900 Mile tank on Jetta TDI
 

I drive 96 miles each way to and from work everyday so fuel mileage is my number one daily priority. I drive a 2003 Jetta TDI which is rated 44 mpg.

I've had several 750-800 mile tanks on my Jetta TDI, but after reading this site I decided to drive just a bit smarter. The car is totally stock, and it's the 3rd MK4 generation (1999-2005) VW TDI I've owned.

My driving habits were pretty good- anticipating lights, averaging my speed in stop and go driving so the car pretty much always keeps moving, using cruise control, tire pressure, etc-- but last night I reached a personal best and hit the magical 900 mile tank.

15.912 gallons/ 900.1 miles/ 56.56 mpg. ( I admit I chickened out once it rolled past 900 and pulled into a gas station). My car can hold 16.4 gallons when it's flat empty, so I had another 1/2 gallon left.


The next step is to do aerodynamic mods that don't look too crazy and seeing what that does.

I'll keep everyone posted as things improve.

Jerry

Absolutely incredible!! Great job! I just purchased a 2000 Jetta and am going through it a bit (finding many of the common MK4 problems!) and hope to get it on the road soon. I'd be thrilled to get an 800 mile tank... 900 miles would be wild!

Wow! Guess I'm impressed by both the mpg and the size of the tank. That's some serious range. Heck, I could roll into Vegas from Denver with almost a quarter tank in reserve. Amazing stuff.

Excellent but ouch, 200 miles of commuting a day, 50,000/year.:eek:

Head over to the wiki for a good list of mods with lots of user data :)

Car MPG Efficiency Modifications Main - EcoModder

Varn, The saving grace for the commute is that it's all interstate, except for the part closest to home. 35 mph for about 1.5 miles, and then interstate for the rest of the time. Two traffic lights in the entire drive.
I average 70-72 mph, but the week I did the 900 mile tank, it was closer to 63 where I was running at 2200 RPM which seems to be the sweet spot for this engine.

I once did a Montgomery AL to Denver trip in my previous 03 Jetta TDI about 3 years ago. I made it 750 miles (driving faster than I should have been) and filled up in Kansas City. Then went another 730 miles to Denver, filling up once I made it into Denver.

That's nothing compared to my other major accomplishment.
My 623,000 mile 1989 Jetta Diesel, which achieved that on it's original, unrebuilt (or otherwise repaired) 1.6 L diesel engine. I'll post on that some time in the near future.

I can't say enough good about Diesel VW's. (Of course, for the past few years, I've turned my admiration of these cars into a career where I sell them).

By the way, thanks for the comments.
Jerry

ironically I have the exact opposite story. It was my previous Acura, a 1994 Integra with the 160hp 1.8. We were coming back from Vegas going for a new return speed record and went through an entire tank of gas (10-11.5 gallons) in just two hours and twenty minutes! 120+ mph managed to set the new low mileage record on That car of 24.6mpg; a car that averaged over 30mpg. On a high note, we did still set the record of 8:35 hours for the 775 miles to my house in Denver despite stopping for gas 3x and a lunch break. It was also one of our last times we drove, as we figured we'd used up the last of our luck with wildlife on the roads and the cops. Now we fly down legally and arrive a lot less stressed!

To think, now I'm routinely getting over 36 out of a larger, more powerful engine. Glad I survived long enough to see it!

Wow! I had an '02 Jetta 5-spd TDI and the best I got was a 750 mile tank. Of course, my commute is only about 20 miles round trip, so it took a long time between fill ups.

I had to sell it once we had our second kid because of the lack of enough rear seat room for a rear-facing baby seat (with two kids...with one kid it works nicely to place them in the middle). Some day I'd like to get another one. 2003 is the best year, IMHO, as it's pre-pumpe-duse (more fuel efficient, if less powerful), but still has the 100K-mile timing belt change interval and has the best looking alloy wheels.

My dream car would be a silver (or white, or champagne) '03 Jetta TDI Wagon 5-spd.

Wow! I swapped a '97 AHU drivetrain into my '95 Saturn SL2 and did a couple of aeromods to it. I was getting 54-55 most of the time, but last week I did a grille block off and moved the headlights forward. I was part-way through a tank of fuel when I did it, but it returned an all-time best of 57.45 mpg when I filled up on Friday. I hope to see an even better figure this week when I fill up again.

200 miles is nothing.
I used to have a delivery job were I did 350 miles per day. 50 in town 300 hwy.

My car at the time was a 1990 Eagle Talon turbo, I averaged 30 in town and 35 hwy...that was driving like a grandma, and neutral coasting on alot of hills through out the day.

I knew nothing about hypermileing at the time but I was sort of doing it...That engine was great because it was efficent out of boost, but had great power to get on a busy hwy.

oh yeah...I also had my rear and passenger seats removed from the car so it saved almost 100lbs :)

Did it help the fuel economy enough to be notable ?

100lbs is a bit of an exageration but probably not far off...the front seats in those cars are heavy...the rear seat bottom cushion is not to bad but the backs are a bit heavy too.

I wasn't doing anything as far as before and after measurements but I think any major weight reduction helps.

100 lbs might even be underestimating it.
I've tossed out 73 lbs - temporary spare tyre, jack, a pile of other unnecessary items. Nothing nearly as big and heavy as a rear seat, but it adds up rather quickly. And I lost a bit of weight myself, pushing the total weight saving over 100 lbs.

Unfortunately I've never been able to determine how much fuel it's saving as I've changed a lot of things at the same time.

Sure you can. Just drive a known route now, go home, record your trip mileage, toss all that crap back into your trunk, drive the same route, go home, record your trip mileage, take all the crap out and drive the route again, record the trip mileage.

Now is it worth is? Probably not, but anything in the name of data collection, right?;)

Not quite ;)
I don't drive about just to test mileage improvements.
If a mod works, it'll show up in the fuel log. :)

The effect of shedding weight will be there, but as 100lbs is only a 3% loss, it's lost in the variations of everyday driving.

I agree. The role of weight loss varies by situation. When I owned an 87 CRX-HF that weighed 1700 pounds and had 58 hp, I could see the difference in a 5mph difference climbing the Colorado passes. A 100 pounds of camping gear in the back could change my MPG measurably. But with my 2700 pound, 200 hp Acura, weight makes a far smaller difference in both speed and mpg.

What does surprise me is just how many cars are still over 3,300 pounds. Seriously, in this day and age of aluminum and plastics, how is it possible to even make a car that heavy?

Congrats on the mileage and the MPG, looking good.

Great job, keep it up!

I really miss my 01 Jetta. I now have a 2010 JSW with 6 speed. Much bigger and more comfortable, but Im only getting in the low 40's currently. Still under 10000 miles so hopefully it will keep improving.

11 airbags, ABS, leather upholstery, sunroof, Monsoon sound system, auto trans, 4 wheel disk brakes (heavier as a system than drums), and probably some other needless things I'm forgetting. Not to mention there is a weight penalty just from the diesel engine.

Moving all that crap in my ALH, I have gotten a best of 42.3mpg / 640 miles out of a tank. Not too impressive compared to some of the others, but the highway I drive routinely becomes a parking lot. This is also with the engine pan removed, and an intermittent temp too low code.

I know its cold but, do you have any mod updates ?

this makes me wonder whats seriously wrong with mine... just got an '02 auto w/ 160k on it... and seems to have basic maintenance records with it up to 138k. but im avg 400mi a tank, now i know i have a decent hill to deal with each way to work (20mi each way) but i still think it should be doing better than this for sure... i have 2 dash codes that are always there, therm not reaching operating temp, and something EGR related. im new to the TDI world so im not sure what adverse effects these would cause. im looking to do a slew of future mods to the car in the name of efficiency... but $ is sparce right now.

i could only dream of 900mi to a tank! and i thought the mk4s had a 14.6 gal tank?...

First off - you won't get 900 miles out of a tank without some serious hypermiling effort.
The automatic transmission isn't helping either.

If the engine isn't reaching its proper operating temperature, likely due to a faulty thermostat, it'll use more fuel.

Though some disable the EGR valve , or put in a plate with a smaller hole as a restriction, it reduces fuel consumption during part-load conditions in "normal" driving conditions.
So, if it's not working properly, it can increase your consumption.
The exhaust recirculation piping can clog up with tar like gunk, or the valve itself stops working / gets stuck. Or both.


If you skimp on TDi maintenance, they tend to bite back in due time.

Those automatic cars are never going to get close to the mileage of a manual.

My 2013 Passat has done several 900 mile tanks already (mostly freeway). I was tempted several times to shoot for 1000 but the gas stations tend to be far apart where I get those mileages. I keep the speed around 65 during the day and 55 or 60 at night (paranoid about hitting a deer). Mild hypermiling...

I managed 1000 miles a couple times on my '97 Passat wagon, but on one of those I literally coasted into the gas station, and the other time I had to get a can to refuel. :o Also was driving pretty slow; each increase of 5mph caused my mileage to go down about 5mpg (US).

I suppose it matters if you top off on the fill too. I don't; just stop at first cut-off on a low speed fill.

Isn't our rule of thumb that for every percent of weight (or Cd) reduction, fuel economy goes up half a percent? One and a half percent would get you from, for example, 50 MPG to 50.75, or a 900-mile range to 913.5.

I believe that my Civic has a full-sized spare. It is still in the trunk. I also have my floor jack, jack stands, wrench and socket set, other tools, and cordless screwdriver set. I do not know how much all of that weighs, although much of it is in one heavy duffel bag, and my last tank was 47.26 mpg (US), including stop-and-go traffic.

My fuel tank is 11.9 gallons and I have barely filled up more than eleven gallons twice, I usually do ten-something.

I saw the current Jetta commercial, advertising 44 MPG and an 814-mile range. I wondered who needed an 18.5-gallon tank.

That is a great fuel range, 900 miles is nice...

(Hope you guys don't mind but for us Diesel(VW) owners: tdiclub.com
There's a LOT of info...)

In my B4V (wagon), there is a 24-25gallon tank, that is a nice tool to have. Many a time, stopping for fuel was "passable" :-)))) lol

ALWAYS carry fuel with you when trying to make an effort on high fuel/mileage tanks, you'll be happy you brought some with you when getting to THE last drop!

On your VW, there is LOTS of room to go higher sidewall but keep footprint as similar as OEM, pump them things up and also add aerodynamics. ALWAYS keep the EGR/intake CLEAN, otherwise you have to push through junk, :-(

Wow thats incredible! I have wanted a TDi for some time now. Ill be commuting 500 miles/week and this would be solid!

Here is a possibility for you to increase the MPG's by lowering fuel/RPM/tire costs...

I estimate ~2MPG+ if all remains constant(driving, speeds, nut behind wheel...) just by changing tires to slightly taller .66" but slightly wider .39" and instead of going 65MPH you'll be going 68.43.
That'll be just to start on your MPG quest and great if you need tires...
(PS. RPM's drop about 41, which makes the engine be at a better torque range)

In my VW wagon, I went up 4.5+ MPG w/small items :-)