[Vwdiesel] MPG

[travis gottschalk]

I find the hardest thing with the older cars (and even newer ones) is getting the air out of the tank to know when it is actually full and not just an air bubble holding it up. I did the vent mod on my 04 Golf to get it full to the neck before trips (don't fill up till the trip will use enough to prevent expansion). The older cars, at least on my 81 rabbits, has the filler 2/3's up the tank and the vent hose is next to it so it is hard to burp the air all out. Best way is the overall average not the tank average for the older cars. Also I have found that although the MPH is off depending on speed that is driven from a magnet with nothing touching the actual needle (other then the forces of the magnet) The odometer is gear driven off the cable. It can still be off depending on if you have a common cracked gear or different tire diameters. I found mine was 1 mile off over 100 miles. I had to add one mile. My brother had to subtract 5. He always claimed higher but once we all got GPS units (same GPS as well) it was easy to see why he had better in the books. I would get a GPS rather then use mapquest to help you track oil changes and other things better and keep a log. 

I did get 58.5 on my 04 Golf once going from WY to MN. That was 750 before filling up. Filled up to the neck before and after. I didn't go faster then 57 mph and I rolled through everything but I did go through the towns. There were hills (wasn't all interstate, most was back roads) and there wasn't wind (night time). Only advantage was I went from 3700 feet to around 1000 ft. It was a slow drive. I did get good numbers once on my rabbit but I don't trust them as it was 200 miles and I didn't trust the tank burping enough to even post but I drove like 50 mph in it. Each time I did have my wife and gear for the weekend so there was some extra weight as well.