Mpg argggg

Hey guys/ gals new to TDIs here. Really bought the car for its alleged fuel economy. I just purchased 2014 VW Golf TDI with DSG tranny and am kind of bummed with the economy. I keep on seeing these posts with people getting 40 mpg combined without even trying and here I am getting 34-35 trying. Is it because its not broken in? Is there something wrong? I know it is a DSG and wont get as good a a manual but I mean this car suffers that much loss by being DSG?? Please I need some feedback
PS I have 650 mi on the car so far

How much of that is city/urban driving?

OK this is my second tank. I would say that there was 60% city and 30% cruising

be patient.

I track my mileage on fuelly (see below).

For my 2006 5 speed, bought in Dec 06.
In 2007 I had 15 fuel-ups, avg mp(US)gal: 38.7 mpg.
2009, 18 fuel-ups, 42.2 mpg.
2012, 32 fuel-ups, 43.4 mpg.
If you select your car, then scroll down to view annual reports, your data will be there, easy to access.

For me, improvement, on average, is 4.7 mpg, or 12% (43.4-38.7/38.7). I think at just over 100k km (62k miles), I was broken in. I'm at 100k miles now.

I track all fill ups (192 so far). Avg 42.9 mpg (US) for the life of the car.

You can expect your mileage to improve until 60k miles. What you're getting is pretty close to what I got (I'm 5 speed, you're DSG).

Thanks man! That makes me feel a lot better. I guess I am expecting alittle too much too soon. Sorry for the paranoia lol

Check back in 20,000 miles. A little patience is good thing.

Bill

My Passat is rated 30/40 with a combined total of 34. I'm averaging about 40.5 mpg total over 20k miles When i drive just on the highway, I'm close to 50mpg. I'm about 70-80% city driving, all metro city driving, roads around 35-45 mph. Traffic lights at major intersections about every 1 mile. I live in Michigan so winters are pretty rough and this past one was very cold. During winter months I had tanks around 33-34mpg. My last 4 tanks have been 46, 43, 41, 44.

Mine is a DSG and I'm thrilled to be averaging 40MPG on a car that's bigger than the 2002 VW Passat that it replaced which averaged about 24.

I think many people have to adjust to driving these cars, and they do take time to break in. I've always driven slowly so I didn't have much adjustment to make. I usually drive about 68MPH on the freeway where the speed limit is 70MPH. I don't drive much with the cruise and coast where I can. With the way I accelerate, my car rarely hits 2k RPM's. I try to coast to lights and keep momentum going as best I can. But like i said, these are trends that I followed before I got my diesel.

Will do! Love this forum so far. A wealth of info with friendly members. I came from a Mazdaspeed forum and I was fed to the wolves lol

Vlady said:

Will do! Love this forum so far. A wealth of info with friendly members. I came from a Mazdaspeed forum and I was fed to the wolves lol

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I drive the 2010 JSW tdi that's in the family from time to time. It's now over 70k kms (40k miles) and we're only now starting to see over 40 mpg more consistently.

My fuelly for the first 13000 miles is 40.6mpg. Tracking every fill up since new.
Probably 60% highway. Also, you have only 1.5 maybe 2 full tanks through it. If you bought it new, I propose the first was not truly a full one. The dealers rarely actually fill it. They just fill enough to make the gauge show full. Track it in fuelly and report back in 5000 miles.

Forgot to mention - I tow a 2000 lb trailer a fair amount, and my mileage drops to 32 mpg (vs 44 average without the trailer).

650 miles is less than a tank. WAY too soon to tell how you're doing. The newer engines don't "break in" as much as the older ones, but you'll likely learn from experience how to improve mileage over time. Pay attention, read articles here, don't freak out when winter mileage plummets, and you'll be fine. Also remember most of us who get 50+ mpg have long highway commutes--city driving will reduce mileage quite a bit, but you'll likely wind up much better than that first tank indicated.

Just picked up a 13 golf TDI w/ DSG myself, so I am new to this car as well. If you do a lot of stopping and starting it really hurts the fuel mileage. Driving style can play a big part in fuel economy. Take it easy on acceleration and try to keep the RPM's below 2000. Also as the tires wear in fuel mileage will go up too.

On the highway, lower speeds help, huge difference between 65 and 70, 70 and 80...

Also remember, it's not just about the car, but also the driver. As you learn your vehicle very minor changes can have a big impact on your fuel economy. simply coasting to a light rather than driving right up and slamming on the brakes can make a big difference in your fuel economy. That said, there are variables you can control and variables you can't. Of the variables you can control how much control you have over them depends on how much effort you're willing to put into it. Yes, a TDI will normally have better mileage than a gasser everything else being equal, or you can make that even better by adding your input into the equation. MPG is sort of like martial arts.....there's always somebody better. You also have to make sure you're not doing an apples/oranges comparison. For example. My mileage is very heavily weighted to extended highway trips. As such my mileage could NOT be considered typical much less compared to someone running a high percentage of city and/or shorter trips. You need to attempt to compare against people driving as you do. Further, has fuel economy improves the 'swing' seems to get much bigger, but in reality the percentage of fuel used is less different. A difference between 40mpg and 43mpg is really only a 7.5% improvement which translates to about 0.23 fluid ounces per gallon per mile or 1.2 gallons per tank. In comparison the difference between 20mpg and 23 mpg is 15% or 0.84 fluid ounces per mile or 4 gallons per tank (assuming the same 600 mile tank)

Small changes can make big changes in your mpg as your overall average mpg gets higher.

EPA numbers for your car are 30 city/42 highway. You say you're doing 60% city driving and getting 34-35. Sounds about right. Friend of mine who bought a Sportwagen the same time I bought my Golf does almost all city driving and gets mid-30s in the summer, low 30s in the winter.

Your economy will improve, but with the mix of driving you're doing I doubt you'll consistently break 40 MPG. Despite what the EPA numbers say DSG cars do take a bigger hit in city driving. You'll see it in Fuelly numbers.

Think of it this way: you're probably getting 10 more MPG than you would in an equivalent gasser. I hope you enjoy the car.

Scoutx said:

simply coasting to a light rather than driving right up and slamming on the brakes can make a big difference in your fuel economy.

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Not to mention your brakes! Abusive braking like that can result in big repair bills.

Scoutx said:

Further, has fuel economy improves the 'swing' seems to get much bigger, but in reality the percentage of fuel used is less different. A difference between 40mpg and 43mpg is really only a 7.5% improvement which translates to about 0.23 fluid ounces per gallon per mile or 1.2 gallons per tank. In comparison the difference between 20mpg and 23 mpg is 15% or 0.84 fluid ounces per mile or 4 gallons per tank (assuming the same 600 mile tank)

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As I understand it, in Europe the official fuel economy ratings are in liters per 100km, which is more psychologically meaningful and easier to make comparisons like that. In the US, the equivalent would be gallons per 100 miles. To take your figures:

• 20mpg = 5.0 gallons/100mi
• 23mpg = 4.3 gallons/100mi
• 40mpg = 2.5 gallons/100mi
• 43mpg = 2.3 gallons/100mi

emmission controls are killing fuel economy on newer diesels. Its not just VW but all accross the board, GM, Ford and Dodge pickups. Personally I wouldnt buy any diesel car/truck manufactered after 2004. Too hard on gas and too trouble prone.

Well, in all fairness, anyone who buys a $25,000 Volkswagen to "save money" is bad at math.

For about half the price, you could buy a Mitsubishi Mirage that gets similar fuel economy.

I'm still surprised at how much people complain about the new cars' FE. I drove my Golf into Boston last Saturday. Some heavy traffic, some time at 75 MPH, some idling around a neighborhood looking for a parking space and then time in a garage. A/C on the whole time. MFI (which is reliably 2 MPG high) read 51.2 MPG for the 68 miles. Lifetime MPG is 43. I don't understand the problem.

Vlady said:

Hey guys/ gals new to TDIs here. Really bought the car for its alleged fuel economy. I just purchased 2014 VW Golf TDI with DSG tranny and am kind of bummed with the economy. I keep on seeing these posts with people getting 40 mpg combined without even trying and here I am getting 34-35 trying. Is it because its not broken in? Is there something wrong? I know it is a DSG and wont get as good a a manual but I mean this car suffers that much loss by being DSG?? Please I need some feedback
PS I have 650 mi on the car so far

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It might be best to focus on a proper engine break-in, and worry about fuel economy after 5K miles, give or take.

One good tip to increase mileage is to keep your instantaneous fuel consumption on the MFD.

IndigoBlueWagon said:

I'm still surprised at how much people complain about the new cars' FE.....I don't understand the problem.

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My guess is that some people are expecting diesel to be a magical cure for an inefficient driving style.

hybridkiller said:

My guess is that some people are expecting diesel to be a magical cure for an inefficient driving style.

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Perhaps. For years I've gotten MPG between the EPA city and highway figures on my cars, including TDIs...until my '12. It's the first car I've owned with the new, more conservative MPG measurement and I consistently achieve better than the EPA highway estimate.

I think part of the problem is dealer employees bragging that folks will get 50 MPG despite EPA numbers that say otherwise. And I also think that EPA ratings for DSG cars are more optimistic than they are for the manual transmission cars.

IndigoBlueWagon said:

I think part of the problem is dealer employees bragging that folks will get 50 MPG despite EPA numbers that say otherwise. And I also think that EPA ratings for DSG cars are more optimistic than they are for the manual transmission cars.

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I totally agree with the first part of that. But my experience with the DSG suggests that driving style is a much bigger factor than the slightly shorter DSG gearing. Cruising @ <65 mph (no AC and no headwind) I'm pretty consistently exceeding 50 mpg. 70 mph knocks it down to about 48. The thing is, I've very carefully verified odometer accuracy and calculated consumption over many thousands of miles, not just a few fill-ups (MFI mpg is 7% optimistic) - mainly because I couldn't believe the car was really doing that well.
Of course maybe I just happened to get a powertrain that performs better than average, idk.

IndigoBlueWagon said:

I think part of the problem is dealer employees bragging that folks will get 50 MPG despite EPA numbers that say otherwise. And I also think that EPA ratings for DSG cars are more optimistic than they are for the manual transmission cars.

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My dealer just said that my DSG was rated at 30/40/34 and that I would probably get slightly better mileage than that if I drove the car efficiently. I'm averaging around 40.5MPG over the course of a year, with a rough winter thrown in, with snow tires, with more city driving than highway miles.

I've only taken 1 long road trip thus far (from Michigan to Minnesota and back) and I averaged 50.1MPG (by pen and paper) on that tank with a family of 4, trunk full of luggage, with numerous stops along the way, in the summer (july) with the AC cranking the whole way.

Make sure your heated mirrors aren't on... Friend did that mistake on his 2014 jetta this year.

DDouble check your tire pressures. His were all off... Pre-delivery inspections are a joke and a cash grab..

PICK and religiously use a fuel conditioner.

Lastly, 80% throttle your way up to cruising speed.

Oh, and more than 30seconds of startup idling is futile. Even and specially in the winter.

Just my 2 cents.

CourierGuy said:

Make sure your heated mirrors aren't on... Friend did that mistake on his 2014 jetta this year.

DDouble check your tire pressures. His were all off... Pre-delivery inspections are a joke and a cash grab..

PICK and religiously use a fuel conditioner.

Lastly, 80% throttle your way up to cruising speed.

Oh, and more than 30seconds of startup idling is futile. Even and specially in the winter.

Just my 2 cents.

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Bolded is one of the biggest differences I've found between my ALH and my 7.3 PSD. The truck warms up decently quick just from idling (even moreso in high idle with the exhaust flap closed). The car seems to BARELY warm up from idling. The temperature increases so slowly that its pointless. Better to just driving away while cold.

CourierGuy said:

Oh, and more than 30seconds of startup idling is futile. Even and specially in the winter.

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Everyone says this... but when I idle for 15 mins on those cold winter mornings the cabin is definitely a lot warmer. I rarely do it, mind you... but it still works, and when its -30, the windows are frosted and you're hungover it sure makes the commute more bearable.

Are these conditions not all reasons why it would be worthwhile to have a frostheater/block heater?

BadWolf said:

Are these conditions not all reasons why it would be worthwhile to have a frostheater/block heater?

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A block heater doesn't help when you're at work in a big open parking lot and the high for the day is 6 degrees F.
Also, is your name a reference to the Doctor?