60 MPG / 900 Mile Club / 1000 Mile Club

[aggiegrad]

On my recent solo roadtrip from Houston to San Jose (new job) I decided to do a mileage / range run. I was hoping to finally break the 800 mile mark. I pumped the tires to 42 all around, cleaned the snow screen, added a gallon of bio, some Stanadyne, and filled to the brim in Houston.

906.8 miles, 14.952 gallons. 60.6 MPG

I now know why the 900 club is so lonely. Almost the entire trip was with the cruise control set at 57-58mph. It is downright painful to drive this slow for SO long. The trip started out with the intention of breaking 800, but when I realized I could break 900, I got excited. It wasn't until I hit about 750 that I knew I might hit 900.

Freaking incredible cars!

It took me forever to fill up the tank in Lordsburg, New Mexico because I wanted to make sure I got every last bit of fuel in so I could get a relatively accurate mileage reading. I probably waited a total of 20 minutes after the initial click to let all the foam settle.

Another interesting note is that I was totally loaded. The trunk had probably somewhere around 300 lbs of stuff in the trunk, two dogs, and luggage behind the front seats and on the passenger seat and floor.

All I can say is wow.

[snoopis]

Congrats! I've only hit the 800 mark once, and that was painful enough... I couldn't imagine driving slowing enough for the 900 club.

On the other end of the spectrum, I'm driving a Focus (rental car) right now, and put over 1700 miles on it last weekend. Fuel economy ranged from 21 to 30.5.

[aggiegrad]

I forgot to add:

2003 Jetta Sedan, 18,500 miles

[McBrew]

Welcome to the 900 mile club! We need a grill badge or something . I've been able to squeek out 903 miles on a tank while doing my normal driving... part city, part hwy. Keeping the max speed around 55 MPH is key... at least with the hills I have to deal with. On flat land, I could od a little better. Anyway, I've got nearly 500 miles on my current tank, and I'm not at the half tank mark yet! It's so hard to keep going this way... I'd like to fill it up, calculate my mileage, then return to my normal (more spirited) driving. If I can stand it for a few more days, I might make it to 900 miles again. Oh, and I did do about 5 minutes at 80 MPH on this tank. Couldn't help it, foot got heavy!

BTW, I have been doing 65 MPH in the 65 MPH zone that I go through every morning. This is about 8 miles or so. I could take another route to work that would have me going through a 50 MPH zone, but there's usually more traffic that way. I think I get better mileage doing 65 MPH than I would if I were in that traffic.

Anyway, congrats! If I make it to 900 again, I'll have to get a picture this time!

[mrGutWrench]

Welcome to the 900 mile club! We need a grill badge or something (snip)

__. Yeah. It's hard to get the "long" tanks but it's possible (for some peoples' circumstances). And 900 feels good and 1000 feels better!

__. I agree with McB, too, that traffic (slow-down/speed-up) seems to be a mileage killer.
'

[aggiegrad]

McBrew,

One of the tricks I used (I have no idea if it actually helped) was to only use A/C on downhill sections. I know you've done some experiments with VAG-COM looking at instantaneous mileage in different situations. Have you looked at this? Also, what have you observed with regards to weight?

I celebrated the 900mi/60mpg tank with a 80mph tank from the AZ/NM border to north of Los Angeles, and I agree with Maxthrust - 51 mpg.

I also wanted to take a picture, but all I had was a film camera with 100 speed film, and it was dark when I filled up. A picture could easily be faked, and I didn't feel the need to justify my mileage or range claims to Rogue or anyone else; I know I did it.

The only reason I was able to stay around the 57-58 mph range was that it was memorial day weekend and traffic was light, and I did a lot of early morning driving (got started at 2:00AM.) I seriously doubt I'll ever get 900 again - I just don't have the patience to do that again.

[VelvetFoot]

60+ mpg... the holy grail!

57-58mph is almost sub-VelvetFoot country, esp. going the tank's distance!

(Note on factors: Flat ground also helps...)

[jsrmonster]

Hi,

Also keep your windows up. I notice egt raises 100 degrees when the windows are down at 70mph. The drag really increases. The AC really has no affect on the egts.

Jeff

[PDJetta]

Utterly amazing! I had no idea drag was that great from open windows.

--Nate

[woofie2]

Tint your windows , to keep the temperature down in the car with the windows up, and run the vent fan, (or the A/C on low) the car stays cooler and well it looks cool.
I will be shooting for 900 at the end of the month when I leave on vacation or on my return trip from Colorado the beginning of July (got 40mpg in my gas Golf 3 years ago). I have seen 700 regularly in my TDI, last week I hit 680 when the fuel light came on and I was coming up on a station with $1.539 diesel so I had to stop.

[ertzog]

At 14.592 gallons/906 miles.... if you had been topped off at the start, you could have made it comfortably into the 1000 mile club, no question.

[McBrew]

aggiegrad, I don't think that A/C trick would work for me... the hills here are small, but many. In one mile, there sould be three or four hills. I don't think it would be good for the A/C system to be turning it on and off that much. The weather has been pretty moderate this past week... in the 70s... so I haven't had to run the A/C much. However, I don't hesitate to use the A/C when it would be more comfortable.

Jeff, good info on the EGT. When the weather is nice, I like to have the windows down if I'm driving sub 50 MPH. Above that, it can become annoying. When I leave work, my first 6 miles is about 40 MPH average... with about 6 traffic lights . I'll drive with the windows down for that leg, but once I get on the highway (Rt.50, for you locals) the windows go up. Then I drive through Edgewater.. a bunch of traffic lights and 40 MPH speed limit. Again, if it's nice I'll roll down the windows until I get into 50 MPH roads.

I always calculate my mileage... but I don't usually drive for extreme mileage. Maybe once every 10 tanks or so I'll do it just to prove I still can. I have yet to take a long road trip in my TDI where I can play around with really extreme mileage! My long trips are either in my Sprinter or my RV. They get 24 and 12 MPG, respectively.

[aggiegrad]

Tint your windows , to keep the temperature down in the car with the windows up, and run the vent fan, (or the A/C on low) the car stays cooler and well it looks cool.

That's about what I did. I only used A/C about 5-10% of the total time. When it got too uncomfortable, I turned the A/C on Max, either downhill or on flat ground. If I had to go uphill or when it was comfortable, I used the fan only on vent. Because about half of the tank was before dawn, I really didn't use it that much.

And yes, I do have tinted windows. In Houston, it isn't an option not to have it done.

57-58mph is almost sub-VelvetFoot country, esp. going the tank's distance!

Because the last 150 miles were early morning, I drove even slower - cruise set at ~52mph. I didn't mind going that slow because I knew I was going to make 900 easy and when the BEEEEP came at 856, I knew I would hit 60 mpg.

I also knew I would be in the middle of the desert around 1000, so I didn't want to tempt fate since I had already hit two major milestones which were a first for me.

[philh]

Because the last 150 miles were early morning, I drove even slower - cruise set at ~52mph.

Didn't you tell me you were driving in fog?

[aggiegrad]

Didn't you tell me you were driving in fog?

Most of the time through the fog, I kept it around 58. That was the first 250 or so miles.