One Week Review 2013 Passat TDI SE 6MT

First of all, it took a bit for me to get used to the whole 6MT. I have never owned a 6spd and I wonder when I should be shifting from 5th to 6th.

I stalled three times in the first week, but have gotten to the point where I am completely used to it. I did a semi long road trip with the car loaded to the gills this weekend and was still able to record 46 average MPG for the trip.

When I decided to buy this car, I told myself I should be able to get 50mpg religiously because of my commute, I'm happy to say today was the first day I achieved the number after parking the car.



Very happy, limited myself to 70mpg with the occasional spike to 80 to pass someone. Definitely not babying it. I can leave with that for that mpg.

I had to change the tires at day 3, the hancooks are awful. I got the Conti's DWS and will see how the winter goes. I was going to get a set of dedicated Winters, but the last two winters they have barely gotten used, so we will see this year.

I'm really enjoying the car and the build. I love being back on a manual transmission, so much more fun to drive and keeps you thinking on those long boring commutes.

Thanks to all for all the assistance that led up to me purchasing the car. I really appreciate it. Here she finally is, parked for the day and the usual spot at work.

I wouldn't rely on the computer for accurate fuel economy standards. Use the one that really counts: miles driven divided by gallons of fuel used.

My MFI showed 50.7MPG (SEL DSG) over 200 miles (really maybe 49mpg, but good enough!) on a trip last weekend. Local driving and return route sucked the tank down.

Anyway, enjoy your new car!

My MFI is consistantly 5% generous

I can live with the generosity of the MFA. 3 to 5% is ok with me. I will check when I fuel up to see how far off it is.

How does getting new tires work with such new "old" tires? Do the tire shops give you some money for them, or do you just eat it?

You sell them to anyone who wants to buy them.

You could sell the 'old' tires locally. There is a lot of new blacktop on my commute and the Hankook tires are silent, as soon as I hit the older blacktop the tire noise starts instantly. The car is just so quiet that it makes the tire noise stand out. I dont think it is bad enough to replace them, if I had the cash and was considering it, I would go with the clear bra instead and tolerate the noise for a year or two as a trade off.
I noticed same thing as APT, on the first half of my last tank I was over 50MPG average, ran around town all weekend and killed my MPG. Ended up at 45MPG (MFI) for the tank

My 2013 SEL came with the bridgestones. Not that impressed with them so far. I lowered the pressure to 35lbs and that seems to have helped a bit.

I sold my tires to some dude on Craigslist for $300. Quick and Simple transaction...

Which is a steal if you want cheap tires to get you to past an inspection

I would never do it, but if someone else wants to... I rip the benefits!

1 year later and 35k later, I still love this car. I have put way too many miles on it, but that is part of the reason why I got it. It has been to the dealer three times and I may continue taking it there as their service has been impeccable.

The 10k windows do help, hopefully the price difference between them and the closest trusted VW mechanic is not that much. The VW mechanic is a 35 minute drive vs 10 minutes for the dealer. Also, the VW mechanic is the opposite way of anything I ever do so its really a discomfort.

Either way... Very happy 1 year later.

rmd0311 said:

1 year later and 35k later, I still love this car. I have put way too many miles on it, but that is part of the reason why I got it. It has been to the dealer three times and I may continue taking it there as their service has been impeccable.

The 10k windows do help, hopefully the price difference between them and the closest trusted VW mechanic is not that much. The VW mechanic is a 35 minute drive vs 10 minutes for the dealer. Also, the VW mechanic is the opposite way of anything I ever do so its really a discomfort.

Either way... Very happy 1 year later.

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Glad that you are happy, how about a little more detail, like; how many miles on the car, average MPG and what the trips to the delaership were for.

We love our 2013 6MT purchased 1/20/13, we are averaging 50.6 MPG and she just rolled over the 16K mark on the way to work this morning! Here's hopeing for another 150K trouble free miles!

rmd0311, which dealership do you use? Do they provide loaner cars?

I may be moving up to the Hudson Valley...

psd1 said:

Glad that you are happy, how about a little more detail, like; how many miles on the car, average MPG and what the trips to the delaership were for.

We love our 2013 6MT purchased 1/20/13, we are averaging 50.6 MPG and she just rolled over the 16K mark on the way to work this morning! Here's hopeing for another 150K trouble free miles!

Click to expand...

The car now has 35600 miles and am averaging about 46-47mpg.

3 trips for regular service. 1 for bad passenger side head light, 1 for radio update for mono/stereo issue with BT, lastly another for another radio update.

Typical day is 134 mile round trip to and from work, 95% highway.

quadrun1 said:

rmd0311, which dealership do you use? Do they provide loaner cars?

I may be moving up to the Hudson Valley...

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I go to http://www.hudsonvalleyvw.com/. They are great. They do provide loaners depending on the issue. I have only used the loaner once.