Hypermiling with VW 6 spd Automatic
 

Greeting folks,
I have a couple of questions. Due to my selling my 2011 VW Jetta sportwagen TDI back to VW due to it having the TDI diesel engine I am again looking to purchase a car that will get similar fuel mileage. I have for a number of years been coasting all over the country due to my jetta having a 6 spd manual transmission. Several of the VW's I am looking at have the 6 spd automatic transmissions. :confused: My question is can I operate this VW automatic in the same manner I did with the manual ? ? ? Will I be able to go to neutral going down the hill and then drop back in to drive as my speed drops ? I'm trying to find a replacement with the manual but they are a bit scarce. I want to do what ever I can to try to keep getting my 50 to 54 mpg over the road. Thanks in advance for answering my questions.
Have fun,
buckshot. P.S. I am back to work on my Nissan diesel powered Sonoma.
Looking forward to getting 38 mpg with the Sonoma.

If you shift your Auto manually then sure.

I have an Auto Torque Convertor. I've seen where others have modified the controllers to suite hypermiling by adding a sort of manual override.

However, with VW, they're already pretty good. I'm sure you'll find that yours cuts off fuel to the Injectors when it coasts.

That's not as good as going into N and turning off and automatically turning back on when you want to go back up the other side.

Being a computer-programmer, I was looking into solving this with GPS code. But haven't found enough 'friends' to make it worthwhile.

That sounds interesting. But anyway, would a new Cruze be totally out of question? IIRC it's the only new Diesel car available with a manual transmission there.

If you try the automatic, shift to neutral at speed with engine on and see if rpms drop to idle or close, if they don't drop, you won't achieve good numbers that you are hoping for.

My Focus drops to idle, but my wife's Mariner doesn't, it holds the rpms.

weedubs dislike coastin'

probably not a good idea with the 09g
 

What do you mean by freewheel? Neutral-coasting?


I honestly don't know how any of those dual-clutch automated-manual transmission fares on hypermiling, but I have seen some complaints about a low reliability of the DSG under certain harsher conditions.

My wife has a DSG 6sd golf. Around town it does fairly well at dropping to idle and coasting off throttle. On the highway I find it better to manually shift to 6th and leave it there because in auto it down shifts to 5th with too little pressure on the accelerator. With that said the best I've managed is about 34 mpg on longer trips. My wife gets about 24 in town.
The computer does try to shut off the injectors when coasting but that causes a noticeable deceleration. Shifting to neutral is NOT recommended because of cooling and lubrication issues. Stick to true manuals if you want to neutral coast.
FYI my biggest complaint with the VW DSG, is the shifter is setup backwards. ie, bump the lever forward to increase gear, and back to decrease.

The VW is unsafe to coast in neutral with the engine ON? Why not? I see you say cooling and lube issues but the engine is still turning, the pumps are still running. Do they not keep up with cruising speed loads when the engine is at low revs?