VW Passat S TDi PD (130) Auto - scruffythedog118
I have recently purchased a:

VW Passat S TDi PD (130) Automatic 2005 (05) which has covered just 11000 miles.

My question is with regards to Fuel Economy, I have the computer on board which works out the MPG whilst driving and on average until reset at every refill.

This car is driven 75% around town and 25% on a run and only seems to be returning 320 miles to a full tank of diesel (last fill up was 54.00 litres) and the computer works it out to be an average of only 30 'ish MPG and 320 miles covered - seems a tad low to me ??

My previous Passat was the S TDi (115) Automatic (W reg) and this had done nearly 90,000 miles and was returning 360 - 400 miles to a tank of fuel - but had no computer for working out the MPG only the "trip" for the mileage - which makes me think ??

Does any one else have this same spec car by any chance ?? What do you get ??

Not sure if true or not, but I have been told the economy increases as the mileage does ?

I have got the car booked in for a general "check-up" next week to ensure no obvious problems that could be causing this issue....

In the meantime, any ideas greatfully recieved.

Regards
VW Passat S TDi PD (130) Auto - machika
What is the tank's capacity and do you not routinely run it down to near empty?

54 litres is about 12 gallons, so 320 miles on that amount of fuel isn't even 30 mpg. What are the manufacturer's figures for fuel consumption.
VW Passat S TDi PD (130) Auto - DP
Automatic gearboxes massacre fuel economy on diesels, but even so I would expect more. My brother in law has the same car but 6 speed manual and averages 48 mpg.
VW Passat S TDi PD (130) Auto - Armitage Shanks {p}
I have googled for road tests on this car and the only one I found quoted 48mpg, as above, and that was for an auto too. MPG will improve with use,, allegedly and 11K miles is quite young!
VW Passat S TDi PD (130) Auto - scruffythedog118
It is a 60 litre tank which I think is std on this car.
I always fill to brim and always run until for 15-20 miles after "low fuel" light is on.....

On average ev ery time I re-fill I get in about 54 litres 'ish so that leaves 6 litres 'ish on the tank....



cheers
VW Passat S TDi PD (130) Auto - Bill Payer
It's not the same car, but for comparison purposes, I have a Merc C270CDi Auto. In 'local' driving (I wouldn't really call it town) it indicates around 30MPG. I would expect true town driving to be worse.
On a long steady motorway run it will indicate 48MPG.

The Merc (and remember it's only a C Class) needs a real shove to get it going off the line so this alone must murder the fuel consumption. Is the Passat the same? I try *very* hard not to let it actually stop, but obviously that's unavoidable sometimes.
VW Passat S TDi PD (130) Auto - Round The Bend
I ran a 2002 PDi PD 130 for 3 years. Although mine was a 5 speed manual, my average mpg was 42/43 over mixed driving. Would expect in excess of 50 mpg on a run with best being 60 mpg averaged over a drive from Norwich to Aberdeen.

Appreciate yours is an auto but there should n't be that much difference. Suggest you have it checked out.
_______
IanS
VW Passat S TDi PD (130) Auto - jakey_snake
I run a Ibiza 130PD with the same lump as you, when I first bought it with 8K on the clock I was disappointingly getting the same sort of MPG as yourself.

The advice I received then was to go out and give it some stick for 4k or so to loosen up the engine as they are very tight when new, and depending if the previous owner has mollycoddled it a bit, it may still be a bit tight. Lo and behold, by the time I'd done 16k, the mpg was right up in the high 40's and now with nearly 40k on the clock I average about 55mpg on a *fast* motorway run.

Probably nothing to worry about - enjoy the torque a bit more and keep an eye on the mpg in a couple of thousand miles - if it's showing no sign of improvement, then get it checked out.

VW Passat S TDi PD (130) Auto - Roly93
Even for an Auto, this is appauling MPG. Granted it takes around 10,000 miles for almost any diesel to bed in and start returning best figures, but a manual version of this car should return 46-48 mpg on mixed driving. In fact this engine is still one of THE most efficient diesels on the market.
My A4 TDI 130 6 - speed has averaged 48.5 mpg over about the last 4000 miles, okay this is with a lot of long distnace work, but nevertheless, this morning a round trip to the other side of Reading (about 14 miles) in traffic still returned 46 mpg. I dont drive like a vicar either, just sensible and average realy. I'd say you have a problem if its this low...
VW Passat S TDi PD (130) Auto - Bill Payer
I think there's little relevance in comparing the fuel consumption of manual TDi's vs Scruffy's auto. Auto anything will be *hugely* worse around town, and auto diesels are noted for poor economy in stop/start conditions, which is exactly what he's finding.
VW Passat S TDi PD (130) Auto - Hamsafar
My Passat 2.5 diesel 3 yearis older, but 5 spd auto too, and the mpg is appaulling too! 25mpg/38mpg
My heavier and more luxurious/refined Vauxhall Omega Elite was also diesel auto, only 4 speed, and had much better mpg in town and on a long run 28mpg/44mpg. The Omega revved much lower at cruising speeds. The Passat is all the while trying to be sporty and being on tap, it's trying to be a petrol instead of a tall geared torquey low-revving car like a diesel should be. The Passat gears are all wrong.
VW Passat S TDi PD (130) Auto - George Porge
My father in laws 1.8t Passat auto (Y plate 82k miles) does 22mpg around town, 35mpg on a run according to the computer.
--
2 Dirty VW diesels and a Honda with an 18 inch blade
VW Passat S TDi PD (130) Auto - machika
Just as a comparison, although not strictly like for like motoring, our C5 2.2 HDI auto returns around 35 to 38 mpg on a mix of motoring with rather more extra urban than you are doing. However, I have always been led to believe the PSA engine was less economical the the VAG engine.
VW Passat S TDi PD (130) Auto - JH
Scruffy,
others have said that comparing manual v auto is probably futile but my 6 speed 130 gives me about 600 miles on a tank, often 650 and I'm itching to do 700 (but only with a can in the boot). The fuel computer, also known as the lying toad, generally reports 48mpg, reality is 43 and upwards.

I didn't find any improvement in fuel consumption as the miles went up. Unless it's still to come :-)

JH
VW Passat S TDi PD (130) Auto - v8man
My Passat Tdi 110 auto averages 43mpg and 50mpg on a run. It has now done 107,000 miles and the trip computer seems to be spot on.
--
\"Nothing less than 8 cylinders will do\"
VW Passat S TDi PD (130) Auto - Avant
Interesting point made by Ashok comparing his Passat to his Omega.

My current Mercedes B200 CDi gives about 36 mpg in town, 43 on a run. This is exactly the same as its much-loved predecessor, an A4 Avant 2.5 TDI - both have CVT transmissions which should carry little if any penalty in consumption over a manual. The manual Golf TDI before that did 44 and 55.

Creditable for the Audi - much more powerful than the Golf: but disappointing for the B-class which like Bill Payer's C270 needs an almighty shove to get it going fron rest. Probably Ashok's Omega had more torque where it was needed - at the bottom end.

This is the first 4-cylinder diesel automatic that I've had and it'll be the last. I can just about lkive with the fuel consumption, but not the droning noise.
VW Passat S TDi PD (130) Auto - machika
Interesting point made by Ashok comparing his Passat to his Omega.


As your cars have CVT transmissions, the figures are not really comparable with a tiptronic auto.

Interesting comment about the droning noise. We just don't get that with our C5, which is very quiet and smooth.
VW Passat S TDi PD (130) Auto - barney100
I have a 2.2 diesel auto and it does about 45 MPG if you drive without flooring the pedal all the time. I should get your car checked out to see if your calculations are right . If you are right then something is wrong.
VW Passat S TDi PD (130) Auto - Pugugly {P}
I would suggest a proper brim test. Brim it to the first stop on the pump. Reset trip. Do your usual mix of driving, re-fill after a suitable mileage then make the claculation based on milage and refill.
VW Passat S TDi PD (130) Auto - nick62
Mine is the 115 TDI PD Sport (pre-facelift) model from 2000 with 5 speed manual box.

I've had the car from new and the average MPG has NEVER dropped below 50.0 MPG average (over 100 hours driving time) since I've had it.

Most journeys are non-stop motorway including Liverpool to Bournmouth in under 4 hours!

I suspect like an earlier post, it is the combination of auto box and town driving.