What is your Highest Average MPG?

[Ben]

Hi.

We've had the High Mileage thread, now its time for the careful economic driver.


* retrospectivly added some rules. you must state your point of departure and the destination and the distance between. lets say anything over 10 miles.

Today i drove 100 miles from coventry to an undisclosed location in the northwest to have A8 tech fit my cruise control.

I drove up the motorway between 55 and 60 mph when not in avg. speed camera stretches.

I achieved 73.2mpg on the dis.
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb105/golfmk5gttdi/21112009093.jpg

the car, 2.0 TDI 57reg A4 s line Avant manual

By the time i'd arrived at A8's it had dropped to 72.4 ish which he can verify.

beat that!!

[elvismiggell]

I hate you.

55.4 MPG over 3 and a half days driving from South London, up to Lincoln, driving round a bit, and then back down again.

[paul b]

This thread needs rules.

For the sake of being simple, lets just say the average has to be over at least 75 miles? Or Ben do you want to suggest a different figure?

The thing is somebody could come along with their 90mpg average... over 3 miles or something daft. :p

[peteo]

One of the many symptoms of my OCD is recording religiously my mpg using the method of filling up and recording amount actually used.

My Bora 1.9TDI recorded 56.9 over 363 miles back in March 2003. It never bettered that even in the warmer weather.

My current car, Mk5 Golf 1.9TDI 05 plate, has achieved a best of 51.47 mpg over 525 miles in June this year.

Overall, the Golf has the edge though with a combined average of 48.44 compared to the Bora's 47.5.

I live in a very hilly area and don't do that many long journeys so I am well pleased.

[Ben]

I hate you.

55.4 MPG over 3 and a half days driving from South London, up to Lincoln, driving round a bit, and then back down again.

i've had the very high 60's in my golf on a 27 mile run from coventry to fradley nr Lichfield once about 18 months ago ish.

[elvismiggell]

i've had the very high 60's in my golf on a 27 mile run from coventry to fradley nr Lichfield once about 18 months ago ish.

How?!?! Lincoln was 50-70mph over 650 miles in pretty decent traffic without too much stop start traffic.

Makes me wonder if something's wrong with my car!

[Ben]

easy....

the slowest you go is so trucks can't overtake, so that makes it 56 to 60 mph, coast in 6th gear down hill as much as possible and if there is an uphill following the down, use as much gravity assistance to slingshot you up the other side.

also leaving earlier to allow more time also helps.

on the flat, 6th gear @ 30mph works wonders. I block shift from 4th to 6th, 5th hardly gets a look in.

No harsh acceleration.

the other day at traffic lights i lost 0.8 of a mpg just sitting there.

[STEWY L]

This thread needs rules.

For the sake of being simple, lets just say the average has to be over at least 75 miles? Or Ben do you want to suggest a different figure?

The thing is somebody could come along with their 90mpg average... over 3 miles or something daft. :p
i applaud the fact that for, at least a short time, thoughts are with more MPG,rather than MPH.
i hasten to add that i will not be entering this competition as my 130 bora has only ever given,at best,in my hands, 63.2 mpg.
and that figure has already been blown out of the water!!!
but could i please beg of all "contestants",to give thought to other road users
who would prefer not to be faced with someone cruising along the motorway at a steady 50mph.
regards,
stewy.:biglaugh:

[zollaf]

apparently, better mpg can be achieved when following close behind a large vehicle, as it creates less drag. can anyone with a trip computer thingy confirm this, and how much more mpg can be achieved. i would try myself, but my poor coupe doesnt have such a thing.

[Ben]

I have also heard this myth/rumour. i thought about it today but soon got fed up of reading the back of the truck.

[dickymint]

Best I've managed in my Touareg (2.5 R5 engine, chipped) is 41 mpg on a steady 60mph,ish run from Solihull to Bedfordshire, approx 80 miles. Fully loaded (4 up with luggage) over several hundred miles in Portugal, Spain and France is 32 ish, if memory serves me correctly.

[peteo]

Thing is, are we relying on the car's computer? If so, I have found them to be very optimistic on my last 3 cars - Bora, Civic and Golf.

I've pushed 69 mpg in the Golf according to the computer but this has never translated to anything like that at the pumps.

What I have found is that the M60 round Manchester can be a very economical road as you can quite often struggle to reach the legal maximum let alone exceed it!

[a8 tech]

My best is 54mpg but average 42 to 44 mpg and I drive like my wife is just about to spend my money.

[Col]

I know you mention it in the first sentence of the first post but the only way to do this is via range.

The average MPG can easily be engineered, the range cannot unless you cheat and adjust the calibration of the fuel comp in vagcom.

Anyway, here are my efforts with some calcs to work out the mpg's from the range. That is the expected MPG to be returned over the whole tank.

A6 130hp Avant below;

1,000.1 mile range \ 62 litre tank capacity = 16.13 mpl x 4.54 = 73.23 mpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v602/colin__/A6/Image071.jpg

Remember the above is expected MPG at the start of a tank. I've never been able to maintain the slowness over a whole tank and the actual average (again a very detailed spreadsheet kept) is 42mpg which equals an average range of 570'ish miles per tank.

[deluna]

The best I've got in my B5.5 Passat is 52.3mpg. I was pretty impressed with that.

[kite]

Not bad from a 2.5......

[VW Fletch]

apparently, better mpg can be achieved when following close behind a large vehicle, as it creates less drag. can anyone with a trip computer thingy confirm this, and how much more mpg can be achieved. i would try myself, but my poor coupe doesnt have such a thing.

For it to be of any real use you would have to be within about 6 feet of the trailer which isn't particularly safe when travelling at motorway speeds...

[JSH]

Why do manufactures spend millions on aerodynimics in the name of efficiency then put useless roof rails on estate cars?:confused:

[peteo]

Just diverting a bit. Does anyone have any idea how much aircon increases fuel consumption? I heard some people say up to 10% but I find this difficult to believe. After all, some cars have Climate Control as standard and the official mpg figures don't seem any different.

This stems from the condensation threads. I am finding this problem is much less noticeable if you have the aircon on all the time.

[MalcQV]

Just diverting a bit. Does anyone have any idea how much aircon increases fuel consumption? I heard some people say up to 10% but I find this difficult to believe. After all, some cars have Climate Control as standard and the official mpg figures don't seem any different.

This stems from the condensation threads. I am finding this problem is much less noticeable if you have the aircon on all the time.
Not exactly what you are asking but...I heard somewhere (episode 22) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBusters_%282004_season%29#Car_Capers) (and it makes sense) that below 45mph ish you are probably better with a window open, but above that the A/C on. All to do with the drag caused at higher speeds with the window down.

To answer the question Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_conditioner#Central_air_conditioning) reckons about 5HP (4kW) so % depends on engine power.

[MFGF]

For it to be of any real use you would have to be within about 6 feet of the trailer which isn't particularly safe when travelling at motorway speeds...

Attached to a 6 foot towrope? :D

[paul b]

Just diverting a bit. Does anyone have any idea how much aircon increases fuel consumption? I heard some people say up to 10% but I find this difficult to believe. After all, some cars have Climate Control as standard and the official mpg figures don't seem any different.

This stems from the condensation threads. I am finding this problem is much less noticeable if you have the aircon on all the time.
I shall direct you to a recent thread (http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=84102&highlight=AUTO+ECON) about that very subject. :)

[peteo]

Read the tread Paul. Very relevant to me. It looks like 1 mpg according to Crasher on that thread.

My compromise is to have the aircon on most of the time, rather than econ on most of the time. My condensation probs are much less pronounced. I must admit, although I haven't tested it, the mpg doesn't seem to suffer that much.

[dickywills]

apparently, better mpg can be achieved when following close behind a large vehicle, as it creates less drag. can anyone with a trip computer thingy confirm this, and how much more mpg can be achieved. i would try myself, but my poor coupe doesnt have such a thing.

I can confirm that driving behind a lorry, does indeed work wonders for fuel consumtion!! Although, "god it's boring." This can be made less painless by following an empty lorry, or better still a bus, because they aren't limited to 58 (ish) like lorries (HGVs)
The upside is you can save a considerable amount on fuel!!!
More money to spend on:beerchug:

[paul b]

I can confirm that driving behind a lorry, does indeed work wonders for fuel consumtion!! Although, "god it's boring." This can be made less painless by following an empty lorry, or better still a bus, because they aren't limited to 58 (ish) like lorries (HGVs)
Or a lorry with some writing you can read on the back of it. :)

[adam6900]

Tailgateing trucks does work! Back in the day i managed about 70mpg in a mk4 XR3i, Left my cash at home and had to make it 80 miles home on a fiver, just stuck about 2 meters behind the bigest truck i could find down the motorway