2001 TDI Jetta 60 MPG

I hear you... I see this a lot in forums that have nothign to do with hybrids or diesels. We own a coupel of MINI's and folks over in that world have been up in arms about the MINI diesel not being sold here. Many of these people seem to have their head in the sand. MINI has public stated why the D isn't coming here anytime soon and I understand and believe them. I can also think of business reasons which they haven't stated. You should have heard the uproar when MINI announced the upcoming EV MINI.

You want to hear the best "head in sand" arguement against hybrids I've heard so far?

"What about when those batteries end up in landfills??? "

They really don't know what to do when someone defending hybrids owns and drives TWO diesels... it's like watching their brain short-circuit right before your eyes...

FWIW, I have seen "wee on Toyota" and "Honda" decals on TDI's... makes me embarrased to drive a VW... almost as much as driving a VW around central NJ when Waterfest is in town...

 

Ian, a 40-55 P&G at 75% load with FAS will bring you over 70 MPG.

edit: I love my diesel, but I don't see a problem with defending hybrids, both are great technologies.

Kirk

 

Manual. I do the maintenance on the car, including TB (have all the tools). I've always inflated tires to max.... long before I ever hear of hypermiling... and I've driven this way for years... always coast to lights... avoid slowing... hard accelerations... use drafting... and so on... none of this stuff is really very new...

Where do you live where 40-55 P&G won't get you killed?

 

Most of my driving is on 4 lane highway in Ontario (Muskoka). It's built for cottage traffic, so my weekly commute is nearly traffic free and I can do 40 in a 60. I admit that this isn't possible for everyone .

My current tank has been a lot of cruise control @ 55 MPH because of longer trips, other passengers, so I'll post what the results are after the fill up.

SG has been showing amazing results for steady state driving near idle (~1000 RPM) in 5th gear. I haven't been able to thoroughly test it though.

Also, read this thread about the dangers of drafting.

Kirk

 

WOW I just found this thread. I have both a 06 Jetta TDI and an 07 Prius. I don't get this us vs them mentality. Both cars get great mileage. Currently I am in the middle of a Kilo(1000 mile) tank attempt in the Prius. I will need to be in the low 80's to do it and am at 83.7 and 275 miles. After this tank, I am planning on driving the TDI and entering the fuel ecomony run for the TDIfest at the end of August.

All you getting great mileage in your TDI's, I would appreciate any help when I switch over to the TDI.

 

Ok, let me back track a little bit and apologize to anyone I've offended. It was not my intention to cause people to get riled up. I dont have anything in general against hybrid technology. I havent had to many positive interactions with the people Ive found driving the Prius. Politically Im conservative. While I enjoy my TDI and enjoy hypermileing Im in the way of thinking it's a personal choice, and not something I want our nanny state telling me to do. The current political direction with respect to green this and energy that is that big government direction. That said, it seems to me youre smart buying a hybrid or TDI for the economical reasons. I dont truck with the political statements people are trying to make buying a Prius over say a Civic hybrid. Toyota outsells the Honda ten to one because people are making a political statement buying them. You cant tell the Honda is a hybrid unless you check out the ass end. The Prius looks like a space ship. You cant miss it. Yada yada yada.

My apologies for causing a ruckus.

 

BestMapMan, mostly the advice I can give you is less than what you'll find on this site. Take a long time accelerating to highway speeds. Drive 60 mpg, or slower. Coast in neutral whenever possible on down hills. Take advantage of the advice here. Im just learning the three letter codes here and trying to take advantage of the vast knowledge and advice here.

Good luck.

 

BestMapMan, P&G works great in the TDI, there is less of an urgency to FAS (although it's still effective) since you're idling around 0.036-0.04 lph (~0.1 gph), significantly less that our gas counterparts.

Torque falls off below 1400 RPM, so keep your accelerations in the 1400-2000 range, I use between 75 and 80% LOD for accelerations. I use a 43-55mph P&G bracket for highway driving, any lower than 43mph is on the verge of a downshift to 4th to keep in the appropriate RPM band. I think that I'm around 80-85 MPG doing this.

Without the detrimental pumping losses, a steady state in 5th at 1000 RPM ~30mph gives some nice numbers, over 80 MPG in my limited testing.

One nice thing that's available is the BSFC map for the 1.9l TDI.


A TDI driver's greatest bane: No diesel 'hybrid mode' in the SG. You're flying blind for ICE-OFF P&G.

Hope this helps, feel free to ask if you have any questions.

Kirk

 

Hey Guys;
I am new to the site but I must say this is a very interesting topic.
I am thinking about buying a 2001 Diesel VW Jetta.
The owner is telling me he is getting about 37mpg, which I thought was pretty good.
Until I read this page.

Do you guys do any mod to the engine or anything to be able to reach those MPG?
If i could hit a stable 40+ to mid 40 i would be happy, any and everything higher than that
is just icing on the cake for me.

I live in Belize Central America. The current owner is sayign he can go from Belize to CanCun on like 3/4 tank... I looked it up and that is like 267miles. But with a 12 gallon take thats 8 gallons. So with my basic math skills that about 33 gals but on open highway. I would have kinda expected the mpg to be better than that, seeing that there will be no stop and go.

Can someone please share some of your knowledge on the subject matter.

Thank you
Luke

 

Luke, 37mpg sounds good to me too.. it really depends on the road, hilly vs flat, speed etc

 

SOrry for the oversight.
Its a manual transmission and the terrain is typically flat.
So like i said i am wondering if anything was done to the vehicle to achieve those MPG.

 

Do you know how fast he was driving?

 

i can and will ask him...