Sho-nuf this worked! Ecomodder newbe 58.8mpg
 

Hello all,
Just wanted to share that your advice actually works! This is nothing spectacular like some of you hypermiling guru's but impressive to the average Joe like myself.

I own a 2001 Beetle TDI (diesel) 5speed with over 250k miles on it. Average driving got 43mpg. I adjusted the loose NUT behind the wheel and got 48mpg shifting at 2000 and not going over 65mph. Then i wanted more(this is addictive). I wanted to break 50mpg. I started "pulse and glide"(example: accellerate to 50mph shift to neutral and coast to 40mph then shift back into gear and accelerate back to 50mph and repeat. On my commute NOT I-95) and shifting to neutral on down hill parts of over passes, turned off the engine during long lights(not sure if this helped), rolled windows up with AC off, pumped up the tires to 45, and did not go any faster than 60. Holy Moly!!!
58.8 mpg. I was hoping to break 50mpg and got closser to 60!!!!

Thank you Ecomodder for the great information you provide!!!

Mark in Central Florida

Congrats on the excellent mileage, and good job.

I consider anything over 40mpg pretty excellent, but I have a TDI with an automatic. I never turn off my engine, the steering effort is substantial without the PS pump active.

Welcome over from TDIclub! :D

Thanks NachRitter,
Yea I'm a lurker there :thumbup:
I just bought a 1996 Passat TDI(5speed) and a 2006 Jetta DSG Auto for the girlfriend. Hopping to get even better mpg with the Passat than the Beetle. I suspect the Jetta will get the norm of around 43mpg.

The 01 Beetle will be going to my 16yr old daughter. She was not too interested till she started understanding what mpg means to her cash flow :-)

Welcome. TDIs are mpg beasts ;)!

My wife hasn't had much interest in hypermiling until I programmed an xgauge on her Scangauge that shows trip cost. She pays more interest now, when she can see an unnecessary trip to the store costs her $1.50.

Going slow is the ticket.

If I P&G between 45-60 mph, I can get 45-50 mpg. Pulse times are 8 seconds, glide times typically 8-16 seconds.

P&G from 25-40 mph gets me 55-60 mpg. Pulse times are 8 seconds, glide times ~24 seconds.

P&G from 15-30 mph gets me 60-70 mpg. Pulse times are 8 seconds, glide times to 40 seconds. The longer glide times are what really increase the mpgs at the slower speeds.

Thats why we do aero mods to increase the glide times at higher speeds.

It is addictive, that's for sure!

Ecomodder has definitely helped get me excited about improving FE and has guided me on how best to achieve it. I'd struggled to get a 90-day average FE of 54MPG+ with my Honda VX, and it took me a couple of years to get there. Now with my Jetta, I've only filled up ... 6? times, I think? ... and both my 90-day and my lifetime average has exceeded the FE of the Honda. Practically no mods, compared with quite a few on the Honda. SentraSE-R is right, the TDIs are MPG beasts !!