44 mpg in an 03 Jetta automatic. Normal?

So I've been driving to visit my girlfriend at law school, from DC to Pittsburgh and back in my Jetta. The last time I went, my tank averaged 44.41mpg which included the trip there, around town and back... about 550 miles. This is with a completely stock 03 Jetta TDI automatic. I added Power Service to the tank, set tire pressures to 40 psi, topped up the tank without venting, set the cruise control to 65mph and kept the a/c off and windows up. This guy I know swears that my Jetta is out of the ordinary and it should get worse fuel economy than what it gets, being that its an automatic. Im not doing anything special, just driving like I normally would. IS my Jetta out of the ordinary or is this what I should be expecting driving 95% highway on a tank of diesel?

FWIW I filled up using Shell diesel with a posted cetane rating of 45, it has a fresh oil change and all of the filters are new, and the tires are stock sized. I've only had the car for about a month now, and I've made the trip 3 times. The first time I averaged 41mpg with straight diesel, no power service and a bit of speeding. The last two times I've averaged 44mpg with power service and cruise control set to 65. The trip from DC to Pitt is not flat either, theres a few good sized hills but nothing too extreme.

Anyways, let me know what you guys think. I love this car!

No - it's much better than average - count your blessings.

Before I traded my 03 Jetta tdi auto.for my current ride ( 2009 Jetta TDI DSG ) , I got 56 mpg and 978 miles on the last tank. This was accomplished with alot of effort/patience. I had to go deep into the bag of tricks on this tank! Not going the speed limit, alot of p&g, coasting, additives, blowing my tires up...etc. Most of these techniques learned from this site I loved that ol' Jetta, but wouldn't trade my 09 for the world!

That's about right for a 5 speed automatic. My overall average is 45.02 mpg driving pretty much like you describe - no particular brand of fuel, no additives and 38f/40r psi.

My 03 Golf GL Auto has a lifetime average of 45 mpg with 157750 miles.
I also drive 95% highway, with no special mileage tricks except doing the
speed limit most of the time or sometimes 5 miles over.

(O\=o=/O), 03's are 4 spd autos.

I get low 30's in town, and mid 40's on the highway when I don't speed and dont pass people. Passing destroys my mileage.

Sounds about right to me I get around 45 mpg with my Golf PD TIP.
Wish we had Shell V Power here with the higher cetane.

my 02 gets 40 in my local driving and i got slghtly higher last year goinf to idaho. my wife gets better tham me all the time. after riding with her i discovered she has no concept of turbo boost......or at least is not seduced by it.

good work with your car. is this a concerted effort to increase mileage?

2002 Golf auto: 40.09 lifetime mileage around Texas with A/C on and using PowerService. On runs to Louisiana and other parts of Texas (mostly highway) with A/C on and tires at 35 psi, I get 44 - 45 mpg.

Very happy with it, yes a 5 speed would get better, but then the wife would not like to drive it.

Jack_Berry said:

my 02 gets 40 in my local driving and i got slghtly higher last year goinf to idaho. my wife gets better tham me all the time. after riding with her i discovered she has no concept of turbo boost......or at least is not seduced by it.

good work with your car. is this a concerted effort to increase mileage?

Click to expand...

Actually its not, I just set the cruise at 65mph and cruised cuz I knew it was going to be a long trip anyway, I'm not much of a speeder tho. The only thing i did to actively improve mileage was aired up the tires to 40psi. I didnt use the a/c cuz it wasnt hot enough and having the fan on was enough to keep me comfortable. I would think that 55 mph would be best for fuel economy, no?

So basically, only one person has said that its not normal, and everyone else says I am getting about what would be expected.