10 years of 2.0 diesel Passats: the MPG truth

[matt21]

Some real examples. I have Spreadsheets galore too

2004 Passat 1.9 TDI 130 - 117-200k and counting. 48.5mpg
2016 330d xDrive Touring - 3-10k and counting. 39.1mpg
1967 Land Rover Series 2A petrol - 65-67k and counting. 14.7mpg
2004 M3 CSL - 63-67k and counting. 23.5mpg
2014 M135i - 0-20k. 31.7mpg
2000 530iA - 142-185k. 27.2mpg
2010 Cooper S - 2-40k. 40.8mpg
2005 Cooper S - 10-50k. 30.2mpg
2003 Cooper - 0-42k. 38.3mpg
1994 BMW 525i Touring. 30.8mpg

Of them all the 2010 Cooper S and M135i impressed me the most. All driven on long runs with the faster cars driven harder

[Road2Ruin]

LotusOmega375D said:

Having had a new diesel Passat without interruption since 2002, I think I know how to drive them!

Not sure you do! My XC60 D4 163bhp, after filling up this morning I worked it out as 43.7mpg. That is a usual trip of 14 miles a day, 6 country roads, 8 town.

[Glasgowrob]

2l tdci Mk5 Mondeo 150bhp 44.03 mpg over the last 100k miles

2l tdci mk4 Mondeo 140 bhp (mapped to just over 200bhp) 48mpg over 300k miles

[LotusOmega375D]

Road2Ruin said:

Not sure you do! My XC60 D4 163bhp, after filling up this morning I worked it out as 43.7mpg. That is a usual trip of 14 miles a day, 6 country roads, 8 town.

That’s nothing special, is it?

[Mr Tidy]

Interesting numbers OP.

I got promoted in 2004 and had the choice of a company car or car allowance as there would be business miles - I opted for the allowance.

Mar 04 BMW 320td (150 bhp) - did 43K miles from Jan 05 to Jan 08 - averaged 46.7 mpg
Sep 07 BMW 123d (201 bhp) - did 81K miles from Jan 08 to Jul 14 - averaged 48.2 mpg

Figures are from a spreadsheet not the OBC, both cars were 6 speed manual, but the 123d was slightly lower geared and had stop-start. Bonus of the 320td was a bigger fuel tank (63 litres instead of 55).

Anyway having retired early in 2014 and taken a lump sum I did some man maths and now run 2 petrol straight 6s! With no commute they both in the 34 to 35 range! It's a price I'm happy to pay.

[angels95]

I kept a spreadsheet for my last two cars:


306 1.9 D Turbo (101k to 155k): 57mpg

306 2.0 GTI-6 (128k to 136k): 36mpg

Edited by angels95 on Friday 20th October 23:03

[Conscript]

LotusOmega375D said:

I have kept a daily log of mileage and diesel purchases for my work cars for the past 15 years.......

.....All cars have led a similar life (same rural home and job) and been primarily used for long journeys for work or holiday (no commuting at all),...

???

I kind of read that like you own the car for work, but commute in something else.
Or do you mean, you have no need to commute because you work from home, so the only driving you do for work is to sites or something?

[LotusOmega375D]

Correct. I work from home so have no need to commute.

[Pica-Pica]

wst said:

Fastchas said:

Describe driving 'diesel style' if you will, I'm interested.

Wild guess is that it's about being 1 gear higher than in an equivalent petrol engined car, and short-shifting when accelerating.

Peak power in my diesel is apparently at 4000rpm but it's probably 90% there at 2000 rpm and the MPG display is much kinder.

No, sorry. Even if you had same torque between 2000 and 4000, then if you had peak power at 4000, then you have half that at 2000.

[gazza285]

LotusOmega375D said:

Road2Ruin said:

Not sure you do! My XC60 D4 163bhp, after filling up this morning I worked it out as 43.7mpg. That is a usual trip of 14 miles a day, 6 country roads, 8 town.

That’s nothing special, is it?

I get what he is saying, the Volvo is bigger, heavier, has four wheel drive, and the figures are from a short daily commute over local roads, and yet are 6mpg better than what you manage from the most similar vehicle on mainly long runs.

[wst]

Pica-Pica said:

wst said:

Fastchas said:

Describe driving 'diesel style' if you will, I'm interested.

Wild guess is that it's about being 1 gear higher than in an equivalent petrol engined car, and short-shifting when accelerating.

Peak power in my diesel is apparently at 4000rpm but it's probably 90% there at 2000 rpm and the MPG display is much kinder.

No, sorry. Even if you had same torque between 2000 and 4000, then if you had peak power at 4000, then you have half that at 2000.

I was actually assuming the torque dropped off as RPM increased. Also, it's ballpark figures. Also, what an anal comment, you completely missed the useful point of the comment about where you don't rev the bks off the engine and get anywhere much quicker, despite the way the number on the dashboard plummets.

[anonymous-user]

LotusOmega375D said:

Having had a new diesel Passat without interruption since 2002, I think I know how to drive them!

Haha I thought that immediately on seeing that reply. OP those are very similar figures to what I get (calculated, not from OBC) from similar VAG cars when I use them.

For what it's worth my 100k mile average for a 2008 Volvo C70 D5 is 43mpg with mainly long journeys and using the power where appropriate. It is possible to average mid 50s from a tank and see 60MPG+ over the trip if you have long journeys and don't get above 60MPH though.

Interestingly I get slightly less from our 2016 D5 AWD XC60 manual. The other posters D4 XC60 could be FWD only, 5 pot or 4 pot, fk knows with the way Volvo have been badging the bloody things.

[Stick Legs]

Fastchas said:

KevinCamaroSS said:

My guess is that you were driving them 'petrol style' rather than 'diesel style'.

My new 2008 Skoda Octavia Scout (4wd) TDi (PD) returned 44.1 mpg over 18K miles, my 2010 Scout CR (140) returned 49.6 mpg and my 2011 Scout CR (140) returned 52.3 mpg.

Drive diesel style and you should get much closer to the official figures.

Describe driving 'diesel style' if you will, I'm interested.

via Imgflip Meme Generator

[anonymous-user]

Stick Legs said:

Fastchas said:

KevinCamaroSS said:

My guess is that you were driving them 'petrol style' rather than 'diesel style'.

My new 2008 Skoda Octavia Scout (4wd) TDi (PD) returned 44.1 mpg over 18K miles, my 2010 Scout CR (140) returned 49.6 mpg and my 2011 Scout CR (140) returned 52.3 mpg.

Drive diesel style and you should get much closer to the official figures.

Describe driving 'diesel style' if you will, I'm interested.

via Imgflip Meme Generator

^^ this is how i drive my 335d. It's on 26mpg at the moment......


and the rear tyres are looking at bit s/h at just 4k miles old too.... #dabofoppo ;-)

[mclwanB]

wst said:

Fastchas said:

Describe driving 'diesel style' if you will, I'm interested.

Wild guess is that it's about being 1 gear higher than in an equivalent petrol engined car, and short-shifting when accelerating.

Peak power in my diesel is apparently at 4000rpm but it's probably 90% there at 2000 rpm and the MPG display is much kinder.

Driving at very low revs in a modern manual diesel strains the dual mass flywheel promoting failure. How much decrease in mpg is required to offset a 1-1.5k repair? Of course unlikely to be an issue if you run for 3 years/60k.

Just had a 1k bill for the front side of a dpf (injector, fuel pump etc) for a 2011 mk4 mondeo tdci (163) on 105k. Mpg has improved from 40 to 44mpg average after repair at least but as said will not get repair costs back. 30-40k a year so still need a diesel.

Despite not doing short trips and the dpf being fine modern diesel cars require a lot more maintenance! Despite not keeping revs very low some signs dmf on way out too...

[220s plenty]

mclwanB said:

Driving at very low revs in a modern manual diesel strains the dual mass flywheel promoting failure.

Source? Also what's defined as low revs?

[mclwanB]

Diesel engineer of 35 years experience. Don't get him started on particulate filters though- stuff of the devil!

Letting the engine strain in general would make the engine shudder without a dmf- dmf smooth this out. Torque of most modern tds puts it under a lot of strain esp 1500rpm or under when accelerating (fine at constant engine speed)

[Road2Ruin]

gazza285 said:

LotusOmega375D said:

Road2Ruin said:

Not sure you do! My XC60 D4 163bhp, after filling up this morning I worked it out as 43.7mpg. That is a usual trip of 14 miles a day, 6 country roads, 8 town.

That’s nothing special, is it?

I get what he is saying, the Volvo is bigger, heavier, has four wheel drive, and the figures are from a short daily commute over local roads, and yet are 6mpg better than what you manage from the most similar vehicle on mainly long runs.

Thanks, exactly what I meant.

[oceanview]

icepop said:

Interesting, I have similar for my last 4 diesels too, over a period of 12 years :

VW BORA ..................1.9 /150......180K miles..........55mpg
SEAT LEON................2.0/ 140.......147K miles.........57mpg
SEAT TOLEDO...........1.6/105........130K miles.........60mpg
SEAT LEON................1.6/105.........46K miles..........62mpg currently

mainly rural/town driving, several big euro trips to the alps......'sympathetic' driving style where appropriate.

Very "sympathetic" i'd say .

Most people would get nowhere near that unless driving very sedately.

[MorganP104]

I used to get some pretty stunning figures from my remapped MkV Golf GT 2.0 TDi DSG (mpg figures in the sixties), but I did have a 50 mile motorway commute (each way), where a lot of it was a 50mph average speed camera zone (roadworks on the M1).

In other words, almost perfect conditions for getting the best fuel economy.

When I changed jobs, and only needed to drive to my local train station, my average fuel economy figures were generally in the forties. Same car, same driver, different environment.

As well as being a "cool story, bro", I'm saying all this to demonstrate that the kind of commute/routes/trips make an enormous difference to the fuel economy of a car.

Bizarrely, I've found the biggest differences in fuel economy come from driving diesel cars in various situations, and the least difference in large-engined petrol cars.

Anecdotally, I've found that diesel cars punish me for driving around town, and reward me for driving long journeys at a constant speed.

All the big V6 and V8 petrol engined cars I've had seem to deliver "what you'd expect" in both around town and motorway situations.

Edited by MorganP104 on Saturday 21st October 18:47