Gotta love Tdi economy

[neil]

I think I have babied the engine too much when new which has in turn reduced some of my economy. I don't drive the car too hard and was having some smoke issues (well, brown particulate issues rather than black smoke) so I did an italian tune up and noticed an immediate improvement in the particulate level coming out the back. So I'm now being a little more full on with the throttle and the particulate discharge has remained a lot lower.
An experienced VW mechanic (not VW themselves) did notice the overfuelling and they checked the EGR valve and MAF for me. No real issues to report but the MAF might be acting up. The strange thing is that the very first time I took the car for a long haul (so less than 2K on the clock) I noticed the fuel economy meter reading an awesome number (about 3.9-4.2L/100klm average) and then it has changed for the worse and settled on about 5.2-5.6L/100klms now. I know those economy measurements are not accurate, but I would have thought they would be "consistently inaccurate"...so always reading too high or low. Rather than too low one month and then much higher from then onwards. So maybe that's the cylinders getting glazed over from the engine being babied.

I also think that 90km/hr economy (as opposed to 110km/hr) would boost my numbers. Over xmas I'll be doing some long distance driving so I might have a chance to test out these ideas. But 1100-1200klms from 50L just doesn't seem likely. My 960klms was from about 52L if I remember correctly.

Tony

I have always used BP diesel as its recommended by VW and has a higher
centane rating then most others.
Might be worth doing a bit of a search on here for fuel additives as a few
others have used it to improve smoke output and better fuel efficiency.

[_ds]

Just driven a TDI Multivan from Melbourne to Perth

Filled up somewhere north of Adelaide, again at Mundrabilla and again at Norseman. Arrived back home with a good quarter of a tank remaining. According to the (slightly optimistic) computer, average economy was:
Day 1 (Melbourne, through Adelaide, through Port Augusta to Kimba) 7.9l/100km
Day 2 (Eyre highway to Caiguna) 7.5l/100km
Day 3 (through Norseman, then Coolgardie and on to Perth) 7.9l/100km

First diesel I've owned, and I'm pretty happy. One other thing I noticed about it - this thing EATS hills. Unbelievable.

[Buller_Scott]

Just driven a TDI Multivan from Melbourne to Perth

. One other thing I noticed about it - this thing EATS hills. Unbelievable.

lol. imagine a fully-loaded polo girl car with 3 ppl in it on the hills running into sydney from melbourne....

hill what? a ford territory (v6 4.0L glory power like some wankers like to namedrop) aint got ish.....( aww damn, im sorry, but when both brim-full, standard wrx gets smaller in rear view mirror.... deal with it fanbois)

i might only drive a humble polo.... but bets are off when it comes to going up hills. petrol dont stand a chance....

++disclaimer: yes i know diesels are slow, just like in le mans (audi/peugeot)

[NiekSavio]

6L/100km

[QUOTE Do the other 103kW 2L Golf V TDI owners get >1000klms from a tank regularly when on long hauls?

Tony

Tony, FYI

Currently have approx 6800 km's on my TDi 2.0 Pacific.
Started driving with a full tank and did 450 km's mainly freeway at 110 km/h and 3 people on board + aircon going as well.
Filled up after the trip and it worked out at about 16.5 km per liter.

Anyone:

Will this figure get better when the car gets fully run in?

Greetings

[tonymaroney]

fuel economy

NiekSavio...

So that's about 6.06L/100km, and if you used 52L you would travel 858kms. That sounds to be about what I get....but I get that with the a/c off most of the journey, and 1-2 people in the car. So I'm probably still not going as well as you. Your engine "might" loosen up more and give you better mileage, but mine didn't really. After about 5000km it was giving numbers like what you are seeing, and it has stabilised at that.
Did you run your engine in fairly hard or fairly gently like me? Running it in too gently seems to potentially give issues, so it would be interesting to know what sort of running in you have been doing.
Cheers,
Tony

[lunar1]

Still running the V 103 2.0 MY08, I'm closer to 920-940 on long hauls if I behave.

On the general premise of economy w/TDI -- I just like being able to have a heavy foot to use the torque anytime and not fret about taking a hit at the filling station.

Drive it like I stole it, and still stop as often as gramma in her petrol.

[NiekSavio]

NiekSavio...

So that's about 6.06L/100km, and if you used 52L you would travel 858kms. That sounds to be about what I get....but I get that with the a/c off most of the journey, and 1-2 people in the car. So I'm probably still not going as well as you. Your engine "might" loosen up more and give you better mileage, but mine didn't really. After about 5000km it was giving numbers like what you are seeing, and it has stabilised at that.
Did you run your engine in fairly hard or fairly gently like me? Running it in too gently seems to potentially give issues, so it would be interesting to know what sort of running in you have been doing.

Cheers,
Tony

Hi Tony,

I have been running it in mainly city driving. So a lot of stop and starts but not giving the engine heaps. Looks like I have driven my car very similair to what you have.

I have read somewhere that city driving is actually good for running in a car compared with freeway driving, but then again you hear or read a lot of different suggestions about running in a car.

A mate of mine at work drives a Jetta 2.0 TDi and got nearly 1300 km's from a tank full on a trip to and around Brisbane. He admitted though that he drove up to Brisbane with an average speed of about 90 km/h.

Regards, NS

[Mofo]

Best Ever Tankfull

Hi All,

Sorry to rehash an older thread but I just managed to crack 1100km on a tank in the beast and I'm feeling pretty chuffed with myself.
Amazing what pleasant weather, favourable winds and no air can can do.
This was on my normal weekly commute from the coast to Brisbane but with, admitedly, no major traffic issues due the sh*ty ours I work!
Always managed to get 1050-1070km so I was well please to get past 1100, had 0km left on DTE but you've go to live a little hey!
1101.4km and I'd fuelled up with 53.54L which = 4.86l/100km.
Now for 1200!!!

[rearrange]

Hi everyone

Reading all of your comments leaves me a little disappointed in my 2009 Caddy TDI's economy. The worst figure it returned was 8.1L/100kms, and the best is 7.4 which I got yesterday after a 800km trip from Adelaide to Penola and back (no a/c needed, no luggage, 1 x 60kg driver, good weather, virtually no other traffic, 110km/h - Cruise Control set, using BP Ultimate Diesel). The worst figure doesn't bother me as I know that my inner city stop-start driving is bad for economy (my previous Golf VR6 auto averaged around 11.5 for the same use). But I would have expected the rural driving to return a much better result. 7.4 doesn't even match the official URBAN cycle of 7.3 for the Caddy.

To reach the 5.3L/100km Official Extra-Urban figure for the Caddy I imagine I'd have to drive at 80km/h, downhill, with a tail wind! Are any other Caddy TDI manual drivers getting a better result?

[kaanage]

Is that the new CR version or the old 1.9 PD?

Preeny has one of the latter and says here that he has gotten 7.6l/100km average for Orange to Drysdale whilst towing a CAR TRAILER with the Mk1 on the back (and I don't doubt him for a moment)

[Preen59]

lyes i know diesels are slow, just like in le mans (audi/peugeot)

Quote worthy.

[gldgti]

Hi everyone

Reading all of your comments leaves me a little disappointed in my 2009 Caddy TDI's economy. The worst figure it returned was 8.1L/100kms, and the best is 7.4 which I got yesterday after a 800km trip from Adelaide to Penola and back (no a/c needed, no luggage, 1 x 60kg driver, good weather, virtually no other traffic, 110km/h - Cruise Control set, using BP Ultimate Diesel). The worst figure doesn't bother me as I know that my inner city stop-start driving is bad for economy (my previous Golf VR6 auto averaged around 11.5 for the same use). But I would have expected the rural driving to return a much better result. 7.4 doesn't even match the official URBAN cycle of 7.3 for the Caddy.

To reach the 5.3L/100km Official Extra-Urban figure for the Caddy I imagine I'd have to drive at 80km/h, downhill, with a tail wind! Are any other Caddy TDI manual drivers getting a better result?

I don't think the cruise control will do you any favours if your going up and down any hills. on a dead flat road, cruise might be better than the foot, but the brain is much better at being economical once hills come into play. (note, i've no idea if there is much in the way of hills i your area)

[Preen59]

I don't think the cruise control will do you any favours if your going up and down any hills. on a dead flat road, cruise might be better than the foot, but the brain is much better at being economical once hills come into play. (note, i've no idea if there is much in the way of hills i your area)

I beg to differ (With the VW cruise, some suck balls).

I find that the VW cruise control works tops and I am always going up and down hills on the highway where I live. The Mk4 and later cruise control is super sharp and very responsive. You don't get the delay you get with some other, older cruise control units.

When i was on the highway I was even using the cruise towing the car trailer, no issues what soever (except of course, down hills when I had to use the brakes).

[Preen59]

Is that the new CR version or the old 1.9 PD?

Preeny has one of the latter and says here that he has gotten 7.6l/100km average for Orange to Drysdale whilst towing a CAR TRAILER with the Mk1 on the back (and I don't doubt him for a moment)

I should mention that I am running a piggy back module (TDI- Turbo Diesel Innovations).. But this only accounts for ~5% better economy.

Don't be too concerned with your figures when the engine is new. They definitely use more fuel when they're tight. Wait until you've got about 10k on it and see what it's doing.

[kaanage]

I find that the VW cruise control works tops and I am always going up and down hills on the highway where I live. The Mk4 and later cruise control is super sharp and very responsive. You don't get the delay you get with some other, older cruise control units.

I think that gldgti is suggesting that a driver can get better economy than the cruise control as the driver can make small speed adjustments anticipating changes in the terrain (eg increase speed a bit downhill to help roll up the next hill while bleeding off a bit of speed) rather than just holding at a set speed all the time. This makes your fuel economy figures even more impressive.

Don't be too concerned with your figures when the engine is new. They definitely use more fuel when they're tight. Wait until you've got about 10k on it and see what it's doing.

I was disappointed with the fuel economy that I got with my 9N3 Polo TDi on a trip from Melbourne to Sydney and back when it was quite new (5.1l/100km actual). It seems to have improved as I've added mileage (now just over 10Mm).

Adding 2 stroke oil @ 200:1 seems to have helped too.