700 Mile club Who's in?

[sdcatdi]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

I'm in. 736 best so far. Could have gone farther but didn't want to explain to wife and auto club if my expectations turned out to be unrealistic.

 

[mrGutWrench]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

704 is my record

(snip) I've been filling at the same station, and filling it to the point of being able to stick my finger in the fill neck and touch fuel....45.4 mpg ain't too shaby for an auto with 18k miles!

__. Hey, YS, are you venting (or ventectomied)? It makes a difference in getting a consistent fill. Of course, an average over a few tanks (3-5) makes exact consistency for each tank less important.

__. And yes, 45.4 MPG is very good for an auto in traffic.
'

 

[yosemitesamiam]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

704 is my record

(snip) I've been filling at the same station, and filling it to the point of being able to stick my finger in the fill neck and touch fuel....45.4 mpg ain't too shaby for an auto with 18k miles!

__. Hey, YS, are you venting (or ventectomied)? It makes a difference in getting a consistent fill. Of course, an average over a few tanks (3-5) makes exact consistency for each tank less important.

__. And yes, 45.4 MPG is very good for an auto in traffic.
'

I'm just venting..haven't had even 5 minutes of time to do the ventectomy. I understand about the consistent fueling...however I take a good 10-15 minutes to do it..always using the same station and same pump. I've gotten used to how fast it fills. Right around 10 gallons you can hear the air starting to vent. I keep the button pressed the whole time I'm filling. I go very slowly from 10 to 15.5 gallons as I don't want to foam the fuel too bad. I fill, and as it vents, I fill some more, let it sit, fill some more, etc, until the diesel is right in the fill neck. 45.4 was really about my best...that was being a good law abiding citizen too!! Driving like I stole it, my worst tank to record has been 37.8...that is shifting at red, running the A/C day and night, and driving about 80-85 on the freeway.

If I could bring myself to cruise down to 2200 rpm (60mph range)...I would probably improve on that as well, although I also run Goodyear RS-As in a 205/65/16 size (I think that's it). Typically, just normal driving, shifting at 3300rpm from lights and driving like a normal human, I have been averaging 42.3. That is around a 2600 mile average.

Let's just say....I'm happy!

 

[mrGutWrench]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

(snip) Let's just say....I'm happy!

__. Yeah, me too. I love this car!
'

 

[FuelBurner]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

I'm not sure what the big deal is. I get at least 700 miles on every tank. My best is 755 miles. I drive 60% hiway and usually drive 80 mph. I just came back from a trip to St Louis, drove 80-95 for hours and still got 704 miles on that tank, put in 14.48 gallons for 48.6 mpg. I run 40psi on the stock Michelins.

 

[yosemitesamiam]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

You drive a 5 speed...that makes a big difference!

 

[Old Navy]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

My old '00 NB could do it easy.

I am pretty sure the Jetta could, but we just never tried.

The longest trip the car has been on, was the trip to Hondo's GTG in MI.

It was a one tank trip and never had the bell.

 

[Milehog]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

I look for approx. 720 miles per vented tank in the winter which averages between 47 to 49 MPG. Currently I'm able to get 50.5 to 52 MPG on summer fuel. Car got 95K on it and I start off like a jack rabbit (love those high torque starts) and on major routes do 75 to 80. I could make 800+ mile every tank if a source of diesel was close enough to stop.

 

[McBrew]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

I've got 480 miles on this tank, and not quite down to the half tank mark yet

. And I've had my roof rack on for this whole tank! I should be around 50 MPG, give or take. Not bad with a roof rack. Keeping speed 65 MPH or lower.

Best tank: 54 MPG (903 miles)
Worst tank: 44 MPG (winter crap fuel)

My first 800 mile tank was on B100 biodiesel! I know bio has fewer BTUs per gallon... but I seem to get better mileage on low blends, like B5-B20, than I do with pur petro-diesel.

I haven't taken my Golf on any long trips in the 1.5 years I've owned it. I'd really love to see what kind of mileage I could get on the open highway... but when I'm taking trips, it's usually in my RV (12-13 MPG).

 

[yosemitesamiam]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

So what the heck is wrong with me then?

 

[McBrew]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

So what the heck is wrong with me then?

You have an auto with 16" GTI wheels... 45 MPG is pretty good mileage.

 

[yosemitesamiam]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

yeah...but I didn't notice any difference in mileage between these wheels and the stock 15s. The stockers had Continentals on them...these are Goodyears.

Anything at all I can do to improve? What I should do is take a trip to Las Vegas and back for the hell of it, middle of the week so I can go slow and see what mileage I really get.

 

[BigDaddy]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

Just returned from San Francisco. My pdi wagon 5-spd hit 700 miles and the fuel warning almost simultaneously. Fillup was 50.0 mgg -- using venting, of course. My goal is to go Everett Wa. to SF on a single tank. 830 miles is a big stretch for the PD -- I plan to chip her this summer when I reach 10,000 miles. Upsolute claims a 2-3 mpg improvement along with the extra power

( I coast down long grades, but otherwise drive at or just above posted limits.)

 

[McBrew]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

Yosemity, driving slower is the #1 thing you can do to improve your mileage. Check your tire pressure -- put it up near the max rated for the tire, unless the ride is too harsh, or they start wearing unevenly. I have been running the OEM Goodyears at 40-44 PSI since day 1 and they are evenly work at 44k miles.

BigDaddy... you say the light came on at 700 miles and you got 50 MPG? If you were fully vented, 50 MPG should take you a bit beyond 700 miles... more like 725 or 730 (until the light comes on). Maybe you weren't "fully" vented? You may want to do a ventectomy. It takes 5 minutes and you can fill up easier without waiting. Also, you'll know it's really all the way full.

Also, your light could be calibrated wrong. It can be reset with Vag-Com (I assume that still works on a PD). You do have to drain the tank, though. At 50 MPG, you should have about 830 mile range... but I wouldn't try to take it too close to that... you don't want to run out!

 

[BigDaddy]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

Thanks, Mac. I do the manual venting -- so don't get quite full. I know ventectomy isn't hard -- just hate to yank stuff out. I think you're right about 830 miles. How do you feel about the chip upgrade from a mileage standpoint? Also, any harm in running the tank and injectors dry if I carry a couple gallons in a can --

Thanks in advance!

 

[yosemitesamiam]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

Yosemity, driving slower is the #1 thing you can do to improve your mileage. Check your tire pressure -- put it up near the max rated for the tire, unless the ride is too harsh, or they start wearing unevenly. I have been running the OEM Goodyears at 40-44 PSI since day 1 and they are evenly work at 44k miles.

I am running 42/38 PSI now on the Goodyear RS-As. Seems to wear perfectly! I will try slowing down. Also, since we are here and I'm too darn tired to run a search...what fuel additive should I use if any?

Thanks!

Sam

 

[Tickbait]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

That's two memberships for me, back-to-back 700+ tanks. First was 757.x, and now 715.x with slightly less highway on this tank vs. my last. About to start a new job where I'll be doing 90 miles a day round trip and hoping to make it to the 800 ( or 900 mile?

) club before long.

 

[yosemitesamiam]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

That's two memberships for me, back-to-back 700+ tanks. First was 757.x, and now 715.x with slightly less highway on this tank vs. my last. About to start a new job where I'll be doing 90 miles a day round trip and hoping to make it to the 800 ( or 900 mile?

) club before long.

Probably make it to the AAA club before 900!

Make sure you take a gallon or two with you!!!

 

[McBrew]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

BigDaddy, running the injection pump dry is not the best thing to do, since it relies on fuel for lubrication. I've never heard of a pump dying from being run dry once or twice, but apparently is does cause excessive wear. It can also be difficult to get these cars to start if they are run dry. My old Mercedes diesels all had priming pumps on the injection pump... our TDIs do not.

 

[McBrew]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

what fuel additive should I use if any?

There's a lot of debate on this subject. A lot of people use PowerService. I used to use it all the time... but I've gotten lazy lately. I have been using it in my Sprinter... but haven't had a chance to fill my little bottles for the Golf.

BTW, I filled up on the way home from work yesterday... 499.5 miles, 9.376 gallons, 53.27 MPG. That's the best mileage I've gotten with the roof rack on!

 

[Tickbait]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

So I'll set my sights low, but you think 900 is out of the question? Anyone out there ever hit 900 on a single tank?

 

[McBrew]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

I hit 903 on a tank. My normal commute of mixed driving. I kept my top speed to 60-65 MPH. When possible, I set the cruise at 50 MPH. The key was allowing the car to lose about 5 MPH going up hills, even small hills, then regaining the speed on the downhill side. This allowed me to pick up an extra MPG or two.

I really stretched on that tank... after 903 miles, it took almost 16.7 gallons to fill it back up (ventectomied, of course). My mileage was just over 54 MPG.

I think it's getting easier to get those kind of numbers as the engine breaks in. I didn't see an improvement for the first 30k miles... my average was 46-47 MPG. Now with 44k miles on my car, I can get 53 MPG with the roof rack on. Even driving like normal, I usually get about 50 MPG nowadays. Early on, I didn't think I'd ever see 50 MPG.

Check out this thread of mine from 1.5 years ago.

 

[Tickbait]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

I am encouraged McBrew! Gracias on the 411.

 

[JettaJake]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

800 WOOOHOOO (finally)

Jake passed 34K miles during this tank and ran a personal best 809.9 miles on 16.331 gallons of ~B10 --> 49.6 mpg. These last few tanks I am noting increases that are easily 2 mpg over Jake's lifetime average. For me, this lends a ton of credence to the reports of increasing diesel mileage/efficiency with age. The goal of 50+mpg over a full tank is certain to come later this summer

700 is for sissies

 

[VelvetFoot]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

You're probably driving slower.

 

[JettaJake]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

i'd still be on the road

 

[Tickbait]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

Working on another righteous tank with 175.1 miles on the trip at only a hair left of the 1/1 mark.

 

[yosemitesamiam]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

That's impressive! Heck, I'm usually reading almost down to 7/8 by then...just barely eeking out 200 on my first 1/8th.

I've refueled today at Arco...topped all the way to the point of touching my fuel cap. I checked my tires...front right had 44, front left had 42, rears were at 38. I let the front right to 42 because the front left was just wearing slightly better...not much, but enough. I brought the rears up to 44 each (I know seems really backward) but they were kinda wearing the outsides. I'll keep track of them better...but I will say, it rode better on the freeway with the rears up higher...and probably cruised downhill better too!

BTW....60mph on flats and downhill, 55mph uphill is really strange...but only added 8 minutes to my 50 mile one way to work....just get nervous when big rigs are passing me by!!!

 

[Tickbait]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

50 miles each way? Sounds familiar. I am starting a new gig on Monday where I'll be doing roughly the same. Currently I am doing about 30 each way, but that's all about to change.

 

[yosemitesamiam]

700 Mile club Who\'s in?

Yep! 50 miles exactly from onramp to offramp...plus another 3.5 about on city streets....makes for a 107 day!