125TDI Improved Fuel Economy After Long Drive.

[Amalgam]

Hi All,

Firstly, Merry Christmas.

I have just returned from a Christmas driving holiday to stretch the legs of wagon. The car had travelled 5500km prior to the road trip and was returning a fuel economy in the mid to high 6L/100km from mainly urban driving with the occasional freeway cruise to Mandurah which is 100km from Perth for a seafood lunch and to passive regen the DPF, just to be safe. No dashboard error lights ever illuminated.

On our 350km drive to Margaret River to sample the wines, , the car was showing 7.8L/100km. Not bad I thought considering there was 3 onboard, a fully loaded cargo area and the airconditioner working hard to keep us cool. There was a slight hesitancy on acceleration but nothing that I didn't put done to a near full load.

On the return trip, I brought back friend and his luggage, which added an additional 110kg to the weight and the temperature was even hotter peaking at 39C. To my surprise the fuel economy improved to 5.8L/100km and the car was pulling like the 3.0L Outback that the Passat replaced.

In short, it took 50L of Vortex diesel to travel almost 900km and the engine performance improved after a long run.

Cheers.

George