Gotta love Tdi economy

[fmflex]

I am glad you posted that fmflex. I have a 2009 Caddy TDI manual that has averaged 7.6L/100km over its life. The worst I've got is 8.1L/100km in city traffic and only once got below 7 with a 6.6L/100km which was a very gentle country trip in Victoria. Half of my driving is inner city Adelaide, the other half country driving (110km/h SA) and I am rarely carrying a load at all. With the exception of the 6.6 figure (where I was averaging probably around 80-90km/h) I hardly notice any improvement to fuel economy with country driving. Admittedly I don't dawdle and I do overtake (gotta love TDI torque!) but VW's official 'Extra-Urban' figure of 5.3L/100km seems like they are dreaming

Mine's a DSG, I forgot to mention that in my original post. I don't really dawdle when getting around, being in the service industry, you're always expected yesterday.

This makes more sense - you can't do much about traffic crawls unless you perform manual start/stop

This is true. I usually just leave it in D and potter along in the mess. The start/stop traffic in melbourne can get to me sometimes.

Are you driving mostly short trips? Are you using BP Premium? What tyres do you use and what pressure? Also big influence on the fuel economy has the driver, saying that I don't mean that you don't know how to drive to get good fuel economy. Also remember when you have the foot of the accelerator the engine uses 0 fuel, in most conditions.

My bet is that most of your trips are too short.

To be fair, I've tried diesel from all the major servos and none has been standout compared to any of the others in offering any more than the odd 20km more. This could also be put down to driving conditions, the level of traffic and obviously the driver as well. This is just my own experience over the last 75000km since having the Caddy from new. I'm currently using United diesel and still getting the same mileage.

Short trips don't get any shorter than 2.5 - 3 blocks whilst moving from one building to another.

The speed you are cruising at is probably the big factor - the tall profile of the Caddy adds a lot of extra frontal area over a Polo, Golf or Octavia so the penalty for cruising above 100km/h would be noticably larger.

I find cruising at 110 doesn't give any better economy and could actually give slightly worse economy compared to my usual 70/30 city/highway driving

[kaanage]

New best run today - flat road, light traffic from Moordiallic to Port Melbourne along the bay
3.5 l/100km indicated (probably about 3.7 actual) over 20km averaging 42km/h


It would have been 3.4 indicated except that I took a wrong turn near then end and had to go through the small shopping district at the end of Bay St

[kaanage]

Matched this tonight coming home along my usual route
Traffic was very light and I only had to come to a complete stop once but the route has quite a few hills


I also completed the Fiat Club/BOI Performance Economy run late last month and completed the 116km course with 4.6 litres => 4.0 l/100km (filled to the brim, vented at the start and completion). Given the very hilly nature of the course and the large number of stops, I was quite happy with the PoD.

[GTD_XU1]

I have been keeping track of my GTD's fuel consumption for 15 months now, using my logbook and receipts etc. Full tank to full tank, fill at same pump, try to get premium etc. Some results so far.....

Overall distance since new ( picked up 1-10-2011 ) is 51309km at 31-12-2012.

Overall consumption is 6.63 L/100km ( 42.57 mpg ) ( 15.07 km/L)

Overal fuel cost is 9.58 cents/Km

Throw in 3 bottles of Fuel Doctor and 1 bottle of Morey's DSK towards costs in that time.


Worst tank (city only, using manual) ...... 7.75L/100km ( at 15,500km).

Worst Highway tank (loaded + 3 fat aussies, 646km) …... 7.74L/100km - Wentworth to Broken Hill and return ( at 11,000km).

Best Highway tank (legal speed, 1 fat aussie, 588km) .... 5.1L/100km - Brisbane to Chinchilla and return. ( at 34,000km).

Best City tank ….... I don't care, but it is pretty good I'm sure.

The onboard trip computer thingy is always very optimistic, mine reads about 10% “nicer” all the time. The Climatronic is never off, I start the car from cold, buckle up and drive away, doing nothing drastic till at least the coolant has heated up. I have had 6 “fast idles” (DPF I assume ) during the above 15 month period, so that always means a blast down the motorway in fifth to fix the problem.
Run in was trying to stay alive for the first 100kms or so (new car syndrome) and after that it was go for it, make every hill a winner etc, till 5300 km when I went for a cruise to South Australia running at legal speeds only. It is a very good little road runner.
I think I have been lucky and got a good one (touch wood – maintain servicing) it is definitely a sweet car to drive.

[VW VR6]

With my VW Golf 1.9 TDI 2006 6 speed manual 150.000km (no modifications) I have always over 1000km per full tank of diesel (55 lit).
More than HAPPY !

[kaanage]

With my VW Golf 1.9 TDI 2006 6 speed manual 150.000km (no modifications) I have always over 1000km per full tank of diesel (55 lit).
More than HAPPY !

The big question is whether you get that mileage? The VW MFD is around 5-10% optimistic IME

Here's my new PB, courtesy of clear suburban runs during the school holidays

Needed to fill up here but didn't like the pump price so I only put in 2 litres


Finally filled 55.26 litres => 4.55 l / 100km measured!
Given that my tyres are 2% smaller OD than OE, that's 4.64 l / 100km actual

[gldgti]

Nice work Greg!

Yesterday morning I calc'd the first tank in my Allroad - 8.06l/100km. The MFD was a bit pessimistic at 8.5l/100km, so thats kind of nice to know.

Not bad for a VE pump TDI pulling 2 tonnes of quattro I reckon

[kaanage]

Whoa, 8l/100km with an AWD wagon? That's impressive.

I think I've reached the limit of the Polo for suburban duties (unless I can get a 6 speed gearbox)

[gldgti]

6 speed might help but you pay for the weight in other ways

Tonight I did some lightening in the Allroad.... removed an old Nokia car kit that all up must have weighed about 1kg

Seriously though, pretty keen to see how much better I can get it with a new exhaust - need faster spool for around town

I was pretty happy with that tank Greg, since it involved quite a lot of 'new car hooning' and also some 'offroading' (read driving in the bush on good 4wd tracks, not real offroading at all!)

[kaanage]

Yep, the 6 speed 02R adds about 25kg in the worst place.
All the toodling around has probably caked the vanes in carbon but the first track session on Sunday should sort that out.

That Allroad sounds like a beast. I'd love to see a CT200h try and match it (just as I'd love to see a Prius try and follow me on a circuit).