Auto vs stick MPG

ponjohn

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 18, 2002
Location
CT
Hi All.

Had a 2005.5 and I recently took a new position that is 70 miles one way. Looking at 2012 + TDI.

I prefer a stick but I'd like to have a remote start...so how does the auto and stick MPG compare?

Thanks.
 

joep1234

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2014
Location
NC
TDI
former '04 Beetle TDI, now 2x '15 Audi Q5 TDI's, 2007 Dodge Ram 4x4 6.7
My son had a'14 with a 6 speed and it got mid to upper 40's depending how he drove. He went to Oak Island, NC drafting a simi and was in at 59.6 mpg as long as he stayed behind the truck. The newer ones with the DSG are pretty close to a straight drive. I have a '04 with a DSG and get 39 around town and get mid 40's on the hwy with a best of 47 going to Charleston SC.
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
Remote start is kind of dicey on these cars from my reading, due to the security functions. Read up on that first before committing. It can be done but IIRC you have to sacrifice a key to do it. It won't start without the RFID chip close.
 

narongc73

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2005
Location
VA/OH
TDI
2006 Jetta TDI
before i converted from dsg to manual i was getting 42 tops. Now with manual 53
 

BroncoAZ

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 25, 2009
Location
Flagstaff, AZ
TDI
2015 Touareg Lux, 2015 Passat 6MT, 2009 Jetta (long gone), 2011 Touareg (bought back 02/18)
I purchased a manual trans Passat last week. If you want a manual go search one out, I owned a DSG car (09 Jetta TDI) and was never satisfied. Remote start isn’t worth it to me, my car seems to heat up in a few miles and my seat heaters work very quickly.

This isn’t a fair mileage, but on my first commute with the new Passat today the computer showed 50.4 MPG. Running errands over the weekend it showed 47.6 and 39.7 on separate trips. I will use fuelly to hand calc, but this first tank won’t be accurate as I doubt the dealer topped it off when they filled it at time of sale.

ETA: I was surprised when I filled up today, 164.0 miles on 3.58 gallons of diesel with me fully topping it off. 45.7 MPG, no complaints here.
 
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251

TDI Owner/Operator
Joined
May 11, 2002
Location
NW IN
TDI
2015 Passat TDI SEL
I'm getting an average of 49.5 mpg with my 2014 Passat DSG. This is on a 35-mile (one way) commute on a 55 mph highway with almost no city driving at either end. The DSG does well on fuel economy long as it can keep moving. If you have a lot of stop and go then the mpg's will go down.

That said I did get about 45 mpg driving around New York City / Long Island during my summer vacation which included a fair amount of traffic and lights. Most of the roads had 25-35 mph limits but I did get up to 55 mph on the parkways which helped boost the average mpg's up but over half the driving was on local streets. I made it out to Greenport and East Hampton so those familiar with Long Island know I was way out on the east end of both forks.
 

crazyrunner33

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2006
Location
NC
TDI
'10 Golf(bought back)
51 mpg was my record in my 2010 Golf TDI DSG, 52 mpg was the max on the DSG 2006 when crossing over the Appalachian mountains at the speed limit. I usually get 45-48 on the freeway when driving a bit on the fast side, 28-35 mpg with my rush hour commute to center city on surface streets.
 

kjclow

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 26, 2003
Location
Charlotte, NC
TDI
2010 JSW TDI silver and black. 2017 Ram Ecodiesel dark red with brown and beige interior.
On the Golf platform, the manual has a higher ratio in 6th than the DSG. That's one of the main reasons for the mileage difference. not sure about the jetta sedan or Passat.
 

h4vok

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2017
Location
Denver (ex MN)
TDI
2003 Jetta TDi 5sp 171k
Someone I know installs for BestBuy and he said that is is possible to do remote start on a manual vw. Just have to leave it in neutral and you get one remote start for every one time you set the parking brake. So if you turn the car on with the remote then off without driving you must release and reset the parking break before you start again with the remote. This is according to him so not 100%. I use a FrostHeater personally. Like others have said remote start eats one of your keys for the system.
 

2015vwgolfdiesel

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 1, 2016
Location
Oklahoma
TDI
2015 VW Golf S DSG Silver
2015 Golf DSG

Best ever was 60.1 MPG round trip to Mom's house last year.

Over and back (to Day) 50.1 :(

Seemed like wind was coming from ALL 4 directions.

Back in Tulsa the wind "noise" 'bout went to zip :confused:
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
2015 Golf DSG
Best ever was 60.1 MPG round trip to Mom's house last year.
Over and back (to Day) 50.1 :(
Seemed like wind was coming from ALL 4 directions.
Back in Tulsa the wind "noise" 'bout went to zip :confused:

Dont put much faith in this guys numbers, the car only has a total of 5K miles put on it in the past 3 years.

6MT will always win over the DSG, there is parasitic loss of the DSG, clutch pressure is hudralic, there's circulating pumps for fluid and cooling. Also up until 2015, the gearing of the DSG was much shorter than the 6MT, think 200 extra RPMs at 65 vs the 6MT.

The '15's DSG are stupid tall though, 2000 RPMS at 75mph tall, not sure how that stacks up against the '15 6MT.
 

Blue_Hen_TDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 23, 2005
Location
Slower, DE
TDI
owned: 96 B4V, 06 Golf, 12 NMS, 15 GSW
See my Fuelly sig for my DSG stats: 55.7 mpg through 16k miles; purchased new in May.

Note that I only use the car for my mostly highway commute. No quick trip for groceries on the weekend. I use my GTI for that.
 

2015vwgolfdiesel

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 1, 2016
Location
Oklahoma
TDI
2015 VW Golf S DSG Silver
See my Fuelly sig for my DSG stats: 55.7 mpg through 16k miles; purchased new in May.

Note that I only use the car for my mostly highway commute. No quick trip for groceries on the weekend. I use my GTI for that.
I see one of your Sept fill-ups was 60.5 :D

Good for you.

My best (DSG) ever fill-up was 60.1 :rolleyes:
 

BroncoAZ

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 25, 2009
Location
Flagstaff, AZ
TDI
2015 Touareg Lux, 2015 Passat 6MT, 2009 Jetta (long gone), 2011 Touareg (bought back 02/18)
Dont put much faith in this guys numbers, the car only has a total of 5K miles put on it in the past 3 years.

6MT will always win over the DSG, there is parasitic loss of the DSG, clutch pressure is hudralic, there's circulating pumps for fluid and cooling. Also up until 2015, the gearing of the DSG was much shorter than the 6MT, think 200 extra RPMs at 65 vs the 6MT.

The '15's DSG are stupid tall though, 2000 RPMS at 75mph tall, not sure how that stacks up against the '15 6MT.
My 2015 6MT runs right at 2000 rpm at 75 mph, so it appears the DSG and manual are roughly the same ratio for 2015.

I do find it funny that the shift indicator will ask for 6th gear as low as 40 mph in town, but the revs are 1000 at that speed and the car will barely cruise. Anything under 50 mph is much better in 5th. I was surprised to find that 6th does seem to be an appropriate gear for climbing 6-7% mountain grades at 75 mph. I would think 5th would be more appropriate, but the EGT readings on the Torque app look ok in 6th. I just past 1000 miles since buying the car on 11/23, so I’m still learning what it likes.
 

jerrymander

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2012
Location
ur mum
TDI
f
With my stick, I get about 40 mpg with my idiot computer saying 46. I also have a one inch lift and 235 width tires. Rolling resistance and aerodynamic drag are killer.
 

Intech

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2005
Location
S. Central Pa USA
TDI
2003 Jetta GLS, 1999.5 Golf 2 dr
With my stick, I get about 40 mpg with my idiot computer saying 46. I also have a one inch lift and 235 width tires. Rolling resistance and aerodynamic drag are killer.
I have to agree with you on rolling resistance. When I first went to Nokian WRG3’s, I was told that they were the same as the G2’s. No way!!. With the G3’s, which were heavily advertised as a very low roiling resistance, my MPG’s jumped about 5 mpg. At first I found that hard to believe, but it was a fact. I went from mid to upper 50’s to low to mid 60’s. When I went back to the Bridgestones, it went back down about 5 mpg’s. I gave the Nokians with more than half tread on them to a friend of mine, and his mpg’s jumped about the same as mine did, and the only factor was rolling resistance
 

2015vwgolfdiesel

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 1, 2016
Location
Oklahoma
TDI
2015 VW Golf S DSG Silver
I have to agree with you on rolling resistance. When I first went to Nokian WRG3’s, I was told that they were the same as the G2’s. No way!!. With the G3’s, which were heavily advertised as a very low roiling resistance, my MPG’s jumped about 5 mpg. At first I found that hard to believe, but it was a fact. I went from mid to upper 50’s to low to mid 60’s. When I went back to the Bridgestones, it went back down about 5 mpg’s. I gave the Nokians with more than half tread on them to a friend of mine, and his mpg’s jumped about the same as mine did, and the only factor was rolling resistance

Better MPG is always a good thing.

Question please. Noise, stopping distance, and & a comfortable ride is my personal preferences.

Did those tires sacrifice some (or a lot) in those area?

Thanks :D
 

Intech

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2005
Location
S. Central Pa USA
TDI
2003 Jetta GLS, 1999.5 Golf 2 dr
Better MPG is always a good thing.

Question please. Noise, stopping distance, and & a comfortable ride is my personal preferences.

Did those tires sacrifice some (or a lot) in those area?

Thanks :D
Those tires were the most comfortable tires that I ever had, also no noise at all. Very soft sidewalls. Stopping distance was horrible, especially in the rain, one of the main reasons I got rid of them. Also, handling was squirrely, with the soft sidewalls, the car leaned, but the tires stuck. I also had to run almost 38 psi, to get some decent performance out of them
 

2015vwgolfdiesel

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 1, 2016
Location
Oklahoma
TDI
2015 VW Golf S DSG Silver
Those tires were the most comfortable tires that I ever had, also no noise at all. Very soft sidewalls. Stopping distance was horrible, especially in the rain, one of the main reasons I got rid of them. Also, handling was squirrely, with the soft sidewalls, the car leaned, but the tires stuck. I also had to run almost 38 psi, to get some decent performance out of them

..... much thanks:)
 

[486]

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 1, 2014
Location
MN
TDI
02 golf ALH
remote start is generally bad with any diesel

Dunno if they've solved the wet stacking issue with the later emissions package.
I'd imagine they very well could if they put their minds to it, being able to make nice toasty 1200 degree EGTs at idle.
 

1.9TDI60MPG

Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2018
Location
Canada
TDI
2006 1.9 TDI
35 MPG Ripping Hard

I get around 35 MPG if I drive her like I stole it all the time. Car does get around 5 hours of idle time on a tank so that makes it worse too....Standard 5 speed(2006 PD engine)
 
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2015vwgolfdiesel

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 1, 2016
Location
Oklahoma
TDI
2015 VW Golf S DSG Silver
6MT will always win over the DSG, there is parasitic loss of the DSG, clutch pressure is hudralic, there's circulating pumps for fluid and cooling. Also up until 2015, the gearing of the DSG was much shorter than the 6MT, think 200 extra RPMs at 65 vs the 6MT.


The '15's DSG are stupid tall though, 2000 RPMS at 75mph tall, not sure how that stacks up against the '15 6MT.

M6 at 75 MPH compared to DSG at 65 MPH is a joke

See my signature. With the FIX money and all dealership and VW discounts, my bases in a new 2015 DSG TDi Golf is a tiny $12,495

MSRP = $24,895

My car is original, and will have a 162,000 mile 11 year transferable warranty.

After one pays hundreds (or thousands) of dollars for MODs, then looks at the much better FE results .... well you see the point.

For the record, I spend (approx) 39 cents per day on diesel. Save all fuel tickets

Her (2015 2015 Toyota RAV4 LIMITED) is (approx) $1.13 daily, (no ethanol) gas.
 

tjpeterson96

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 1, 2014
Location
Winter Garden, FL
TDI
04 bew jetta
i always get between 500-600 on a vented tank with my tuned 04 auto BEW. 50/50 highway and city. and i like to floor it alot :D i always keep the tires at 40 psi and i always get better MPG in the winter due to not using the A/C. I guess we don't get winter blend fuels here in central Fl :p
 
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IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
One of my co-workers worked at a VW dealer for the past few years and says remote start is a bad idea on any current TDI. It's complex, expensive, and prone to issues. As posted above, these cars warm up (or cool off) pretty quickly anyway.

Regarding manual versus automatic, there is a long running debate here on whether or not there's really a penalty for DSG versus manual. What I've gleaned from many posts is that if you drive a lot of highway miles the difference is negligible. If you're driving in the city or traffic, there can be a significant FE penalty for the DSG.
 

Jetta_Pilot

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 14, 2005
Location
West Hill, Ont.
TDI
2015 Passat Highline TDI Candy White (SEL Premium) long gone 2002 Jetta TDI
If you're driving in the city or traffic, there can be a significant FE penalty for the DSG.
I learned to drive on a 3 on the tree shifter. I've had nothing but manuals for some time until my first auto.
As far as I'm concerned not having to be constantly clutching and rowing the gears makes an auto my choice!:D
 
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