IXLR8
Veteran Member
My last 2 tanks were 1040 mile tanks, looks like I will only get about 980 miles on the present tank. 90% of my driving is on the highway in the right lane with cruise set to 63.
My first thought is that your tire pressure is low, my guess is that it's around 32 PSI. Up that to 36-38 for starters and monitor a tank. Do you idle the car much? Others may say drive it hard, and that may work for some, but I like to get the car into the highest gear it will pull and let it eat. I dont use alot of A/C, but the few times that I have, I notice a decrease in my inst MPG display.How many miles do you guys have on your cars? I am flirting with 5k miles and I ask because I have seen a 2011 6.7 Powerstroke go from 16mpg new to 22mpg with 50k miles on it. First tank was the best tank at 43mpg. Averaging around 38mpg. Havent gotten over 715 miles off a tank since the first one. Granted this isnt all highway driving, but I do not have traffic where I live. I drive like a lil old lady trying to milk it. I am trying to avoid modding this car even though throttle response and exceleration suck. 2013 Passat 6MT TDI is the car.
Learning about TDI's.
You'll get the hang of it. Add the link to your fully acct so everyone can see it.Thanks for the info guys. I will get that TP adjusted tomorrow. I have a fuely account. Started one right before I bought my car. Thanks for the guidance. I am lost when it comes to driving for mileage. I think another issue is I let the car creep at 1100 to 1300 rpms sometimes. Other then tire pressure, this may be user error. I will do some more research on best driving habits for mileage and adjust how I drive.
Learning about TDI's.
Real nice, how come you waited for 2000 miles before you started checking MPG?I just did my first MPG check at 2000 miles. I got 42.4 MPG running 70-80 in the mountains of WV and PA on I-79 with AC on. Nice, huh? Should get better and better with more break-in. I'd bet a Prius keeping up with me (which it probably couldn't)would do well to get 40.
I agree on tire pressure, I went from 36 to 40 this last tank. I only have 14K, but am averaging 50.3 pen to paper. My MFI reads a couple 10ths low to about 53 MPG and then reads high after 54 MPG.I have 2012 SE Manual. with 38k on the clock. I pumped up my tire pressure to 44 psi. since new, I have Conti's. On my trips to Maine, approx. 200 miles. doing 70-72 a/c on, I can avg. 55+ mpg. Even back and forth to work, I avg. 53 Mpg. Winter time, this drops by 3 mpg. When car was new, I ran tire pressure at recommended 34 psi. and I was getting in the 48 mpg range.
Before all the nay sayers saying how this shouldn't be done. I have for years pumped tires up to point of them getting "squirlly handeling" on the road. Never go past that mark, you know when you have to much air. I happen to like how the Passat handles with higher pressure. Feels more BMW-ish. More secure in corners. Doesn't hurt ride that much due to suspension is already set for a soft ride.
Just for the fun of it one time on my trip to Maine, I kept speed at 63-65 whole way, and I got an astounding 58+ mpg.
These numbers are all off MFD, but I did check early on with paper and pencil, and found MFD to be within .2 of mileage. Close enough for me.
So if you want to boost you mileage, try upping your tire pressure to where you feel comfortable. This works for me, but may not for everyone. Won't cost you a cent. Can always bring it back down if not right for you. Rolling resistance is killer to mileage. Oh!, and just running around town, stop and go, my mileage is 48 mpg.
Gary
I have the MXM4's. On my 02 Golf I had no issue running pressures at 44 psi and the tires wore evenly. I believe the issue is the width of the tire, my Golf tire is 195 and the Passat is 215. When I ran 205's on my Golf, I couldn't run the pressures at 44 psi with out wearing the tires in the center either. Hmmmm, I ran 2 sets of Conti's on my Golf and I got over 70K miles each time. I am on my 3rd set of Conti's and I have about 50K miles on this set and they still look good.That's odd on the Michelin's wearing in the center. I used MXV4's on my 09 TDI Jetta, and they were doing fine. I "assume" that these are the tires you are using. My current Conti's are wearing well with higher pressure and show no signs of uneven wearing after 38k. Each tire, IMHO have different thresholds for uneven wear vs. pressure. The current Conti's are loud now, and I have maybe 5-8k left on them. not quite to wear bar yet. I plan to change to Michelin MXV4's again.
Experienced similar results with mine at these speeds, pretty amazing for a big car.I kept speed at 63-65 whole way, and I got an astounding 58+ mpg.
Lol, true.TDI owners are the only group that use "only" and "45 MPG" in the same sentence.