12 Mods, 129.8% MPG - - - VW Passat Shenanigans

[dfeldt91]

2001 Volkswagen Passat 1.8 Turbo - 148K miles - 5 speed manual
EPA: 20/29 US MPG
Current: 41.3 MPG Highway (58 mph with Cruise Control on flat ground)

Mods Completed:

• Disable Daytime Lights
• 45 PSI Tire Pressure
• Reprogrammed Idle 50 RPM Lower
• Power Steering Delete
• Remove Cold Air Intake tube
• Antenna Delete
• Engine Belly Pan
• Removed AC Belt
• Cone Style Air Filter
• Removed Passenger Wiper
• Folded Mirrors(until I make covers in order to remove them completely)

To Do:

• Lower Grille Block(Temporarily removed due to overheating, electric fan is not working)
• Upper Grille Block
• Fix Electric Fan
• Remove fan rotated by engine
• Maintenance
• Reprogram Timing Advance
• Larger Tires
• More Weight Reduction
• Remove AC Components(for weight reduction)
• Block the tunnel under the car
• Wheel well gap covers
• Front wheel air diverters
• Rear belly pan
• ..and more to come..

First thing in store for the new rig is a grille block then possibly a front half belly pan. It's a nicer car with a lot more to it so I don't know how much I will be able to do to it. I think the Passat is going to be mostly hypermiling instead of modding to get the most MPG.

Regardless, I do love the extra power and the feeling when the turbo kicks in!

As purchased:


Grille Block:

[MobilOne]

Nice! The Passat is a very civilized auto.

[Daox]

Congrats on the new car.

How do the EPA ratings differ between the two?

[dfeldt91]

Originally Posted by Daox

Congrats on the new car.

How do the EPA ratings differ between the two?

EPA is 21/29 for both vehicles. I've noticed that the Passat cruises at about 300 RPM slower at 60 MPH and can hold the speed with less pedal pressure which is nice and seems to translate to a bit better gas mileage. I'm just guessing...but I would estimate my MPG at 40 highway currently(I'm still new to the car and enjoying the Turbo so......)

I'm loving how comfortable this car is over the Golf and the sound system is fantastic. I'm surprised my bumpers haven't rattled off yet.

I was just checking out specs for the Passat and found out that the 2001 Passat has one of the lowest drag coefficients of vehicles on the road today at only 0.27! The only cars with better drag coefficients are the Prius and Insight with .25 for the American market and the Audi A2 3L with .26 from Europe.

[oil pan 4]

I have the 1.8L turbo in our bug and it doesn't get very great mileage.
The 5 valve 1.8L turbo motor really has a lot of get up and go for what it is.

The one VW product that really impressed me was when I barrowed our friends 1997 1.9L diesel jetta 5-speed. I ran that thing like rented mule, foot on the floor rolling coal and it still got 40mpg even in nearly 300 miles of highway, driving around dallas for a week. If I hadn't been driving it like I stole it I would expect around 45mpg. Maybe 50mpg if I was driving it easy purely on the highway.

The 2001 with 1.8L turbo motor has a 100% electronic throttle. The gas is pretty much just a potentiometer and the throttle is a throttle powered with a stepper motor.
And when it breaks it sucks so much. The gas pedal is almost $400 and the throttle for the sake of consistency is also about $400.
Then if the computer goes bad good luck finding one. Not even the stealership could get one for me. There is only one place in NY that usually has them and they are aware of this fact so they charge customers accordingly.
I highly recommend every 1.8L mark IV engine owner save the number to a local reputable well liked modern VW or euro car specially shop on your phone and have a $600 to $1200 when it breaks fund on hand.

[dfeldt91]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

I have the 1.8L turbo in our bug and it doesn't get very great mileage.
The 5 valve 1.8L turbo motor really has a lot of get up and go for what it is.

The one VW product that really impressed me was when I barrowed our friends 1997 1.9L diesel jetta 5-speed. I ran that thing like rented mule, foot on the floor rolling coal and it still got 40mpg even in nearly 300 miles of highway, driving around dallas for a week. If I hadn't been driving it like I stole it I would expect around 45mpg. Maybe 50mpg if I was driving it easy purely on the highway.

The 2001 with 1.8L turbo motor has a 100% electronic throttle. The gas is pretty much just a potentiometer and the throttle is a throttle powered with a stepper motor.
And when it breaks it sucks so much. The gas pedal is almost $400 and the throttle for the sake of consistency is also about $400.
Then if the computer goes bad good luck finding one. Not even the stealership could get one for me. There is only one place in NY that usually has them and they are aware of this fact so they charge customers accordingly.
I highly recommend every 1.8L mark IV engine owner save the number to a local reputable well liked modern VW or euro car specially shop on your phone and have a $600 to $1200 when it breaks fund on hand.

I'm not sure why your bug gets less than stellar MPG. I love this thing so far. It gets up to operating temperature quickly, it gets good (higher than EPA) MPG and it is comfortable. I have a 3 mile stretch of hills where I live to the city and I get about 24 or 25 MPG going up the hills which are pretty steep and 35 plus in city. I haven't drove it too much on the highway yet so not sure how it reacts to that.

It really confuses me how the EPA testers only got 21 MPG in city. I have to drive like an idiot to get anywhere near that.

I looked at another B5 passat the other day and it had a problem with the Throttle body and pedal according to the three codes I pulled. It would run poorly and die if you gave it gas. Codes said something about the pedals and throttle body having low voltage.

[oil pan 4]

I don't have any city driving. Mostly highway driving.
Last tank was only 22mpg but average driving speed was about 80mph.

Gas pedal and throttle both having low voltage at the same time sounds like an ECU problem. Good move avoiding that one.
The best it gets is about 26 to 27 if I slow down.

The whole electronic throttle on these engines is their weak point. If VW would have stuck with a normal throttle cable like almost everyone else was running at that time they would be about as perfect as an electronic fuel injected turbo motor could be.

[dfeldt91]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

I don't have any city driving. Mostly highway driving.
Last tank was only 22mpg but average driving speed was about 80mph.

Gas pedal and throttle both having low voltage at the same time sounds like an ECU problem. Good move avoiding that one.
The best it gets is about 26 to 27 if I slow down.

The whole electronic throttle on these engines is their weak point. If VW would have stuck with a normal throttle cable like almost everyone else was running at that time they would be about as perfect as an electronic fuel injected turbo motor could be.

Wow, that is really odd that your bug gets such bad MPG. At 80 MPH, I get about 35 MPG. I would have to be constantly passing someone like a jerk to get only 22. I don't mind the throttle all that much as it seems to work well for me. How many miles on your bug?

I just looked it up and saw that your vehicle has a CD of .39 without rear spoiler. Mine has a CD of .27 so perhaps that plays a big role in the MPG differences.

[oil pan 4]

Yes the spoiler works most of the time and it barely has 90,000 miles.

Sounds like a diesel Passat with manual would be the ultimate combo.

[PressEnter[]]

Nice car. I do like VW's I don't know much about your engine, though. I've only had the 2.0 TDI, which I swapped for the new TSI recently.