What are your average miles to a tank in your MKVI Golf?

[Asmerrill]

I drive 130 miles round trip to work. I have filled up 3 times, 2 of those were mostly highway with hills driving to work here in AZ at a speed of 64 - 74 mph. The highway tanks were 545 and 590. When it was 75% city driving, I got 492 because I can't get passed the fun of the turbo just yet. So I would say if I'm like you, and it sounds like I am, you will get high 400's to high 500's depending on how much city driving you do.

 

[lipshurt]

I always get 41.6 MPG. It is so consistent i stopped entering my numbers in fuelly. (white 2011 golf 6 speed manual)

It is also exactly the same number that he MFD display says. So keeping track of the numbers almost does not do anything. Just look at the display. I still run my numbers ever couple of weeks though.

I just drove down from san fransico, and got 47.8 mpg for the whole 600 mile or so trip. Pretty Good. That of course was all highway, and driving 72 MPH on cruise.

I did not even feel the drive, cuz the seats are so great.

I have 34K miles on it now, with zero issues of any kind

 

[RomanL]

since i had the car my average is 535.8 miles / fill up
but there are some fill ups that were small, i topped of before long road trip,
but 99% of the time i go at least 550 miles.
alot better then 320-380 i did in my IMPALA

 

[JarHead]

Okay, I'll start off by saying I miss my 02 Golf. For more then one reason. Now I have 5100 miles on my 2011 I started this car out in denver where my 02 blew up...More or less my turbo blew up. Over Boosted heading in to the rockies and let go. So I pulled in to a VW dealer Emich I think was the name. Traded my 02 in for a new one. Now I had just begun a 4400 mile road trip. I drove out of denver heading toward Monument Valley Utah Made it on one tank close to 550 miles or so. Now with mostly highway on a brand new motor I averaged right at 42.8 mpg. I have put on about 1300 to 1400 more miles since I have been home and up to my last fill up I have been averaging about 38 to 39mpg. My last fill up I was at 42mpg and a little over 600 miles on my tank. So I will keep you updated I am almost threw this tank and I will let you know.

Also I kind of forgot to say what I liked about the new car...
1. Handling
2. Seats way more comfortable then the 02's
3. The Radio/Bluetooth.

What I don't like...
1. I know is a diesel but damn I cant tell.
2. It scares the **** out of me. Mostly cause of all the emission crap on the car.
3. It's not my 02 I loved that car it was my baby. 241000 miles of nothing but fun. This car I feel like I have to baby it the 02 I drove like it was on fire and I needed to put it out.

My advice when yours gets to the point where you need to replace it DON'T Do it. rebuild it. Don't get me wrong I like the new one but its not the same. I don't feel the connection with this car as I did with my 02. Maybe that will change down the road but for now not so much. Sorry for the rambling.....

Jarhead
Semper Fi

 

[mntbighker]

Well, what I'm getting from all this discussion is that my car is far from living up to it's potential. Of course the DSG could be largely to blame. The interesting thing is I have yet to sell my 2004 Beetle. So I suppose I do have options if this thing starts looking like a big mistake. I think if I could have any TDI I chose, it would be a clean low mileage 2003 ALH Golf 2dr. But good luck finding that. The ALH was by far the best TDI I have owned (99 Golf 2dr). I do like the idea of driving a cleaner citizen but the ALH is so awesome with just a nice injector set.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

JarHead and mntbighker, I probably would simply be keeping what I have if I weren't in the business of selling parts for these cars. It really makes a difference to actually drive the car you're talking to customers about, and right now our staff all drive rotary pump TDIs. I've owned an '06, and although it was helpful from a business perspective it didn't make me want to sell the '02.

I really like the Golf, would prefer a car built in Germany, want to get one before VW de-contents the next generation, as predictions indicate. But I don't want to give up too much of what I like about the MKIV.

Another option is to get a new Passat, sell my Mercedes, and keep IBW. Buying a car from the first year of production of a new plant worries me, but the car seems to be really nice (I saw it in Detroit in January and at Waterfest last weekend). I also don't see the Passat as a daily driver for me, too big. But getting a car with a larger tank and urea injection instead of the complexity of the non-urea emissions system is appealing.

FWIW, I had to do some driving yesterday and the low fuel light came on in IBW at 720 miles. So I probably got about 44 MPG out of this tank, including the fast driving with A/C. I figure that's 6-10 MPG better than I would have done in a Golf.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

JarHead and mntbighker, I probably would simply be keeping what I have if I weren't in the business of selling parts for these cars. It really makes a difference to actually drive the car you're talking to customers about, and right now our staff all drive rotary pump TDIs. I've owned an '06, and although it was helpful from a business perspective it didn't make me want to sell the '02.

I really like the Golf, would prefer a car built in Germany, want to get one before VW de-contents the next generation, as predictions indicate. But I don't want to give up too much of what I like about the MKIV.

Another option is to get a new Passat, sell my Mercedes, and keep IBW. Buying a car from the first year of production of a new plant worries me, but the car seems to be really nice (I saw it in Detroit in January and at Waterfest last weekend). I also don't see the Passat as a daily driver for me, too big. But getting a car with a larger tank and urea injection instead of the complexity of the non-urea emissions system is appealing. I was talking with a colleague yesterday about how long I can reasonably expect to keep IBW, and we agreed that if I care for it (and don't have an accident, my big fear), another 250K shouldn't be a problem.

FWIW, I had to do some driving yesterday and the low fuel light came on in IBW at 720 miles. So I probably got about 44 MPG out of this tank, including the fast driving with A/C. I figure that's 6-10 MPG better than I would have done in a Golf.

 

[MayorDJQ]

May last few tanks have been mostly highway (~80%) so I've gotten 550-580, averaging 43-44mpg, for ~13 gallons.

When I do less higway it's usually 500-520.

My fuelly is not up to date with the last two or three fills, but you can see that I've gotten some really good tanks so far, with 603 miles and 44.6mpg back on 5/5.

 

[Got Haggis?]

i'm just over 1000 miles on my new 2011 golf tdi - my commute is about 30 miles each way. going to work I have been averaging 42 mpg - going around 70mph - with the first few miles being city driving, the rest highway. coming home i've been getting around 39 mpg

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Just filled IBW. 733.4 miles, 16.2 gallons. 45.3 MPG, exactly matching my Fuelly average. The remaining 150 miles after Waterfest was mostly highway, mostly at 75-80 MPH, all with A/C on. If I can get 40 in the same circumstances in a MKVI golf, then I'll see over 500 miles per tank, easy. That would be OK.

 

[bkjendal]

IBW,
I have almost 20K miles on my '10 Golf. I've never had to fill up under 500 miles. I live up off of 495 and my daily commute is 35 miles each way to Andover. I normally drive 75-80, keeping it closer to 75 these days. Since late spring I've been usually getting 46-49 mpg on the daily commute, depending on traffic. This morning I kept it around 80, spending a little more time above that than normal, and I still managed 46.4 mpg. About 6 of those miles are on back roads, the rest are highway, but with an interchange in there, as well (and I don't hesitate to get up to speed ).
I previously had an '02 Beetle. When living in NH with a 45 mile commute I often achieved 45 mpg (I used to drive a little faster and more aggressively...80-90), but rarely better. (I stayed up in NH the other day, right near where I used to live, and I managed 51.4 mpg on the commute down to work, keeping it between 75 and 80, mostly.) When I moved down to MA and got an RC3 tune I saw my mpg go down to around 41...As I said, I have slowed it down a little, but I'm by no means a slow poke, and am now averaging much better (full tanks around 45 mpg right now) on the new golf. I had a few bad fillups in the winter (~37 mpg), but that was during the snow storms and cold spells...and still with barely 10K miles on the odometer.
At the end of the day, I don't think the mileage on the new cars is that much worse, especially compared to an ALH with an RC3 tune.

I'll try to post my fuelly sig:

If you happen to take a look at the fuelly stats you'll notice the recent tank at 41.something...that included Boston city driving, including about 40 minutes looking for parking in the north end, and driving at a speed far exceeding my normal on the way in.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

That's great news. It sounds like our driving habits are pretty similar. As you can tell by my Fuelly numbers compared to others I don't get great fuel economy. It is interesting that you saw a mileage drop with RC3: all the Fuelly records for my car are with RC6.

I'm thinking a '12 Golf may be the way to go: I'm sure I can live with a 500+ mile range.

 

[MayorDJQ]

A minimum of 500 miles highway is pretty easy. I usually cruise at 70-75, as I can't afford any speeding tickets or surcharges right now. Other thsn a few trips to Boston and North Amdover I haven't done any long range driving yet, but Fest will fix that.

 

[bsalbrig]

I am almost to 60k on my golf. The most I have gotten on a tank is 780mi...I had to try real hard to get there. I am convinced I could have gotten the car to 800 but the DTE indicator flashing at me scared me. All my miles are highway. My car does 45mpg if I want to go in the 75-80mph range, below 65mph the mileage is in the 50s. In the winter I take about a 5mpg hit. All these mileages are with me driving solo loaded lightly. I have had 3 passengers and babied the car and couldn't get the mileage over 42 on the highway. I am due a set of tires soon which I am very pleased to get 60k on a set because my 02 never did over 40k on a set.

 

[mntbighker]

My NEW Golf gets the worst mileage of all the TDI cars I have owned. And VW says there is nothing they can do at my 5k "courtesy inspection". They claim all settings are in spec and no codes. City and Highway get exactly the same mileage. Does anyone know if there are any legal channels to look into when the EPA highway numbers are grossly over stated? I have never seen over 430 miles on a tank. The service writer said he saw 2 Jettas with the same problem and they could do nothing for them.

Is anyone with a DSG getting even 500 miles to a tank?

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

As a somewhat irrelevant aside, I filled my '93 300D last week, just posted it on fuelly today. After 504 miles of mostly highway driving, mostly at 70-80 MPH, mostly with 4 people in the car, I put in 14.4 gallons: 35 MPG even. And this is with an indirect injection diesel with a 4 speed automatic that has it turning 3000 RPM at 75 MPH. Makes me wonder why I'd bother with a new Passat.

 

[Fordcougar]

I think if the DSG had a higher final gear ratio, overall and hwy mileage would be much better, the engine IIRC is turning 2500 @ 70mph if I run at @2000rpm It have no problem running 45+mpg

 

[btcost]

not exactly apples to apples but. .

I just drove my Father's 09 TDI to and from NYC. Car has 42k miles. DSG transmission

going 70-80. mostly around 72. AC on the whole time

42 MPG could have easily made it a 600 mile tank.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Thanks for the info. That seems about right based on what folks are sharing here. Sounds good to me. So Brian, do I part with the Benz?

 

[n1das]

I really like the Golf, would prefer a car built in Germany, want to get one before VW de-contents the next generation, as predictions indicate. But I don't want to give up too much of what I like about the MKIV.

This is one of several reasons why I got my 2010 JSW TDI when I did. I've got 40k miles on it now on the eve of its 1 year anniversary (drove it off the lot on August 5th, 2010).

I'm consistently getting 40+ MPG on the highway while driving it like I stole it. I haul ar$e with it on the highway, so I tend to drive like you do. I've been typically getting 40-44 MPG with it. On a recent trip to VA, I got 43.5 MPG on the way down there and 46 MPG on the return trip. 46 MPG is a new record for me in the JSW. Getting 500 mile tanks is no sweat. I've done 550 mile tanks but not much beyond that.

Rated tank capacity in my JSW is 14.53 US gallons. There isn't much venting to worry about when filling up. I found I can't squeeze much more than about a gallon into it after pump shuts off. The filling is a little more vertical and the filler neck is shorter than in an Mk4. No need to worry about venting because it's FULL very soon after the pump automatically shuts off.

I agree with you wanting to get one before VW de-contents the next generation. If that's what is motivating you to consider an Mk6 TDI, I say go for it and don't look back. I am VERY happy with my JSW. I love how it drives. Clutch engagement is smooth as silk and took a little getting used to but I adapted quickly. The 6-speed MT is nice. 70-80 MPH in 6th translates to 2000-2200 RPM on the engine and that's in the optimum range for long term health of the DPF. Overall I'm finding I like driving it better than my Mk4 PD Jetta Wagen. Ergonomically I like it better too. Between my 05 ATD PD JWagen (Mk4) and 10 JSW TDI (Mk6), the 10 JSW is my choice for driving on a long trip.

Lisa (g/f) and I went to Cocoa Beach FL during the Christmas and New Year's holidays and I drove the JSW. Averaged 44 MPG. I was well rested enough before the return trip that I drove straight thru from FL to NH (22 hours driving, 24 hours total trip time including stops).

I've been using my 10 JSW as my road car and the 05 ATD PD JWagen is used when I want to get my power "fix" with it due to the go-fast mods it has. The JSW has replaced my 02 Golf as my daily driver.

 

[1analguy]

'11 Golf 2-door TDI 6-speed manual here. 11,000 miles now. Only change from stock was to dump the 225/45-17 Continentals before taking delivery...and replacing them with 205/65-15 Bridgestone Ecopia EP100 LRR summer touring tires. The new tires are 0.5" taller than the stock 225-17s and have more or less corrected the speedo/odo error. An actual 65mph is now 1750rpm in 6th. I've never had a tank of less than 600 miles and on my last highway trip, if I'd driven until it was empty, I'd have gotten more than 840 miles...and the temps were 90-95F with the AC blasting nearly full the whole way, with the cruise set at 65mph.

I no longer believe that the mk6 emission controls are responsible for the lower EPA rating vs the mk4. I think it's mostly the chubby stock tires on the mk6. If there's any negative effect on fuel economy caused by the emission controls, it's more than compensated by the extra gear in the transmission. I'm no hyper-miler, but I do coast whenever traffic permits and I stay within spittin' distance of the speed limit. I just can't find fault with 44-45mpg around town and 56+ on the highway...

All this from a conventional, nice handling, fun-to-drive car with only one drive train. Screw Toyota...JMO

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I thought the '10 and '11 cars had little or no speedo error. I've seen one thread where that was not the case. Do others have a significant (more than 3-5%) speedometer error?

 

[PlaneCrazy]

I know my Canadian '11 Golf has a significant 6-7 km/h speedo error (optimistic). I agree tires may be an issue. We have 16" tires stock in Canada even on the highline, and in the US 17", and I often get the feeling that we Canadian TDIers are getting better mileage that the folks south of the border, under similar conditions. Heck my car will even do 600 km per tank with the bike rack on. Which I took off this weekend as vacation is over, so it's back to 1100 km tanks

 

[WVU TDI]

Just chiming in that I pulled 48.9mpg on a 260 mile trip from WV up to Cedar Point, range still says 505 miles to go

This was with A/C on, albeit it on low, the entire trip and cruise set at 65 or 70, whatever the spee limit was.

 

[heidelberger75]

49 mpg

We just moved to Germany and bought a 2010 Golf wagon (same as the jetta sportwagen in the US). It's got the 1.6 tdi good for 105hp and 185 lb/ft. Surprisingly not underpowered at all! I came from an Infiniti g35 sedan in Chicago and never got more than 22-23mpg. We just completed a trip down to Switzerland and got about 4.8 L/100km (49 mpg). That was acheived with a mix of speeds but a lot of the time was spent between 80-100mph. It's rated at 60mpg on the highway but I don't think I'll see that unless I keep it between 50-60mph (which is tough to do on the german autobahns! ) I've always wanted a JSW in the states. I love it! I figure i'm spending about he same amount of cash on fuel because diesel is the equivalent of a little over $8/gallon here . I just signed up on fuelly so I'll be keeping track.

 

[n1das]

I thought the '10 and '11 cars had little or no speedo error. I've seen one thread where that was not the case. Do others have a significant (more than 3-5%) speedometer error?

My '10 JSW speedo is near dead-on and I've got the stock Conti tires. The speedo has been verified by GPS and radar signs boards in construction areas on the highway displaying "Your speed is _________".

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I don't think a 6-7 km/h overage is extreme. I know the MKIV cars were intended to read 3 MPH over. Another MPH over I could handle, when it gets to be more than 5 MPH over I'd be annoyed.

And Mike I know I would never duplicate the range you achieve in your Golf.

 

[n1das]

I really like the Golf, would prefer a car built in Germany, want to get one before VW de-contents the next generation, as predictions indicate. But I don't want to give up too much of what I like about the MKIV.

One thing that really irked me about the new de-contented Jetta sedan are the rear drum brakes. It seems like VW has been doing 4 wheel disc brakes for practically forever. I am now officially p!$$ed at VW.

If VW de-contents the entire next generation as predictions indicate, my '10 JSW may be my last VW brand purchase. I'll look more seriously at Audi next time around. If I have to, I may bail on VW Group brands entirely and go with BMW or Mercedes for all future diesel car purchases. Who knows, someday I may end up joining the Secret Society of Benz Owners (SSBO) on this site.

 

[740GLE]

TDI doesn't get drums right? isn't it just the 2.0 that isn't even on the lots?

 

[geektoad]

with my JSW, I haven't gotten less than 600 miles out of a full tank for the last 10 fill ups (back to May 3rd). That's getting 42-43 MPG driving pretty similarly to your description of yourself.

If you look at my fuelly, you'll see an uptick at the end of June from the 42-43 range to 45-46MPG range. That's me slowing down from 75-80 to 65-70 on the highway. I still fill up at just over 600 miles because that's where it convenient for me in my day-to-day routine, but I could go more like 650-660.

I know you're not changing your driving style, I'm just more illustrating that 600/tank should be no problem at all, especially in the lighter Golf.