[s-cars] Just an FYI on the GTI mileage battle...

[Steve Marinello]

SO, the Houston VW rep still refuses to talk to me and VW's reputation 
continues to drop in my estimation.  The dealership still seems willing 
to help and today they did their own 'real world' fuel consumption 
check.  They filled the tank and the tech, who came over from Audi, 
drove the car about an hour, mostly on I10, going 41 miles.  He topped 
the tank off before leaving and refilled on return.  And it took...one 
gallon.  Gee, that's 41 mpg!  Do ya think VW would advertise that if 
they could actually get that mileage?  Ummm, maybe?

Forgetting for the moment that I've offered them the car for a couple 
days to hook up a laptop and drive and play with, or that those 
wonderful vapor recovery fuel systems make the accuracy of small top off 
volumes pretty iffy and that I still haven't seen more than 24.5 mpg 
(23.6 on the tank they filled), it seems a bit much.  To get 41 mpg, it 
would have to be running lean, no matter what the stoichiometric ratio 
looked like in the shop bay. 

On the other hand, a discussion with the mechanic revealed that he was 
drafting 4 larger vehicles most of the time and running between 41 and 
51 mph, which means maybe 38 to 47 mph in reality.  I'd have to 
calculate what you should get in sixth gear at that speed.  Might still 
be the TPS, but sounds more like the MAF meter now, or both.  Of course, 
right when I went in, they didn't see anything wrong.  Let's see, get in 
front of a jury and say, "So, VW rates this car/engine at 23/32 mpg, 
correct?  And these values are basically the max that they can generate 
on the EPA test, right?  SO, either VW is missing out on some great 
advertising opportunity, or the consumption test was faulty OR indicates 
a problem with fuel metering to get such a low number, correct?  Is that 
what the client has been saying for ten months?  But let's take your 
position that the mileage in the test is accurate; the fuel mixture 
would have to be very lean to generate those numbers, right?  Could an 
overly lean mixture like that increase the potential for short or long 
term engine problems?  If the mileage the plaintiff is getting on the 
highway is consistently nearly 20 mpg below the consumption test value, 
does that raise any concerns about fuile metering on this particular 
car?  Is it true that the plaintiff has driven and continues to drive a 
heavier car with a larger engine putting out 75% more horsepower on the 
same road and at the same times as with the GTI, returning within a 1-2 
mpg range of the GTI in question? 

It might be fun, but who has the time?  Somehow I think the money would 
work itself out.

You were right, Taka.  I keep looking at the Infiniti's and BMW's and 
thinking about it.

Steve