505 miles and 11 gallons left!

lupin..the..3rd · Jan 28, 2008

I love this car

100% highway miles. I drove from DC to Roanoke, VA and back again this past weekend. Fuel was B20, cruise was set @ 63 mph (gauge indicated) the entire trip.

Blue_Hen_TDI · Jan 28, 2008

So you got 72 mpg? Or did you vent well past 18 gallons?

lupin..the..3rd · Jan 28, 2008

Blue_Hen_TDI said:
So you got 72 mpg? Or did you vent well past 18 gallons?

Vented. Plus I fill until I see fuel level in the filler neck, which gives a total capacity of ~ 20.5 gallons.

My math says avg for this trip was ~53 mpg.

dieseldorf · Jan 28, 2008

Mr. Lupin, how have you determined there are 11 gallons remaining?

lupin..the..3rd · Jan 28, 2008

dieseldorf said:
Mr. Lupin, how have you determined there are 11 gallons remaining?

Needle on the gauge is half way between the 10 and 12 gallon marks.

dieseldorf · Jan 28, 2008

Now that's what I call seriously wishful thinking, Mr. Lupin. The fuel gages installed in VWs are some of the most inaccurate and non-linear I've seen in any vehicle.

I know when our B4 hit "6 gallons", you'd better anticipate fueling in the near future. If you entered the red zone, you'd better be saying a prayer.

daedalus · Jan 28, 2008

63 MPH indicated (probably somewhere in around 59 calibrated)!

You have far more patience than I, assuming Interstate highway travel. You must be very popular with the others on the road if that was indeed the case.

michael.berta · Jan 28, 2008

I hope you drove in the slow lane.....

Dimitri16V · Jan 28, 2008

11 gallons ? wishful thinking ...

dieseldorf · Jan 29, 2008

Mr. Lupin, how 'bout this? 450 miles and still full

I miss that car!

dataiv · Jan 29, 2008

My brother's B4 passat fuel gauge was terrible

Once you were at 1/4 of a tank, it was REALLY time to fill up ... a bit below 1/4 was empty.

lupin..the..3rd · Jan 29, 2008

dieseldorf said:
Mr. Lupin, how 'bout this? 450 miles and still full

Nice! Must be a wagon then? I wish I had one of those.

daedalus said:
63 MPH indicated (probably somewhere in around 59 calibrated)!

You have far more patience than I, assuming Interstate highway travel. You must be very popular with the others on the road if that was indeed the case.

Yes I think 59 or 60 is probably accurate. I was in the slow lane the whole time. If someone else wants to drive faster than that, they're welcome to pass me. It's not like I was doing 45.

werpknarly · Jun 10, 2008

fuel gauge

dieseldorf said:
Now that's what I call seriously wishful thinking, Mr. Lupin. The fuel gages installed in VWs are some of the most inaccurate and non-linear I've seen in any vehicle.

I know when our B4 hit "6 gallons", you'd better anticipate fueling in the near future. If you entered the red zone, you'd better be saying a prayer.

our b4 passat is dead on below 6 or eight gallons.

GeorgiaTDIJetta · Jun 10, 2008

Fuel Sipper

Last year, I drove from Hazlehurst Georgia (south Ga) to Fredericksburg Virginia and back on one and a half tanks. This past weekend, I drove from Hazlehurst Georgia to Tampa Florida (for the Keith Scarborough timing change job) and back to Douglas Georgia on one tank. This was part interstate driving (I-75) and part secondary highway driving. I set the cruise control at 65 mph going and coming. Its just terrible to drive such a long distance and not have to stop for fuel!

Maillemann · Jun 10, 2008

Contrary to what's been said here and that I've often heard, the fuel gauge in my B4 has been both accurate and extremely consistent. Maybe I got lucky.
Anyway, I can pretty much rely on the following numbers, and if I don't get them, I know something's wrong:

Coming off the 18 gallon mark: 160-180 miles
Tick (16 gallons): 250 miles
Tick (14 gallons): 350 miles
On the 12 gallon mark: 450-500 miles
Tick (10 gallons): 550-600 miles
Tick (8 gallons): 650-700 miles
6 Gallon mark: 800 miles
Just coming into the red: 1000 miles

That's when I start looking for a fill-up, though I still safely have a couple of gallons left, just in case. I have a ventecomy and top off just below the lip of the filler neck. Last tank was just over 60 MPG, which is fairly average for the summer.

Lug_Nut · Jun 11, 2008

I had to adjust mine,... now hers, to obtain better accuracy at the low range of the indicator, but now I have it displaying 4 gallons (first red line) with the tank drained and 5 gallons put in.
She mentioned late night that it has almost 500 miles and it has only just started to come down towards 18.

tditom · Jun 11, 2008

Note that Lug Nut has a wagon. (>25 gal capacity when vented, IIRC).

Regarding sedan capacity: Several people on this site have claimed 20+, but I've run mine out of fuel 2x, and it was just under 20 gallons both times (different stations) to fill it to the brim. There must be a variability from car to car?

Re. the gauge accuracy: I am not nervous until the gauge gets toward the bottom of the final red tick.

Mailleman- that is some phenomonal FE!! What type of speeds do you acheive that with?

john.jackson9213 · Jun 11, 2008

Lug_Nut,

Can all the fuel in your tank be used by the engine?

On my B4V, I pulled the float out of the tank and made some adjustments 10 days ago to adjust the fuel guage readings near the bottom of the tank. I put a in the tank where the pickup point is (had 3/4 inch of fuel on the stick). It looked like there would still be some fuel left in the tank, but no reachable by the pickup.

Any thoughts or experience?

Lug_Nut said:
I had to adjust mine,... now hers, to obtain better accuracy at the low range of the indicator, but now I have it displaying 4 gallons (first red line) with the tank drained and 5 gallons put in.
She mentioned late night that it has almost 500 miles and it has only just started to come down towards 18.

Maillemann · Jun 11, 2008

tditom said:
Regarding sedan capacity: Several people on this site have claimed 20+, but I've run mine out of fuel 2x, and it was just under 20 gallons both times (different stations) to fill it to the brim. There must be a variability from car to car?

Mailleman- that is some phenomonal FE!! What type of speeds do you acheive that with?

Most of my fills are between 17-18 gallons, and I figure there's a max total capacity of around 19.5 gallons.

My commute is over liesurely rolling country roads, with no traffic and speeds averaging around 50 MPH. On highways I set the cruise to whatever the posted speed limit is and be done with it. I did keep track of total drive time over a couple of tanks, each covering over 1000 miles, and calculated from that. At an average speed of ~54 MPH I got 65.37 MPG, and at ~65 MPH mileage dropped to 58 MPG.

tditom · Jun 12, 2008

Best I've seen with my B4 so far is 52 mpg, when I leave the cruise set to indicated 69 (actual ~67) for most of the tank. It is a good speed on I-94 here.

In looking at George's original post, I think his gauge is pretty darn close at that point on the gauge:
9 gallons used to go 505 miles (~56 mpg- certainly possible at the speeds he reported). Still ~11 gallons left.

toastblows · Jun 12, 2008

sometimes i let my trip odom. get up in the 800, 900s then i fill up and take pictures so it looks like i get 1500mi/gallon.

chiefdiesel · Jun 12, 2008

In my B4, we often travel from Atlanta to Charleston SC and back, we drive around town while there and refill days after we return. We constantly get 985 to 1010 miles\tank vented @ 72 mph with 4 people, luggage and using the A\C.

Dunhamjr · Jun 12, 2008

Blue_Hen_TDI said:
So you got 72 mpg? Or did you vent well past 18 gallons?

On my B4 with the tank vented we were able to get up near the 21 gallons in the tank from empty.

Dunhamjr · Jun 12, 2008

tditom said:
Note that Lug Nut has a wagon. (>25 gal capacity when vented, IIRC).

ah ha... if its a B4V, then yeah... 505 miles on 14-ish gallons is decent, not very hard to get.

tditom · Jun 13, 2008

Dunhamjr said:
ah ha... if its a B4V, then yeah... 505 miles on 14-ish gallons is decent, not very hard to get.

The OP (Lupin/George) has a B4 sedan. 505 mi on 9 gal is pretty good.

505 miles and 11 gallons left!

Veteran Member

Top Post Dawg

Veteran Member

Top Post Dawg

Veteran Member

Top Post Dawg

Veteran Member

Well-known member

Top Post Dawg

Top Post Dawg

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Well-known member

Veteran Member

TDIClub Enthusiast, Pre-Forum Veteran Member

Top Post Dawg

Top Post Dawg

Veteran Member

Top Post Dawg

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Top Post Dawg