What kind of mileage are you getting? (Older cars)

My '91 GTI (a little lighter but a little smaller engine too) gets about

28-29 in about 70% highway 30% city driving. So for a slightly heavier car w/a bigger 2.0 engine, your numbers sound OK to me.

Actually I made an error on my numbers. I was just using the tanks capacity in my calculations. When I actually fill up the tank I'm putting in around 47 Litres not the 55L capacity. So my mileage is fine.

Is the 95 Golf supposed to have a gas light? My needle was below empty and I could only get 49L out of a 55L tank.

dont. Use the amount of gas you put in, not the tank capacity.

You always calculate mileage by taking miles/kms between fill-ups and dividing it by how many gallons/liters it takes to fill up. You need to try to be reasonably consistent on how full you try to fill it at the pump as well...

Your definition of "older" and mine are somewhat different.

1987 16V Scirocco. 210,800 miles. 31MPG highway, 27MPG city.

- Bill

Hmpf...

2004 GTI 1.8T

City: 24MPG Highway: 26MPG.

As near as I can tell, I need to push the car with both hands on the hatchback to get the 31MPG that the sticker says I should.

Does anyone with an aftermarket chip have some comparative mileage figures? I'm curious if they get better (har har) or worse when chipped.

Jim B.

My 1976 Rabbit (Carburated) averages about 27 MPG city, 31 MPG highway.

My wifes 1986 Jetta GLI averages about 29 MPG city, and 31 MPG highway.

Anthony

I'm running the stock transmission for this car. It's funny, though, that my driving habits changed a bit in the last year. Before that I tended to go 60 to 70 on the highway and got about 29MPG. This year I've sort of gotten adjusted to the car, I guess, and feel more comfortable with how loud it sounds at high speed and I'm tending to run 65 to 75 and the milage jumped up to 31MPG. Decidedly NOT what I'd expected. I'd fully expected to take a hit on mileage rather than see an improvement. Do these things like

4000 RPM better than 3500?

- Bill

||Hmpf... || ||2004 GTI 1.8T || ||City: 24MPG ||Highway: 26MPG. || ||As near as I can tell, I need to push the car with both hands on the ||hatchback to get the 31MPG that the sticker says I should. || ||Does anyone with an aftermarket chip have some comparative mileage figures? ||I'm curious if they get better (har har) or worse when chipped.

2000 NB 1.8T 30 mpg routinely from new, in town our on the highway. Chipped it at about 40K miles. Don't recall the brand chip, but it cycles between stock and non-stock with the cruise control button. It gets around 25-26 mpg now, with the chip turned on. I suspect it would still get 30 with it set to stock mode, but we can't seem to leave it turned off for an entire tank ;) Texas Parts Guy

2003 Jetta GLS 1.8T (manual, no chip) 7700 miles

City: 25-26mpg

Here are my gas ups from a May trip. It was MI to CT (thru Ont, NY Thruway, Masspike into CT):

gas up 1: 34.2mpg gas up 2: 28.9mpg gas up 3: 33.5mpg gas up 4: 29.9mpg

From CT back to MI:

gas up 1: 33.3 gas up 2: 31.0 gas up 3: 32.0

I drive fairly quickly (75-80mph with the occasional irresistable 'pop' up to a higher mpg) :) and I always fill up when I'm around half a tank or slightly less.

kaboomie

Physics state more fuel consumed at higher speed. I lose a few miles to a gallon driving 10 miles per hour faster at highway speeds.

Maybe you pumped the tires up to 31 psi.

Some>> I was thinking the same. My older 84 GTI would get about 33 mpg with a

Jim B.

I can believe that. Think about wheel bearing and other components like brake drag etc. If you have noisy wheel bearings or a lazy caliper, that can do it. Tread and air makes a difference and so does wheel alignment.

As I'd expect.

You may have something there. I've been paying closer attention to tire pressure this year, but they're not up that high. I don't know if I ran them low or high before, but they're right to the spec. in the manual for "normal load" now (I can't remember what that is off hand). I started paying close attention because it made such a big difference in handling. Maybe it's also paying off in gas.

Someone else made a comment about brakes. I'd forgotten I had the brakes done over the winter, including replacing the rear rotors and calipers. The left one was locking, but I suppose there could have been a problem there longer than that. Still, if they'd been stuck, I'd have expected them to use up pads quickly or smelled hot or something else.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'd prefer to believe something that makes sense that wonder about something that seems so odd.

- Bill

2001 Jetta TDI

City: I don't drive in cities. Highway: 50 MPG (at 80 MPH with the A/C on)

||Physics state more fuel consumed at higher speed. I lose a few miles ||to a gallon driving 10 miles per hour faster at highway speeds.

Depends on the car. A car with a good aero profile might get into the "sweet spot" of the torque curve at a slightly higher RPM.

||Maybe you pumped the tires up to 31 psi.

I keep all mine at 35 psi or higher.

Texas Parts Guy

What is the acceptable "break-in"? I've alreasy put on 7K miles.

-Don