Real World MPG - 6 speed Manual

Greg,

Thanks for all your posts! Like you I drive about 4k miles a month. The quote below is a vague example from a DSG owner, so I'm wondering if any DSG'ers have well logged numbers? I'm curious to see how much they may differ from the 6MT. I prefer the manual, but since it's not an option on the SEL Premium I'll be stuck with it when I take delivery. I considered buying a Highline in Canada (family member is a Canadian citizen), but with the higher initial price and the 11% tax rate it's not realistic ($42k, no thank you).

poppytdi said:

12,000 miles on my 2012 Passat TDI,DSG 46.7 MPG average by actual gallons.
Mostly highway driving.
Mileage is equal to 2010 Jetta 6M I traded in.
Great Car so far.
Only took 1 bottle 1.89 liter of urea to fill the tank at 10,000 mile service.

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Hypermiler post those numbers!!!!!!!!!!!!

I haven't done the BSM on my '05 Passat yet and I am seriously considering trading it on a '12 6MT. There is nothing but positives coming from the mileage reports in this thread. Time to start checking local inventory.

For keeping track of mileage I use the iPhone app "Road Trip". My running average for the '05 is 34.32 over the life of the vehicle.

I just filled up, bringing up the rear in the mpg contest:

http://www.fuelly.com/driver/wolfsburgde/passat

I need to drive to Florida or something to post some 50 mpg tanks.

that or sell me your Passat

cant find a stickshift to save my life lol! guess we are going to order searched every dealer from knoxville, to memphis to little rock to atlanta to birmingham. found one platinum that the dealer couldnt find when i called, one blue (yuck), and one black ( i like the black but ive never had or wanted a black car)

My tank average mpg's are increasing as I surpass 10,000 miles, most likely caused by my decrease in highway cruise speed to 65 mph. This car is amazing at 65mph, I'm getting 55-60 mpg with the cruise set at 65mph highway......is this normal for other drivers of the 6M? My overall tank averages are moving into the 48-50mpg range these days.

I just filled up, bringing up the rear in the mpg contest:

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Wolsburg_de......what type of driving are you doing to get 38mpg's, seriously, that is unbelievably low compared to what I am experiencing.

gergg said:

My tank average mpg's are increasing as I surpass 10,000 miles, most likely caused by my decrease in highway cruise speed to 65 mph. This car is amazing at 65mph, I'm getting 55-60 mpg with the cruise set at 65mph highway......is this normal for other drivers of the 6M? My overall tank averages are moving into the 48-50mpg range these days.

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What is your driving split city/hwy to have a tank in the 48-50 mpg range?

What is your driving split city/hwy to have a tank in the 48-50 mpg range?

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My daily commute has a 20 highway mile section with 6-8 traffic lights, if I hit them I take a 1.5 mpg overall mpg loss/light, so it is quite a variable. I use the lights hit as an opportunity to run the engine a bit harder. The other 30 miles is highway, sometimes stop and go sometimes smooth sailing(this is where I increase mpg's). From my house to the highway in the moring is a 3 mile uphill stretch that really impacts my mpg negatively. The colder the morning the worse the mpg's. I notice that below 30 degrees results in a significant loss in mpg's(like 10-20%) I think that one's route has a huge impact on overall mpg's, in my particular case the 2nd half of my commute raises my avg. mpg's from mid-40's to low 50's. I am also very careful with city travel, in my particular case I can maintain a 45-50 mpg on my weekly "city" driving which is really country roads. As an example, I drove 250 miles today, cross country plus highway, averaged just over 50 mpg's.

gergg said:

Wolsburg_de......what type of driving are you doing to get 38mpg's, seriously, that is unbelievably low compared to what I am experiencing.

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4 mile all-city commute with average speed in the teens. Typically the coolant temp barely gets up to normal by the time I get to my destination.

wolfsburg_de said:

4 mile all-city commute with average speed in the teens. Typically the coolant temp barely gets up to normal by the time I get to my destination.

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...and...when the dash gauge reads 190, my scangauge reads 165 and climbing...for another 6-8 minutes, or 5+ miles, depending on traffic conditions. I imagine oil temp is lower still for several more miles.

These TDIs don't like (for MPG, at least) the cold engine, short, stop-and-go commute. The added weight of the Passat makes the city MPG much worse than the Hwy, but once it's rolling, the balance/aerodynamics/gearing make for amazing MPG.

Interesting that everyone is getting well above the EPA posted mileage.

Interesting that everyone is getting well above the EPA posted mileage.

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A damn shame, too... If accurately reported, we'd have a good case in Congress for TDIs to be added to the "ongoing" Alternative Motor Vehicle Credit. Many cars on the list get less fuel economy, yet receive the credit for each new purchase -- whereas only TDIs from 2009-2010 qualified.

Guess its obvious... Just finished doing my taxes.

Just completed a 2586 mile road trip. The MPG was 47.4 going ( 52.4 Bend to Redding Ca. 256 miles) speed was 70 to 75 mph. Comming back MPG was 44.6, speed was 75 to 80. Overall 46.5mpg.
I must say that the seats were so comfortable, I drove 1243 miles in one day!(I like to drive)
The car had plenty of power. I had it on cruise @ 70 and it never lost a mph. I was climbing over the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Even mid 40s is outstanding mileage for this size car. Much less the over 50mpg that is possible on long highway drives. My MPG has been down, but so have the temps so that is to be expected.

Did 310 miles today in the desert, mostly 70 - 75, showing 52.1 MPG for the tank. We will see what pen and paper show when I get back tomorrow.

This car keeps surprising me relative to the mpg's possible with it. I thought it was not possible to get 60mpg's, at least not from me as I just set the cruise at 65mph and let her go......well I have taken a few 65mph highway treks lately where I was able to get just over 60mpg's, just barely over 60mpg's, but over all the same. I have taken this same route many times now and seem to get 56-60mpg's, temperature seems to be the variable, but the most recent trip produced only 56mpg's and it was quite warm at 60 degrees so who knows. Car now has 11,000 miles and seems to be getting slightly better fuel economy as it breaks in. I always use the same diesel, from the same station(very busy Kroger). This route is rolling highway, get's a bit more uphill near the end and I do lose a few mpg's as I get to the end of the drive. FWIW, my MFD calculations are always in line with hand calculations.

gergg said:

I have taken a few 65mph highway treks lately where I was able to get just over 60mpg's, just barely over 60mpg's, but over all the same.

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Are you saying 60MPG trip from cold startup to destination, or resetting MFD-1 consumption upon reaching the highway? If it's the former, that's really awesome.

On my '06 PD, I do the same 350 mile commute twice a month with CC set to 65. In temps similar to yours, the best I ever did was 55.4 MPG, and average 51.5 MPG. Yesterday's trip was 43* and achieved 50.2 with some drafting. I'm excited the bigger Passat does as well or better.

Are you saying 60MPG trip from cold startup to destination, or resetting MFD-1 consumption upon reaching the highway? If it's the former, that's really awesome.

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Yeah, resetting the MFD-1, car is usually warmed up by the time I get to the highway. I have done this trip without resetting the MFD....cold startup from my driveway and back to my driveway and I'm usually in the 50-54mpg range(the longer the drive the higher the avg.), the problem is I have a bunch of highway traffic lights on the tailend of my drive that really brings down the average if I happen to hit a few of them, and I also use these lights(and a few hills) to exercise the turbo. I was really just testing straight highway mpg's at 65mph, seems like mid-high 50's is the norm and I have hit 60-61ish a few times which was stunning to me. Just watching this car in different terrain, I think it could possibly do 60mpg's more consistently at 65mph if one was on flatter terrain, my routes in North Georgia are fairly hilly....Eh, maybe is does even out though as downhill portions are massive mpg's and uphill are terrible, so I might be seeing the best case scenario? It will be interesting to see what the Spring/Summer bring relative to fuel economy. In any event, the Passat is doing better than I ever thought possible. I love driving this car...please be reliable, please be reliable

Instantaneous readings on the MFD are NOT real MPG's.

The proof is in the pudding when you fill up.

Miles driven over gallons pumped, and should be at the same pump, and to same shutoff point (no topping off before and reading at first top off on the final).

I love this reading the MFD for a trip without a fill up and quoting that as real mpg to make an argument. LOL!

Thats really good that initial purchasers are reporting mpg above the EPA vehicle rating. The same initial reportings occurred when the CR was released in the 2009 Jetta. Over time it appears though that the EPA was dead on (see Fuelly.com for such years). There will always be people that over report for one reason or another. Time will tell if this is different, but I doubt it .........

Please, no tricks with resetting the MFD on the fly.... report only pen and paper results to maintain credibility.

Thanks,

Bill

Today I talked to a 2011 JSW 6psd Man driver with ~21k on the clock. He lives in the mountains of CO, a ~mile down a dirt road. He has a really heavy foot and shares the car with his wife with most miles clocked in the mountains and since day one clocked 47-48 mpgs. I don't know anyone with a manual trans that doesn't exceed the current EPA rating by at least 25-30% on average in all types of driving.

My experience is that the current EPA rating is way off low by at least 25-30 %, especially on manual trans VW diesels. The only drivers I have seen getting anything close to EPA rating are drivers that don't know how to drive a stick and chose a DSG for this reason.

I love this reading the MFD for a trip without a fill up and quoting that as real mpg to make an argument. LOL!

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Dang, so sorry, can you please send me the official manual on how to hand-calculate mpg's and compare to the MFD readout, I'm really lost and can't figure that out on my own ...... I already said in numerous previous posts that I hand calculate EVERY time I fill up and my MFD and ACTUAL calculations are ALWAYS within 1 mpg......So, if the MFD calculations are accurate throughout a tank, why would you assume they are not accurate over a 160 mile trip? By the way, I have hand checked my partial tanks to MFD calculations over a partial tank, they too were very accurate. Try it out for yourself and report the findings, it would be interesting to hear some other results.

Please, no tricks with resetting the MFD on the fly.... report only pen and paper results to maintain credibility.

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Oh boy, you're on to my tricks.....I think I've reported more "pen & paper" calculations on the 2012 Passat than anybody on here, you guys act as if the MFD calculations are coming from a 1968 Mustang and not even attached to this car..... I've already compared my MFD to actual hand calculations over 11,000 miles so I'm totally comfortable with my reports here, Oh, and if you don't like them then ignore them......Geez!

gergg said:

Dang, so sorry, can you please send me the official manual on how to hand-calculate mpg's and compare to the MFD readout, I'm really lost and can't figure that out on my own ...... I already said in numerous previous posts that I hand calculate EVERY time I fill up and my MFD and ACTUAL calculations are ALWAYS within 1 mpg......So, if the MFD calculations are accurate throughout a tank, why would you assume they are not accurate over a 160 mile trip? By the way, I have hand checked my partial tanks to MFD calculations over a partial tank, they too were very accurate. Try it out for yourself and report the findings, it would be interesting to hear some other results.


Oh boy, you're on to my tricks.....I think I've reported more "pen & paper" calculations on the 2012 Passat than anybody on here, you guys act as if the MFD calculations are coming from a 1968 Mustang and not even attached to this car..... I've already compared my MFD to actual hand calculations over 11,000 miles so I'm totally comfortable with my reports here, Oh, and if you don't like them then ignore them......Geez!

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Dear confused:

This is the TDIclub and we do cover much more than a single model of TDI...

Some model years the MFD is so far off as to be a source of amusement, not information.... But Geez, you probably knew that already! :roll eyes: I had a 2006 model that was off by 7 MPG even running original tires. I calibrated it with VCDS and it was good after that, but I always quoted P/P when posting.

In short, just because your MFD is accurate, do not assume that anyone else's is too.
Reporting mileage ON A WARMED UP ENGINE is different than a cold engine, right? If it is not, why are you resetting it on the fly in the first place? Hmm? Would it be to claim one more MPG than someone else? This is not a competition.

Fancy footwork can make an honest man look shady... so always avoid fancy footwork lest we confuse you with someone else..... Right?

Bill

Dear confused:

This is the TDIclub and we do cover much more than a single model of TDI...

Some model years the MFD is so far off as to be a source of amusement, not information.... But Geez, you probably knew that already! :roll eyes: I had a 2006 model that was off by 7 MPG even running original tires. I calibrated it with VCDS and it was good after that, but I always quoted P/P when posting.

In short, just because your MFD is accurate, do not assume that anyone else's is too.
Reporting mileage ON A WARMED UP ENGINE is different than a cold engine, right? If it is not, why are you resetting it on the fly in the first place? Hmm? Would it be to claim one more MPG than someone else? This is not a competition.

Fancy footwork can make an honest man look shady... so always avoid fancy footwork lest we confuse you with someone else..... Right?

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Huh........I wasn't reporting about anything other than results from my car which is a 2012 TDI 6M Passat, under a very specific thread, under a very specific vehicle topic. Quite frankly it looks to me like you are trying to use "fancy footwork" to undo yourself from a less than thoughtful post. I participate on this forum because I enjoy sharing and learning about these vehicles, I have enough stress in my life, sure don't need to take any extra energy arguing about things on a darn forum with someone I don't even know....think about how silly it is.....do you have a 2012 TDI Passat?

Typical TDI Club banter... somebody says something... another argues against it. If you are that damn worried about whether or not somebody's "lying"... live with them. Calculate their fuel mileage FOR them...

Some of you are !#@%! R I D I C U L O U S... it's a damn car. Just drive it. Leave the guy alone... you are lucky he posts his mileage statistics on here anyways.

Yup...I'm "!#@%! R I D I C U L O U S" (wow...typing that out took longer than what I want to say...talk about ridiculous!)

We're all just trying to find clarity. Gergg's enthusiastic post was mis-leading to me, as well...I kinda/sorta knew what he meant, but I'm glad he clarified it in a later post. Nobody said he was lying.

Too bad he took offense at being pressed to clarify.

Ever hear of "your mileage may vary"?... how's that for clarity?