103TDI Range display

[Frankenstrat]

It's one of the undocumented features of United Grey Golfs.

[glidn]

Man you guys are lucky, My only ever read 870 at best. But in reality the best I have managed over 5 long trips is 745km's to a tank on my 103TDI golf.

which is kind of crap, as My Audi 1.9TDI use to manage 1200 on a tank.

[Frankenstrat]

That's because the Aussie km is worth more than the NZ km...

[Idle]

Distance per tank largely depends on your driving style, your attitude to refill levels and your patience when you refill.

With diesel, if you fill fast and hang up the nozzle when it clicks off, your tank will never be full as quite a large percentage will be foam that vanishes in a short time (distillate foams like detergent, and foam will trigger the shutoff...)

My method is to run the pump well under full speed until it clicks off, then trickle fuel in until I can actually see liquid in the filler — this ensures the tank is always filled as close as I can get to the same point.

The most reliable calculation method is to carefully record the amount actually pumped into your tank over a number of fills — something everyone should do, but most don't.

Apart from anything else, this can give you early warning of something going amiss — if your consumption suddenly rises you can look for the reason.

FWIW, my average from new (Mk VI TDI103) has been a fraction over 17K per litre in normal use, which works out to about 940K from the (officially) 55-litre tank.

Longest trip so far has been about 250K, and these are far outweighed by local use (from 2 to about 30K) and sitting for long periods in nose-to-tail peak traffic.

I've no doubt at all that I could get well over 1000K between fills in highway use.

[moniker]

Does anyone have any comments on the accuracy of the range / consumption display in general?
Admittedly I have only filled the tank in my 103TDI twice but at this stage the real vs reported discrepancy seems to be around 10%.
That is, when I filled last time (at 890km's) - indicated average was 5.9 L/100, actual (based on litres to fill and odo reading) was 6.7 L/100.
A difference of about 10%
Even my old MkIV Bora was always within 5% of measured and 'real'

My question is, if cars 'read fast' , i.e. 100km/h may read 105, does this translate to odometer and trip computer error also?
If so, this would explain it - the odometer says you've travelled 105 km's when in fact you've only done 100 - an instant 5% hit on the calculated fuel consumption..

My hope is that the golf's Speedo may read fast but the odo is accurate.
If so then the trip computer or thingo that measures fuel flow is obviously innacurate.

Anyone's experience differ?

BTW I have the sports pack with factory 17" wheels (and 45 profile tyres ? not sure - whatever the factory put on - Bridgestones)

[Corey_R]

My question is, if cars 'read fast' , i.e. 100km/h may read 105, does this translate to odometer and trip computer error also?
If so, this would explain it - the odometer says you've travelled 105 km's when in fact you've only done 100 - an instant 5% hit on the calculated fuel consumption..

No, the odometer should be reading 100% accurate, even when the speedo is reading (usually for VW) 7% slower. I have noticed that with my Polo GTI it usually ends up coming in around 7.9L/100km for the tank of fuel based on the trip metre, but based on the petrol bowser I'm usually getting 8.2L/100km

Oddly enough, my MKV Golf GTI was completely accurate - trip metre vs bowser.

[hoi polloi]

Bear in mind also that when doing manual calculations the bowsers themselves are not 100% accurate - this may induce an error as well...

Regards,
- Anthony.

[logger]

True - I was able to fit what the bowser said was 55 litres into my 55 litre tank a couple of weeks back with no difficulty. No surge/overflow. Must have been running on vapors when I drove it in. So either the bowser slightly overread or my tank readily fits more than specified. Having said this the bowsers should average out in the long run. Another variable is the point at which you decide it is full on any given occasion may vary. Will average out as well I suspect. As Coreying said odo should be accurate though.

[Corey_R]

Yeah - bowsers obviously also change depending on the weather (hot / cold temps cause the fuel to expand and contract)

[NovaArtist]

Filled up a 5 litre jerry can for the lawnmower up at the local BP (and when the bowser read 5L, there was still about a 500mL gap before the 5L mark was reached. You really have to wonder sometimes - as this simply means you are paying 10% more for your fuel. I told them their pump was out - but they just shrugged - They don't care. If you fill up at 1.25 per litre - but are actually paying 1.37 due to the pump being out - I imagine you would not be impressed. I don't know how often the government checks the pumps for accuracy - but I would suggest they need to do it more often.