VW Passat mileage

L

lawrenceots

Banned : Trading/Abuse of Classifieds
Suspended / Banned
Messages
4,395
Name
Lawrence
Edit My Images
Yes
I'm a bit confused - I've got a 2005 Passat (new shape) with a 1.9 tdi engine. However, on £15 I got approx. 115 miles. The car is supposed to be much more economical than this, and I do mostly motorway and highway driving so I'm confused.. Any ideas what could be making its consumption so poor?
 
Forgot to say, just had the service and mot and went through fine!
 
You can't work it out on £15. We don't know the cost of fuel per litre so it is meaningless!

Brim to brim is the only way. Fill it up. Get down to half a tank or lower and fill up. Then make a note of how many litres. £15 is no fuel at all, it's a little over 2 gallons around here these days. Only a guess as I don't buy diesel. A ball park is then more like 50 mpg which isn't that bad. When was the last time the air filter was changed?
 
A quick calculation, assuming price of diesel is £1.28, gives a figure of around 45MPG. Which for a 2005 Passat on motorways is about right I would say. I drive a 2 litre VW Caddy van for work (brand new), MPG ranges between 45MPG on motorways to 55MPG on single carriageways (60mph).

What were you expecting?
 
If you bought diesel at £1.36, those figures equate to 47.5mpg. But honestly, that's irrelevant because as said brim to brim figures are the only way to calculate this an therefore average out a bit of traffic, putting your foot down occasionally, etc.

What year is the car? You say new shape but the 1.9 motor hasn't been fitted in the Passat for a few years now, the changes to the 1.6 and 2.0 options. One obvious thing to check is your tyre pressure, people so often neglect that and if they are down on pressure it'll make a significant impact.
 
How fast do you drive? What's the cars mileage? Do you use the air conditioning? Roof bars? Is there much in the boot?
Don't believe the manufacturers fuel figures.
 
Last edited:
You'll get lots of helpful advice but, apart from all else, I'd expect your fuel consumption to be worse this month than before you had the Passat serviced! :jawdrop:

... You see it's October. The weather is getting colder and cold starts see all engines doing damn all mpg for the first few minutes. If you're buying fifteen quid's worth of diesel at a time I doubt if you're doing hundred mile journies every day so I'd expect your winter fuel consumption to be inherently worse than you saw last summer.
 
Around 45-50 mpg for that engine is about normal. What did you expect?

Just in case you haven't figured out, the most economic driving is around 2000rpm with that engine, and never ever under 1600.
 
My 1.8 TDCI Focus estate does about 45-50 Mpg on small lanes and A roads fairly short trips) , it gets up to 55Mpg on long motorway cruises. I'd say your consumption is about what'd be expected based on the limited info provided
 
I see, I put in a small amount so I could try and gauge it accurately. I'm a pretty reasonable driver I think - when I say new shape, I mean it's not the style from 2000 - 2005 etc, it's the newer looking one with parking break etc. I thought it was supposed to get about 55 mpg, or at least a lot more. Friend I know has an 09 Vectra 1.9 diesel and he can get all the way to London and back on about £40.. I think maybe I was just expecting too much perhaps, not sure!
 
I do about 55 miles a day for the usual commute to work, plus weekends out with the babe etc, so I think I get about 350 miles a week roughly. Was querying this as wasn't sure if it'd be worth going up market and getting a 1 series or a class that's Eco and more fun etc
 
lawrenceots said:
I see, I put in a small amount so I could try and gauge it accurately. I'm a pretty reasonable driver I think - when I say new shape, I mean it's not the style from 2000 - 2005 etc, it's the newer looking one with parking break etc. I thought it was supposed to get about 55 mpg, or at least a lot more. Friend I know has an 09 Vectra 1.9 diesel and he can get all the way to London and back on about £40.. I think maybe I was just expecting too much perhaps, not sure!
Click to expand...

I think the 55mpg figure is for motorway cruising, not stop start communiting (manufacturer figures also are generally at opitimal temperatures etc)
 
lawrenceots said:
I do about 55 miles a day for the usual commute to work, plus weekends out with the babe etc, so I think I get about 350 miles a week roughly. Was querying this as wasn't sure if it'd be worth going up market and getting a 1 series or a class that's Eco and more fun etc
Click to expand...

You can't quantify fun, but do the maths to consider whether you'd actually save money over a period of time spending more money buying a newer car. If you're putting money towards it to save a small amount on fuel, it could be a false move.
 
lawrenceots said:
friend I know has an 09 Vectra 1.9 diesel and he can get all the way to London and back on about £40.
Click to expand...


Allegedly. ;)

FWIW my 2.0l diesel A3 gets around 55mpg normal motorway driving. If I make a big effort to get it as high as possible I can maybe hit 60 mpg
 
if you have to worry about it as much as you seem to ,then unfortunately this is not the car for you .ANY diesel will probably drop to around half its normal figures if driven round town ,this is really best seen in a diesel car with a real time computer fitted .a lot depends on how you drive it ,and where ,best fuel consumption will come on a motorway at around 65mph for a long journey ,any traffic ,uphill stretches ,heavy right foot etc will drop this down rapidly .i have a 05 picasso 1.6 110bhp turbo diesel my average on computer on a long run is around 65-68mpg ,on short runs including around town that drops to around 50mpg .if i put my foot down it will also drop .hence your figure sounds about right for a car of that age ,and engine size .one little tip stay well clear of tesco/asda/etc diesel only get decent fuel from a proper garage
 
Figures from auto trader


Urban mpg36.2 mpg
Extra Urban mpg 60.1 mpg
Average mpg48.7 mpg
 
I'm still getting 40mpg from a 14 year old Audi A4 1.8l turbo with 177,000 miles.
Not complaining. :)
 
Brilliant engines those 1.9tdi's. I had a 2005 1.9tdi 130 Passat but it was the older shape (B5.5) before they brought out the newer model that year (B6). I owned it from 17K miles and I put another 200k miles on top of that. The thing just kept getting better and better with fuel consumption. I travel from the Cairngorms to South Wales once a a month to visit family and when I first got the passat it could do the 580mile journey in 3/4(ish) of a tank which left me with about 150miles left in fuel. Come the last year or two when I sold it I was amazed by it. I managed to do the 580mile trip on 1/2 a tank of diesel, that's 31liters:eek: and yes I stayed at 70mph the whole way. I didn't drive like a granny:p I do the journey in one through the night because the kids and dogs will sleep the entire way for the 8-9hours.

No one believed me until I filmed the fuel gauge and trip miles for the entire journey with my GoPro...and no the gauge wasn't faulty. Wasn't bad at all and I even had it remapped to 180bhp and 286lb ft of torque. Now when I do the journey I'll JUST make it and not much more on a full tank with my BMW 330D. Doesn't help that it's got a smaller tank than the Passat and have it tuned to 305bhp and 487lb ft of torque.
 
the black fox said:
one little tip stay well clear of tesco/asda/etc diesel only get decent fuel from a proper garage
Click to expand...
Why? Do the evil supermarkets add nasty chemicals to the fuel? Or is it exactly the same fuel thats come off a tanker from the refinery as the one thats just been to Esso/BP/Shell?
 
DorsetDude said:
Why? Do the evil supermarkets add nasty chemicals to the fuel? Or is it exactly the same fuel thats come off a tanker from the refinery as the one thats just been to Esso/BP/Shell?
Click to expand...


its not quite the same stuff as they'll chose their own blend of additives, but they're still supplied by the big oil companies to the same standards as they flog on their own forecourts
 
I filled up with BP's 'Premium' diesel once and it made not an iota of difference, in fact I've never noticed any difference in fuel wherever it's come from (apart from twice with petrol in a diesel, I noticed the difference then :eek:).
 
CaveDweller said:
I travel from the Cairngorms to South Wales once a a month to visit family and when I first got the passat it could do the 580mile journey in 3/4(ish) of a tank which left me with about 150miles left in fuel. Come the last year or two when I sold it I was amazed by it. I managed to do the 580mile trip on 1/2 a tank of diesel, that's 31liters:eek: and yes I stayed at 70mph the whole way. I didn't drive like a granny:p I do the journey in one through the night because the kids and dogs will sleep the entire way for the 8-9hours.

No one believed me until I filmed the fuel gauge and trip miles for the entire journey with my GoPro...and no the gauge wasn't faulty. Wasn't bad at all and I even had it remapped to 180bhp and 286lb ft of torque.
Click to expand...

It seems bizarre that initially you got 580 out of 3/4 tank to then get 580 out of a half tank.
That is suggestive that a full tank would take you 1160 miles!!!

Are you sure your figures are correct?
I understand that a tuned engine can actually be more efficient but your figure just doesnt seem credible.

Oh and to be a pedant, you couldnt have done 70mph the whole way, unless you ragged it through red lights, went round roundabouts on rails and were speeding on the A9 :LOL:
 
Which 1.9 is it? I'm pretty sure the passat came in 105 and 130 versions.

DorsetDude said:
Why? Do the evil supermarkets add nasty chemicals to the fuel? Or is it exactly the same fuel thats come off a tanker from the refinery as the one thats just been to Esso/BP/Shell?
Click to expand...

It's different grades and additives. Look at the BN numbers on the pump.

I find sainsburys diesel for example makes my 2.0 diesel sound and respond awful.
 
DorsetDude said:
Why? Do the evil supermarkets add nasty chemicals to the fuel? Or is it exactly the same fuel thats come off a tanker from the refinery as the one thats just been to Esso/BP/Shell?
Click to expand...
oh yes i have had it straight from the horses mouth and has been pointed out the additives are lacking in substance .each company has its own formula and although diesel is just simply diesel to us ,to the cars engine long term its a different story and the cheap supermarket s*** will eventually cause expensive bills ,you can even run a older type diesel on cooking oils (sometimes even used and filtered) or central heating oil ,you have to add something to that though but a hell of a lot cheaper than normal derv .modern turbos though might be damaged this way
 
Unless you test a fleet of identical cars of different types for 100,000 miles minimum on exclusively supermarket or non supermarket fuel I don't think you can categorically say one is better than the other.
 
I was never directly affected by this but will admit to tending to steer clear of supermarket fuel because of it certainly several mechanics I know had to fix customers cars affected by it.
 
stupar said:
It seems bizarre that initially you got 580 out of 3/4 tank to then get 580 out of a half tank.
That is suggestive that a full tank would take you 1160 miles!!!

Are you sure your figures are correct?
I understand that a tuned engine can actually be more efficient but your figure just doesnt seem credible.

Oh and to be a pedant, you couldnt have done 70mph the whole way, unless you ragged it through red lights, went round roundabouts on rails and were speeding on the A9 :LOL:
Click to expand...

I was surprised as you are, but literally those two journeys I managed the 580miles on 1/2 tank if a feather landed on the pedals it would have been heavier than my right foot. Didn't stop once either and got lucky at the traffic lights at Perth. None of that any more though lol, got a car that drinks diesel like Germans and beer now. I probably averaged 65 on the motorways and 55 on the A9 from Perth where it's mostly single carriageway. i'm pretty sure my figures are correct. 1/2 a tank (give or take a mark or two on the fuel guage) for 580 miles. it may not have been dead on half a tank but it was a massive improvement compared to the early days of owning/running the engine in. I got another 300 miles after that journey before I had to fill up again, but that was mixed (excitable) driving along B roads:rolleyes:

Aye no speeding on the A9 anymore come 28th of october :rolleyes: Pretty good though because that road was dangerous for my licence, or more to the point if you want to be pedant again it was my own fault for the points:ROFLMAO:...all clean now though(y) I'm good friends with some local policemen. They are trying to find out the tolerances for these new average speed cameras.
 
lawrenceots said:
Forgot to say, just had the service and mot and went through fine!
Click to expand...

When was the service and MOT done? May be worth monitoring it over a couple of weeks to get an accurate figure - the car will have been idling and revved during the test for up to half an hour which will kill the average consumption.
 
Hmmm oh well I've decided to live with it for another 6 - 8 months or so and then look for a new car perhaps. Its not perfect but its seemed reliable and I guess 45 - 50 mpg isn't too bad - its an old car after all! Just can't decide between saving for a C class, 320d or A4 or A6 (they all look great! XD)
 
Holy thread revival!

Whatever you decide to get make sure you read into it first and view a number of forums. No cars get the MPG figures that's down on paper, also all common problems, etc.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top