. You're getting mileage that most people can only get with an empty car, no roof rack, driving 55 mph. Did you have a gale force tailwind the entire time or something? Color me impressed!
 

Homerjj

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 29, 2007
Location
Canada
TDI
1984 Jetta Turbodiesel, 1983 Caddy AAZ, 2015 TDI Golf Sportwagen
Most of the rest of us dropped into the 40s mpg under those conditions. Great mileage for 79 mph, AC on, two people, cargo, and a roof rack. You're getting mileage that most people can only get with an empty car, no roof rack, driving 55 mph. Did you have a gale force tailwind the entire time or something? Color me impressed!
OPPS.........I forgot to clarify that 60 mpg is in Canadian or Imperial gallons. Our gallon up here is actually equal to 1.2 US Gallons.

So that might be why my numbers seem high. In US gallons I'd be getting 50 mpg.

Which I guess is still good. :)

Racks btw are the ones that sit flush with the rails.... not that it would make a big diff.
 

Blue_Hen_TDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 23, 2005
Location
Slower, DE
TDI
owned: 96 B4V, 06 Golf, 12 NMS, 15 GSW
OPPS.........I forgot to clarify that 60 mpg is in Canadian or Imperial gallons. Our gallon up here is actually equal to 1.2 US Gallons.
So that might be why my numbers seem high. In US gallons I'd be getting 50 mpg.
Which I guess is still good. :)
Racks btw are the ones that sit flush with the rails.... not that it would make a big diff.
That seems more in line with what I’ve seen with these cars, and yes, it’s excellent.
 

Mike in Anchorage

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2009
Location
Anchorage, AK
TDI
2016 Touareg Lux, 2015 Golf Sportwagen SE, new 4 Sept 2017;2009 VW Jetta TDI Sportwagen (Ruby) sold to VW on 22 SEP 2017
OPPS.........I forgot to clarify that 60 mpg is in Canadian or Imperial gallons. Our gallon up here is actually equal to 1.2 US Gallons.
So that might be why my numbers seem high. In US gallons I'd be getting 50 mpg.
Which I guess is still good. :)
Racks btw are the ones that sit flush with the rails.... not that it would make a big diff.
On a round trip from Anchorage to Skagway in June, I showed calculated 50.8 mpg [US] versus MFD of 51.1 and on the way back got calculated 51.9 with MFD showing 55.5 MPG. The return had Canadian fuel and was a bit downhill [Whitehorse to Anchorage] over 650 miles. I was able to get 12.7 gallons [US] into it and I thought I was running on what diesel would have if it had fumes. High temps were about 31C.

In essence, I'm ready for all of us to go to liters and be done with it. 4.53 L / 100 km is a consumption figure I'm proud of.
 

2015GSW

Member
Joined
May 10, 2018
Location
SLC Utah
TDI
2015 GSW TDI DSG
Good job. I don't know if anyone has mentioned this recently but hypermiler Waynes Gerdes did 1014 miles indicated on 13.627 gal on a 2015 GSW TDI 6MT. To get there he drove 80 miles beyond DTE 0. That was the summer of 2015 right before dieselgate. If the manual transmission is 10% more efficient then 900 miles would still be possible on the DSG automatic if phase 1 and 2 do not lower MPG.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/community/index.php?threads/52188/
 
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