2002 Jetta Wagon MPG

I've been curious, I've had my 02 wagon with the ALH engine for about a year now having bought it used and drives great with no issues. I've kept track of the mpgs when I can and the highest I was able to attain is around 42mpg for highway as I have a daily 40 mile round trip commute to work.

My wagon does have the auto tranny so I know there's a slight mpg loss but hoping to swap it out to a 5 speed at some point once I have the funds to do so. I've recently changed the fuel filter and air filter and make sure the tires are properly inflated.

For those who have the wagons, what has your mpgs been and with what tranny? I was able to get 552 miles on my latest tank filled at 13.5 gallons out of 14 I believe.

My 02 auto wagon has a lifetime average of 40 mpg, but for the last year it has been used for local driving and it average closer to 35 mpg as a result.
Best was 46+ on long drives. I have put 16.4 gallons in a vented fuel tank.

I'm kinda wondering what fuel capacity my wagon has...usually when the fuel light comes on I've always filled it at 13.4 gallons. Never wanted to risk running it out since I am not sure how far I could go on the light.

ive pushed the light in my 06 BEW auto wagon to around 100km which based on my avg FE is around 5.5-6 litres. when i was venting i could get 61 or so litres back in to the bottom of the threads on the cap.

AVTechMan said:

I'm kinda wondering what fuel capacity my wagon has...usually when the fuel light comes on I've always filled it at 13.4 gallons. Never wanted to risk running it out since I am not sure how far I could go on the light.

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With venting you can get over 16.5 gallons filling right up to the nozzle end.

My wagon is an 03 with 5spd and I've never gotten less than 650 and on the high end 925 with the needle past the Empty mark. , mostly highway driving between 75-85+++ lol also with factory R32 18" wheels and rc3 tune at the moment and rc4 or five to come with a few more upgrades.

bajan

As to fuel mileage, will have to wade around a bit, but there are lots of data points here for consumption/comparison:

http://www.fuelly.com/car/volkswagen/jetta/2002

Well after doing the vent trick I was able to get 640 miles on my wagon from a full tank, which manually calculated was 42 mpg, and that's with the auto tranny. Not too bad. Didn't get the low fuel light yet either.

Plus it may have helped that I gotten a new set of tires (stock size) and new alignment.

last tank was 6.0L/100km....this ones looking better, over 300km on 1/4 tank. Still not getting full heat either, 165*F tops, grill blocked still and its been in the teens (*C) for the last few days

From dead empty to vented full, my 2005 holds exactly 17.41gal

diesel_fan77 said:

From dead empty to vented full, my 2005 holds exactly 17.41gal

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Wow...how did you figure that out?

Is the tank in my 2003 wagon the same?

All mk4 fuel tanks I believe are the same regardless of sedan, wagons or weather it was made in Mexico or Germany.

bajan

Wankel7 said:

Wow...how did you figure that out?
Is the tank in my 2003 wagon the same?

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I once ran out of fuel with engine running (trying to keep it from becoming hard to start after running extremely low on fuel) while waiting on a slow/defective card reader at said pump. Yours shouldn't be any different.

red16vdub said:

All mk4 fuel tanks I believe are the same regardless of sedan, wagons or weather it was made in Mexico or Germany.

bajan

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It's a well known fact, that although tanks are the same.........wagons use a longer filler neck/hose and therefore holds almost a full gallon more than sedans.

Getting between 34-42 mpg is normal with TDI automatic. Drop in mpg at higher speed is common.

I have an 02 Wagon that I did the 6 Speed swap with the diesel ratios and I see between 41 and 42. That being said the area I live in is very hilly and the roads are terrible. Fuelly is the way to go. I can do A B testing between tanks and leave a note for what I did differently for each tank. I have seen 17 gallons go into my car before. Venting is fun when you hit 200 miles on the trip before the fuel gauge even moves!!

diesel_fan77 said:

It's a well known fact, that although tanks are the same.........wagons use a longer filler neck/hose and therefore holds almost a full gallon more than sedans.

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Not to this cat...I learned

Good to know... my '03 has gotten a steady 42MPG since I got it a year and a half ago, doesn't seem to matter what the weather is (I'm in Maine), or that tires I have(Michelins Primacy came on it, switched to studded snows for winter, now have Bridgestone Ecopias). or even having a sticking rear caliper! It still hovers around a 42MPG average...

diesel_fan77 said:

It's a well known fact, that although tanks are the same.........wagons use a longer filler neck/hose and therefore holds almost a full gallon more than sedans.

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100% false.
I am running a 2001 diesel Sedan tank (which has the filler neck factory moulded)on my 2003 wagon it fits perfectly.

In my '03 Jetta wagon, I used to average 37-39 mpg combined when it was automatic.

Since then, it was swapped to a 5-speed manual setup. 100% stock transmission setup, except it may have a heavier flywheel or something. I don't know, but it has a very heavy, solid feel. It's not a bad thing! Stock tune, stock exhaust, Eurosport short ram intake.

A few weeks ago, I took it to SOWO in Georgia from here in Thornwood, NY. I filled it 3 times. On my first fill-up, I got 49.8, second time got me 53.2, and the 3rd time got me 55.8 mpg. I couldn't believe it! And that was with some stops in Pennsylvania, air conditioner on about half of the time, bad alignment (outer edges of both front tires are wearing out pretty quickly... waiting on my coilovers to arrive so I can get the alignment done), and no cruise control (hasn't been wired up since the swap). All 4 tires were set to 35psi.

I love this car haha.

With warmer temps, summer fuel and tires, the old 02 is back up to 40 mpg +-
This is with 80% local driving.
Winter FE was closer to 33 mpg.

My '02 wagon ex-auto used to get around 42 highway, 39 city. The 6 speed manual I swapped in took away that 7+ mpg penalty.