Jetta 2.0 TDI Consumption and Economical Driving Style?

[ian]

Checked my average litres per 100km in my TDI today and it was 6.4 which is pretty over 41,000km,

[stormshark]

I do mainly highway driving(80%) and i manually measure each fill and generally get 800-840 km a tank,which is 6.2l/100km actual. The computer read out is 5-10% optimistic always for me!My guess would be if i was in town it would be around 7.7-8l/100- i have the 125kw diesel with Bluefin tune. Not sure if this helps .. but back ground info anyway. I am sort of a bit skeptical with those that say they get say 900-1000km to a tank or the published 5.7l/100 the car should get!

[stickshift3000]

Acceleration is a major killer when it comes to fuel consumption. You have to try and minimise the time it takes to accelerate to reach your desired speed.

Basically, you need to keep as much momentum as possible.

+1

The trip computer in my tdi golf 2.0 shows an average of 5.7l/100, this is over the 120k km life of the car (lots of highway driving).

Around town I usually get about 800 km's. My consumption went down significantly when I fit a tuning box (reputable German brand - can't remember the type sorry). I've gone close to 1000 km's, but not over that. You'll never get near that figure if you only drive around town.

I think the best tool to reduce fuel is to get familiar with the fuel consumption readout in the MFD, you'll soon learn to adapt your driving style to reduce fuel if you keep an eye on it. Work out what sort of driving increases your average consumption, and what sort reduces it. Personally, I try to use the brakes as little as possible and plan ahead when it comes to slowing down.

[li21]

So with slowing down.. my habbit is to down shift and engine break in a N/A car.. I try not to in the Diesel but sometimes its habbit.
Is this going to kill economy?

I think getting to 60km/h as slow as possible seems to be the only way to keep the MDF avg kms below 8.0L/100kms..

Maybe I need a bluefin tune?

[kaanage]

Keep doing what you use to do - Diesel_vert said it before that diesels use no fuel at all when engine breaking, even down to idle, so by all means down shift when slowing down. I'll downshift into 1st when approaching stopped cars or a red light.

One other thing is to upshift when you need to only slow a bit or to maintain speed on a slight downhill so the that engine is braking but only just so you don't lose more speed than you need. Just be ready to downshift if you need to accelerate hard, else you will overfuel it and start sooting up.

[Diesel_vert]

... diesels use no fuel at all when engine breaking, even down to idle, so by all means down shift when slowing down. I'll downshift into 1st when approaching stopped cars or a red light.

I should clarify that the engine will use a bit of fuel at idle, regardless of what position the gear lever is in. As far as the car's concerned, sticking it into 1st with the clutch in, is the same thing as neutral.

So with slowing down.. my habbit is to down shift and engine break in a N/A car.. I try not to in the Diesel but sometimes its habbit.
Is this going to kill economy?

The act of downshifting to engine brake should have a minimal impact on fuel consumption.

I think getting to 60km/h as slow as possible seems to be the only way to keep the MDF avg kms below 8.0L/100kms.

Actually no, you need to minimise the time you accelerate. Get up to speed reasonably quickly and concentrate on maintaining it, but obviously no higher than necessary - this is where reading the road comes into play (for example, don't accelerate to the speed limit if you know there's a red light ahead). Shift into the highest gear possible that doesn't labour the engine, experiment and see what works. Be conscious of your foot movements and learn to keep it steady.

Switch to instantaneous fuel consumption (not average) on the MFD if you haven't already done so. And have you reset the MFD recently? Once the distance reaches 9999 km, it stops recording average fuel consumption and average speed until you do so AFAIK (feel free to correct).

Your driving environment (I'm guessing Inner Sydney, North Shore, CBD, etc. meaning lots of hills and inclines) will ultimately limit the amount of fuel you can save. That said, maintaining a constant speed on Sydney's undulating roads is extremely challenging to say the least, especially during the day, so don't be too disheartened.

Also, distances of less than 10 km from a cold start really hammers your fuel consumption rates.

Get rid of anything in your car that you don't need - weight costs fuel.

What is the make, model and size of your tyres and what are their inflation pressures?

Maybe I need a bluefin tune?

That only works if you have supreme self discipline.

[Greg Roles]

I do mainly highway driving(80%) and i manually measure each fill and generally get 800-840 km a tank,which is 6.2l/100km actual. The computer read out is 5-10% optimistic always for me!My guess would be if i was in town it would be around 7.7-8l/100- i have the 125kw diesel with Bluefin tune. Not sure if this helps .. but back ground info anyway. I am sort of a bit skeptical with those that say they get say 900-1000km to a tank or the published 5.7l/100 the car should get!

That's my average per tank, but I don't drive considering economy at all, and have gotten 950 with a lot of highway, so if you were uber anal you could crack the 'K". Should be very do-able in the 103 version on the highway.

[nutttr]

That's my average per tank, but I don't drive considering economy at all, and have gotten 950 with a lot of highway, so if you were uber anal you could crack the 'K". Should be very do-able in the 103 version on the highway.

Yup - Being easy on the freeway should do it. I did almost 950 from a tank (had 4L left!) but this was coming back through the mountains (Bells Line of Road) into Sydney from out west, so I'd suggest you should easily be able to crack 1k.

As someone else mentioned getting up to speed quickly - using the most boost you can - is the way to be economical. I do accelerate hard, but then I ease right off and am quite light on the throttle. And long distances being light on the throttle is where the real savings are!

[li21]

Oh man.. I managed 580kms this tank before the light came on

Just when I thought I had mastered keeping the revs within the boost range. (most of the time)

[kaanage]

Huh??
I'm getting close to 850km on a 45l tank in city driving with my 1.9l Polo TDi. The Jetta is bigger and heavier and your engine is a bit bigger but your fuel tank is also larger.

Which parts of Sydney do you go through on your commute? Is it really hilly?

[maxrob200]

Just got my 07 103kw Jetta tdi a couple of weeks ago and seem to be getting 900+ per tankful without letting the gauge go down to rock bottom. I drive mainly on the highway (80%) and dont baby the throttle when getting on the on-ramp to get to speed limit, set cruise and off she goes with a bag of marbles. Around town I rev to about 2000 or 3000 and then upshift at speed. I dont think I am using any specail driving techniques, just keeping in the torque range as suggested by list members. I am still learning how to drive a diesel car after coming from all NA vehicles for decades!

[stickshift3000]

I drive mainly on the highway (80%)

That's the key....

[brad]

I'm consistently getting about 630kms around town before I get the warning light and when i did some combined long and short distance.. I only got about 800kms.

630km warning light would still be 100-150km DTE wouldn't it?

[maxrob200]

Just out of curiosity, when the fuel warning light comes on, how much fuel/(approx km to go) is left before empty

[brad]

Just out of curiosity, when the fuel warning light comes on, how much fuel/(approx km to go) is left before empty

On my Skoda Octavia, the warning comes on the moment the needle hits the red zone of the fuel guage (1/8 remaining IIRC). DTE depends on what your current average consumption is (AVG1 not AVG2). Generally mine says 100km but last week I was driving like a grandpa & it said 130km; at other times it's been 70km DTE.

At a guess, it's 6 or 7 litres remaining